DOST Ilocos Region kicks off community empowerment program in Aringay, La Union
ARINGAY, LA UNION – The backbone of the economy rests on the communities when they become productive, secured and enabled. Realizing the need to make our communities, down to the barangay units, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), for the past years, has pushed the Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST program in the regions to make the citizenry self-reliant, capable of contributing to the development of their communities.
In view of this, the Department of Science and Technology Regional Office No. I (DOST-1) through the Provincial Science and Technology Office – La Union (PSTO-LU), conducted a two-day Community Needs Assessment (CNA) for the implementation of the CEST program at Barangay Sta. Lucia and Samara last February 20 & 21.
This initiative is done in partnership with the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (DMMMSU) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Provincial Fisheries Office – La Union (BFAR PFO-LU).
Hon. Benjamin O. Sibuma, Municipal Mayor, welcomed all the participants and expressed his gratitude to DOST, DMMMSU, BFAR and other partner agencies for the implementation of the CEST program. “I’d like to welcome everybody to our humble municipality and thank you for coming here and sharing science and technology to our endeavor specifically, Barangay Sta. Lucia and Samara. Hopefully datoy duwa nga barangay ket at least matutukan tapnu makita tayo ti pagmaayan datoy napintas nga programa ti DOST,” said Mayor Sibuma.
On the other hand, Jonathan M. Viernes, Provincial Director of PSTO-LU, delivered a message on behalf of the Officer-In-Charge of the Office of the Regional Director, Dr. Teresita A. Tabaog, and thanked the local chief executive and his staff for accepting the CEST in their municipality. Viernes reiterated the criteria for why Aringay was chosen as one of the project beneficiaries. “We from DOST are very thankful to LGU Aringay for your hospitability and cooperativeness to implement the project, we are hoping that this project will become successful.”
Meanwhile, Decth-1180 P. Libunao, CEST Project Leader, presented the overview of the program and discussed the process of the needs assessment at the LGU level to the barangay level to determine and find out the needs of the community for science and technology interventions.
During the consultative meeting, key informants from the different department heads/representatives of LGU Aringay presented the current status of the two barangays from an LGU-level point of view along with the five CEST entry points: Health & Nutrition, Education, Livelihood, Environmental Protection and Conservation, and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management. Also, key informants from the two barangays joined the focus group discussion to share their knowledge and ideas about the current situation in their respective barangays.
The consolidated data from the five CEST entry points will be presented to Mayor Sibuma before the conduct of participatory planning in the municipality.
The CEST program envisions a Filipino society having an active role in decision-making as part of a greater community to build progressive and empowered communities through science and technology interventions. (By Joseph T. Eisma, DOST-I)
