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NGO opens P355 M soft loan access for Civil Society Orgs

Details: Written by Administrator

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July 1, 2019, Koronadal City -- The Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI) in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) - Protect Wildlife Project conducted a consultation with member organizations of the Coalition of Social Development Organizations – South Cotabato, Inc. (CSDO-SC) for finance access from FSSI on June 25-26, 2019 at Villa Amor Hotel, Koronadal City.

The USAID-PW Project has been assisting two protected areas in Region XII, namely Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape and Sarangani Bay Protected Seascape, in the formulation and updating of their Protected Area Management Plans. Aside from this, one of their specific interventions is the provision of technical assistance to facilitate access to financial services of qualified social enterprises with “triple bottom lines” where economic, social and environmental dimensions of development are integrated. With the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the USAID - Protect Wildlife and FSSI, the latter is making available a total fund of PhP355 million in soft loans to support community enterprises of CSOs in the project sites.

The CSDO-SC is a social development organization composed of different non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and people organizations (POs) in the province. It works in partnership with its member-organizations to proactively address issues and concerns toward people empowerment and sustainable development through environmental rehabilitation and regeneration, gender and development, and enterprise development, among others. Of the 29 members of the CSDO-SC, 15 have a triple bottom-line agenda (profit, people, and planet). With the available fund from FSSI for potential CSOs, the project will provide the necessary technical assistance to the said CSOs – from the development of the proposal until the implementation of the project.

Meanwhile, FSSI is a social investment organization committed to support social enterprises. It is a non-profit organization managed by 20-member networks of development organizations. It was borne out of a debt for development swap initiative with the Swiss Government. FSSI was tasked as a development facility for sustainable production. Source: https://www.choosesocial.ph/organization/foundation-for-a-sustainable-society-fssi

During the consultation, Protected Area Superintendent (PASu) Gabriel M. Baute of the Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape presented the zones of the said protected area (PA) including the allowed and disallowed resource uses. “It is very important for the partner PO’s and NGO’s to understand the logic and to be acquainted with the do’s and don’ts in protected areas for them to be able to craft a line of program or activity in their business loan proposal that is parallel with the management plan of a specific PA,” PASu Baute said. (PKAFarrol/MCLocsin/DENR – PENRO South Cotabato)

11 short films, 7 music videos vie for awards in Cinema22m film fest

Details: Written by Administrator

Koronadal City, 05 April 2019 – In line with the observance of the Linggo ng Mt. Matutum in March 2019, 11 short films (10-15 minutes) and seven music videos were submitted as official entries to the 3^rd Annual CineMa22m Film Festival. The annual event was sponsored by the multi-sectoral policy-making body, the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) of the Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape (MMPL), and the USAID - Protect Wildlife.

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The film Lulid of Diverse Productions of Koronadal National Comprehensive High School (KNCHS) romped away with the top prize of P25,000 while Dungan Fafak Gu (B’laan for Wind Beneath My Wings) of AP Sikat Productions, also of KNCHS, was adjudged as second place with a cash prize of P20,000 . The film T’nagak of Malungon National High School in Malungon, Sarangani Province came in third and was awarded P15,000. Winners of major prizes were also awarded with plaques of recognition.

Lulid talks about a place in the forest which young Jose’s mother forbids him to go to until one day he dared went to that mysterious place only to find out that illegal loggers, including his older brother, cut trees using a chainsaw.

DENR teams count close to 83,000 barn swallows flocking in Koronadal City

Details: Written by Administrator

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06 March 2019, Koronadal City – In a bid to manage the flocks of migratory wild birds in Koronadal City, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regional Executive Director Nilo B. Tamoria authorized the conduct of a scientific bird counting on March 4, 2019.

Five teams coming from the different DENR offices, namely the regional, provincial and community (CENRO Banga) offices joined forces to do the bird population estimates.

Forester Zobair B. Sidic of PENRO of South Cotabato, the lead office in the bird count, identified the birds as barn swallow (Hirundu rustica) in a briefing conducted before jump off to bird count.

During night time, the birds are seen roosting on power transmission lines along Gen. Santos Drive and Alunan Avenue in this city.

Some 82,852 barn swallows were counted using direct counting and unit-sampling estimates between 9:00 to 10:30 P.M. of March 4, 2019.

Barn swallows arrived in flocks starting September and will leave the area between March to April 2019 according to Forester Shalimar A. Disomangcop, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (PENRO) for South Cotabato. “The Philippines, part of the 22-country East Asian-Australasian Fly Way, is one of the wintering grounds of the said birds which escaped the harsh winter in cooler countries,” Mr. Disomangcop explained.

A fly way is defined as an established air route of migratory birds (https://www.merriam-webster.com).