Eastern Visayas State University

Graduate School
Tacloban City

Assignment
Name: Sandra Mae C. Acuin
Program: Master in Rural Development
Subject: RD 565.9 Project Planning
Professor: Dr. Rose Anna L. Rueferzo

The Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Livelihood (FishCORAL) Project is a foreign assisted
project of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources with the International Fund for
Agricultural Development. The project will be implemented at the span of five years (2016-
2020) covering four regions namely Region 5, Region 8, CARAGA and BARMM with 11 bays
and gulfs in the country. In Eastern Visayas, it targets 36 coastal municipalities and 2 cities
which encompasses 1 gulf and 3 bays (Leyte Gulf, Maqueda-Villareal Bays, Sialgo-Cabalian
Bay and Matarinao Bay), reaching 500 coastal barangays. The overall goal is to reduce
poverty in poor coastal communities, improve food and nutrition security and increase
household incomes in the Philippines. This will be achieved by building fishing communities'
capacity to sustainably manage fishery and coastal resources and by ensuring sustainable
engagement in diversified livelihood activities. The project has two major components: (i)
coastal resource management; and (ii) livelihood development.
The agency conducted a consultation meeting with the regional project management team
as part of its monitoring and evaluation. The activity had a focus group discussion on the
issues and concerns on the different areas of management. It was attended by a total of 22
team members particularly on Monitoring and Evaluation-3, Administrative and Finance-4,
Coastal Resources Management- 4, Livelihood and Development- 4, Bay Coordinators- 5,
Knowledge Management-1, Institution and Gender-1. Based on the assessment of the team
members, four key areas were considered as major contributors on the efficient delivery of
project outputs. The key areas were (1) personnel, (2) communication and coordination, (3)
procurement, (4) administrative support. To prioritize they key area and specific issue to be
addressed, the team utilized a voting and ranking system.
Needs Assessment
Table 1. Ranking of key areas
Key areas No. of votes Rank
Personnel 10 1
Communication and coordination 3 4
Procurement 4 3
Administrative support 5 2
Personnel got the highest number of votes from the participants. Hence, the team identified
the pressing issues related to personnel
Table 2. Issues and Concerns on Personnel
Key Area Specific issues/concerns
Personnel Multi-performance of duties under project components
Frequent turnover of staff
Low number of technical and support staff
Budget ceiling for travel expenses reimbursement

Table 3. Ranking of Personnel Issues and Concerns

Specific issues/concerns No. of votes Rank
Multi-performance of duties under project 9 1
components
Frequent turnover of staff 3 4
Low number of technical and support staff 4 3
Budget ceiling for travel expenses reimbursement 6 2

After the result of the ranking on personnel issues and concerns, it was found out that
additional workload is the primary challenge faced by the project team staff.

Root Cause Analysis

To give light on the rise of the said challenge, the team utilized a root cause analysis. From
the additional workload per project component as the main problem, three root causes
were identified. First is the low number of technical staff which is due to frequent turnover
of staff since there is a limited budget compared to previous year of implementation, as the
project will close on December 2020.
The team member proposed the following alternative solutions to address the issue on
multi-performance of duties under project components:
Alternative Solution 1: Conduct capability and technical trainings
Alternative Solution 2: Hiring of additional technical and support staff
Alternative Solution 3: Decrease activities per project component

Comparison of Alternative Solutions to Address Multi-performance of duties under

project components of the BFAR FishCORAL-8 Project Staff
Criterion 1 Criterion 2 Criterion 3 Criterion 4 Sum of the
Weighted
Ratings
Ease of Activity Less Time Fund Probability of
conceptualization Requirement Allocation approval from
and formulation the Project
Managers
Weight 30% 20% 30% 20% 100%
ALT SL 1 8 x 0.30 = 2.4 7 x 0.20 = 1.4 6 x 0.30 = 1.8 6 x 0.20 = 1.2 6.8
ALT SL 2 5 x 0.30 = 1.5 4 x 0.20 = 0.8 7 x 0.30 = 2.1 5 x 0.20 = 1 5.4
ALT SL 3 3 x 0.30 = 0.9 3 x 0.20= 0.6 5 x 0.30 = 1.5 2 x 0.20 = 0.4 3.4

Score 1-2 = very low 3-4 = low 5-6 = medium 7-8 = high 9-10 = very high

Three alternative solutions were provided by the project staff namely, (i) conduct capability
and technical trainings, (ii) hiring of additional technical and support staff, (iii) decrease
activities per project component. From the alternative solutions, the conduct of capability
and technical trainings was deemed feasible. The team considered four criteria (ease of
activity conceptualization and formulation, less time requirement, fund allocation and
probability of approval of the project managers) for the determination of the most feasible
solution. The hiring of additional staff and decrease of activities has the highest fund
allocation needed which is less likely to be addressed given that the project will be closing
on 2020. On the other hand, decreasing of activities per project component got the lowest
probability of approval from the project managers since the target outputs are already
stipulated in the logical framework of the project implementation manual. Also, Region 8
may drop in terms of physical and financial accomplishment. Nevertheless, the team
determined the best alternative solution for the problem which is the conduct of capability
and technical trainings to regional project team and community facilitators. It is the easiest
to conceptualize and formulate an activity proposal with the readily available fund under the
capacity building trainings for staff (Output 5, Activity 1 in the Annual Work Plan and Budget
2020). Because of its feasibility regarding the formulation and fund allocation, it will require
the least time to implement and have the highest probability of being approved by the project
team managers. In conclusion, a Capability and Technical Trainings on Coastal Management
Resources Management and Livelihood Development will be conducted starting January-
June 2020 to all BFAR FishCORAL-8 staff.

