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December 23, 1996

 

DAR MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 01-97

 

TO                :     All DAR Regional Directors,
                           Provincial Agrarian Reform Officers,
                           Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers,
                           All Concerned Personnel

SUBJECT    :     Guidelines And Procedures On The
                           Assessment Of The Level Of
                           Development Of ARCs

 

A.     Background and Rationale

            The Department of Agrarian Reform has adopted the strategy of building viable Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) in the development of the rural countryside and free it from rural poverty. It has been recognized as a relevant approach to address the developmental requirements of the marginalized sector because it harnesses the concerted efforts and synergy among the various development players thus, maximizing the use of available resources. It is people centered and area focused to show concrete results and greater impact. However, the basic question remains: how do we measure ARC development? In response to this need, the guidelines and procedures on the assessment of the level of development of ARCs is hereby issued.   ACcEHI

B.     Objectives

            The general objective of the ARC Level of Development Assessment (ALDA) is to determine the growth of the ARCs and the extent by which inputs are translated into outputs which in turn generate effects among the target beneficiaries and these effects ultimately creates impact on the socio-economic life of the community.

            Specifically, the ALDA aims to:

1.         Assess the status of the ARCs in the areas of Land Tenure Improvement, Organization Building and Strengthening, Farm Productivity and Income which includes economic and physical infrastructure support, agri-industrialization, and Basic Social Services;

2.         Determine the ARC level of development and identify its strengths and weaknesses based on their present status; and

3.         Determine the appropriate and relevant interventions to be undertaken both by the community/PO and implementors of DAR (municipal, provincial, regional and national levels), NGOs, LGUs and Line Agencies.

C.     Operational Framework

            With ALDA the current state of the ARCs shall be determined according to the eight Key Result Areas of ARC development. Analysis shall be based on the content of the development intervention or the programs, projects and activities implemented in the ARCs along with the 8 KRAs and the process or manner in which these interventions were implemented. The current state shall be matched with the criteria of a viable ARC to determine the gaps. The performance gaps herein defined shall serve as the springboard for planning needed interventions to bring about the desired level of development of agrarian reform communities.

            ARC development should be measured in terms of social, political economic, environmental and cultural viability of the community.

D.     Methodology

1.         Indicators

            The three major goals of the ARC development strategy are better quality of life, people empowerment and sustainable agro-industrial development. Interventions by the different ARC players representing the GO, PO and NGO sectors were intensified through tripartism to attain these goals.

            The ALDA has five (5) major Key Indicators, namely: 1) Land Tenure Improvement; 2) Organization Building and Strengthening; 3) Farm Productivity and Income; 4) Basic Social Services and 5) Gender and Development (GAD). The other three components such as ECOPISS, Agri-based Industrialization, Ecosystem Development are subsumed under these five major indicators. The criteria of each indicator per major component is shown in Table 1 (Evaluation Criteria-Annex 1).

2.         Guidelines in the Conduct of ARC Level of Development Assessment

a.         Frequency and Team Composition

1)        The ALDA shall be conducted every semester to determine the progress and growth of the ARCs and at the same time identify relevant strengthening activities or interventions.   aDECHI

2)        A team composed of DAR Regional and Provincial ARC Coordinators, partner NGO and representative from PO/Coop shall be responsible for conducting the ALDA.

b.         Data Gathering and Evaluation

1)        Prior to the conduct of the assessment, the team shall review the data gathering tool (questionnaire-Annex 2) for familiarization. The team must identify and agree among themselves which items should be gathered through interview, FGD, review of existing documents, observations, etc.

2)        Data/information gathering, could be culled-out both from the primary or secondary sources. The evaluation team must review all the existing documents and reports such as ARCDPs, PBD Monitoring reports, Coop/Organizations' By-Laws, VMGO, written policies, financial reports, systems installed, ARC/Barangay profiles, DF's chronicles and PDC and MDC (LGUs) reports, etc.

3)        Focus group discussion (FGD)/interview with the MARO/DF/DW and the members/leaders of the organization and some members of the community shall be undertaken for the primary data requirement. Only questions applicable to each group shall be asked during the interview and FGD.

4)        All cooperatives/POs within the ARCs which DAR has intervention shall be subjected to Assessment.

5)        The respondent from the coop/org. shall be at least 80% of the Leadership (BOD and Committees), 10% of the general membership, all members of the Core Management Staff. Some members of the community shall also be asked for validation.

