DOST FUNDS SOUTHERN LEYTE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM

BONTOC, SOUTHERN LEYTE— Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-VIII Regional Director Edgar Esperancilla recently turned over R400,000 worth of funding to the Southern Leyte State University (SLSU)Bontoc Campus for the project, “Strengthening and Monitoring of Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) Program in Region 8.” The project was conceptualized by SLSU-Bontoc and DOST 8 in the last quarter of the calendar year 2014. Developed by the DOST, the CEST program aims to provide a source of livelihood and alleviate poverty in communities. Campus administator Madel Calva received the funding. The program’s implementation in Region 8 entails the provision and transfer of technology-based livelihood projects to six identified new CEST communities. CEST will also facilitate the transfer of knowhow and technologies to beneficiaries along the areas of education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, disaster risk reduction, and industry development or livelihood. The program will focus on communities located in Jaro, Leyte; Basey, Samar; Salcedo, Eastern Samar; and Sogod, Southern Leyte. A firm believer in, and one of the prime movers of, the program, Director Esperancilla encouraged SLSU-Bontoc Campus to include in their extension function the transfer of SLSU’s developed technologies to communities. Empowerment is highly needed in these communities, he said, and program’s livelihood opportunities provide sound options for alleviating poverty. Esperancilla cited the case of Bobon, Northern Samar—a pioneering CEST beneficiary municipality that empowered a women’s group through the provision of a Common Service Facility (CSF) for the processing of their local food products ‘piñato’ (a sweet, crunchy rice dessert) and ‘pinangat’ (taro leaves with coconut milk, ginger, pork, shrimp paste, and finger chili). The facility’s establishment was made possible by the collaboration among DOST VIII, the local government, and the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) Research Office consultancy group. The said women’s group is now competitive, and their revenues help augment their families’ incomes. Other components such as water and sanitation, and health and nutrition, have also been implemented by the municipality in coordination with DOST 8 and the UEP. Esperancilla emphasized that the higher education institution plays a vital role in empowering communities because it can conduct research, access information, develop new products, educate communities, and access funding. He stressed that this call for the participation of different higher education institutions and their external campuses in the CEST implementation of the region has already been agreed on and approved by the different SCU presidents during a Board of Regents meeting. Calva, on the other hand, accepted the challenge of Director Esperancilla and stressed that the early release of the project funds and the presence of the director himself in the fund turnover showed the seriousness and the commitment of DOST 8 to hasten the CEST implementation program in the municipality of Bontoc and its nearby municipalities, and to identify other possible areas where CEST could be best implemented.