Project Charter
Project Name Capability and Technical Project Code FSHCROL-2020-01
Trainings on Coastal
Management Resources
Management and
Livelihood Development

Start Date January 2020 End Date June 2020

Sponsor: Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources-FishCORAL 8

Project Manager Ruperto F. Sievert Team Members Monitoring and
Regional Project Evaluation
Coordinator  Darvin Rosa
 Michellene
Esperas
 Fermida
Cromente
Support  BFAR
Administration and
Training
Finance
Division
 Marilyn Budlayan
 Fisheries
Management  Joan Estopin
Resources  Ritchelle Dela
Division Cruz
 Provincial  Lehana Espinosa
Fisheries Coastal Resources
Office- Leyte, Management
Samar,  Shem San Jose
Southern  Laarni Macalalag
Leyte,  Stephanie
Eastern Villaceran
Samar  Angelie Cabales
Livelihood Development
 Elaine Merro
 Ma. Theresa
Fumar
 Paulynne Santos
 Tessa Palminiano
Bay Coordinator
  Marjorie Risos
 Sandra Mae Acuin
 Jeffrey Balboa
 Elsie Mira
 Lalaine Biong
Knowledge Management
 Leo Abuda
Institution and Gender
 Jinuard Asis

Goals and Objectives Scope

 To increase the competence of  Capacity and technical trainings will
project staff in terms of fisheries cover the basic concepts in fisheries
technologies particularly on technologies, salient features of
aquaculture and processing national fishery law, business plan
practices, fishery laws (RA 10654) appraisal and formulation, basic
and ecosystems approach to financial literacy, simple
fisheries management bookkeeping and leadership
 To capacitate the project staff in building. The series of trainings will
identification of diversified fishery be rendered to the regional project
projects and business plan team staff and community
formulation facilitators starting on January to
 To equip project staff in actual June 2020.
project implementation in the target
coastal communities

Approach
 Assessment on educational background, past work experiences,
trainings/seminars attended of the project staff for the past five years.
 Lecture discussion on the concepts of coastal resources management, livelihood
development and community organizing
 Workshop of necessary outputs and simulation of actual activities under coastal
resources management, livelihood development and community organizing
 Field and educational visits (e.g. conduct focus group discussion, on sight
observations) in selected target coastal communities and peoples’ organization
with good practices or success stories
 Assessment and evaluation on the actual performance of team members by
December 2020

Milestones Dependencies/Related Projects

  Competency evaluation report of
project staff
 Conducted coastal resources
management activities in target
coastal communities (e.g. fish
sanctuary management workshop,
fishery law enforcement team
training, information,
communication and education
campaign on regulations of various
marine resources
 Business plan formulation
 Roll-out on coastal resources
management and livelihood
development trainings to LGUs and
PO beneficiaries
 Established fisher folk organizations
 Continuous strengthening of
peoples’ organization
Deliverable
 Furnished competency evaluation
report of all project staff
 Conduct Fishery Law Enforcement
Team trainings and IEC on marine
resources regulation in 38 covered
LGUs, Fish Sanctuary Management
Workshop in 20 LGUs
 100 business plans submitted
 100 fisherfolk organizations
established
 Assessment and evaluation report
of project staff by 3rd week of
December 2020 to Regional Project
Coordinator, Provincial Fisheries
Officer, Assistant Regional Director,
Regional Director
Assumptions
 Increase in project staff performance upon application of what they have learned
during the series of capability and technical trainings
 Availability of respective resource
persons (BFAR Training Division
and FMRED)
 Schedule of LGU and fisher folk
organizations for field visits
 Downloading of fund from central
office to regional office
Completion Criteria
 Submitted competency evaluation
report on the 2nd week of January
2020
 Conducted Fishery Law
Enforcement Team trainings and
IEC on marine resources regulation
in 38 covered LGUs, Fish Sanctuary
Management Workshop in 20 LGUs
 100 business plans approved
 100 fisherfolk organizations
registered
 Submitted actual performance
assessment by 3rd week of
December 2020 to Regional Project
Coordinator, Provincial Fisheries
Officer, Assistant Regional Director,
Regional Director
  No conflict of schedule with the resource persons, LGU focal persons and
fisherfolk beneficiaries
 On time downloading of fund from central to regional office

Risks and Issues

 Sudden changes of schedule due to unavailability of resource persons, LGU
personnel and fisherfolk beneficiaries
 Fund shortage
 Non-compliance of supplier of venue, catering services and accommodation
 Limited supply for logistics

Signed by
Sponsor: Dr. Juan D. Albaladejo Date: December 18, 2019
Regional Director
Project Manager: Ruperto F. Sievert Date: December 16, 2019
Regional Project Coordinator