6)        After the data gathering and interview, results shall be analyzed and subjected to ALDA indicators using the evaluation criteria in Table 1.

c.         Computation of Rating

1)        Each ARC shall be rated in each of the indicator per major area i.e., LTI, OBAS, FPI, BSS and GAD by relating the actual performance to the expected level of performance.

2)        The rating scale shall be 1 to 3 in each indicator where one is the lowest and three is the highest. In rating the performance, all activities shall be considered equally important.

3)        Table 1 should be used in determining the points for each indicator with specific standard such as a) percentage; b) required frequency; and c) performance of specific task.

4)        Table 2 — Data Processing Sheet (Annex 3) shall be used in the processing of the result of the assessment. Determine the rating per major component. Then compute the ARC overall rating.

Formula for computation:

1.         Per Major Component

            Major Component     Rating by Component

a.         LTI                              Rl = L/DI

b.         OBAS                         Ro = O/Do

c.         FPI                              Rf = F/Df

d.         BSS                             Rb = B/Db

e.         GAD                           Rg = G/Dg

2.         Overall Rating

            OR = L + O + F + B + G / åD

Where:

L          = Total points for LTI

O = Total points for OBAS

F = Total points for Farm Productivity and Income

B = Total points for Basic Social Services

G = Total points for Gender and Development

D1 = Number of indicators for LTI

Do = Number of indicators for OBAS

Df = Number of indicators for FPI

Db = Number of indicators for BSS

Dg = Number of indicators for GAD

åD = Summation of all Indicators (D1+Do+Df+Db+Dg)

d.         Interpretation and Analysis of Final Score

1.)       The interpretation of the final score and appropriate intervention shall be as follows:   TCAScE

            Range of Rating                          Interpretation

            1.00-1.66                               Level 1 (Underdevelop)

            1.67-2.33                               Level 2 (Developing)

            (with no component

            rating below 1.5)

            2.34-3.00                               Level 3 (Developed)

            (with no component

            rating below 2.0)

2.)       The evaluation team should come-up with a written analysis of the ALDA results including the strengths and weaknesses of the ARCs under each major indicators. The result of the assessment should be presented and discussed with the Regional and Provincial ARC Coordinators, ARC Task Force for their reflection and courses of action. It shall be the responsibility of the regional and provincial ARC coordinators to provide feedback on the result of assessment of the ARC to the MARO and DF.

3.         Action Planning

a.)        After the result of the ALDA have been discussed with the community (organization or coop) an action planning shall be conducted. The DF/DW together with the leaders and selected members of the organization shall develop a 6 month action plan. The plan shall indicate the intervention to the identified weak areas of the ARCs.

b.         Steps preparing the ARC Action Plan:

1)        Determine the overall direction of the ARC after assessing the opportunities for development.

2)        Identify the needs of the ARCs as a whole and the need of the organization in particular. Targets should be set corresponding to specific activities under each KRA for viable ARC, time requirement, and persons or groups responsible for the activities.

3)        Funding should also be indicated in the plan including the sources of these funding.

4)        The plan should be prepared by the official representatives of the POs within the ARC using the format in Annex 4 and presented to the POs or community for approval.

E.      Reporting and Feedbacking

1.         ARC Action Plans and ALDA results shall be consolidated per province and to be submitted to DARRO-SSD. The DARRO-SSD shall likewise consolidate and prepare a regional ALDA report and submit to DARCO; attention: BARBD. BARBD shall prepare the national report of the ALDA and ARC action plan to be submitted to SSO and OSEC.   CcHDaA

2.         The ALDA as comprehensive assessment of the ARC level of development shall replace the Organizational Maturity Assessment (OMA). It shall be noted that the OMA indicators form part of the OBAS component of ALDA.

3.         ALDA should be conducted in all ARCs semestrally. Reports on its conduct shall be prepared and submitted on or before 15 of July for the first semester and 15 of January of the incoming year for the second semester.

4.         ALDA report shall form part of the semestral reports and performance contract of PAROs and RDs.

F.      Effectivity

            This Memorandum Circular shall take effect starting the first semester of 1997.

            Diliman, Quezon City, December 23, 1996.

 

(SGD.) ERNESTO D. GARILAO

Secretary



CONTACT INFORMATION

Department of Agrarian Reform
Elliptical Road, Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel. No.: (632) 928-7031 to 39

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