Category: Uncategorized

Ilog Kinderhome Foundation, Inc., a child-focused social development institution based at Ilog, Negros Occidental, conducted its midterm assessment for the Empowering Indigenous Peoples for Inclusive Development Project at the Racsos Woodland Resort, Guimbal, Iloilo last 1 to 4 July, 2010.

The project is implemented with funding support by the European Union until December 2013.  Mr. Canares, managing consultant of Step Up Consulting Services facilitated the midterm assessment.  His involvement in this project started last year when he helped package the proposal for application with the European Union.

Mr. Michael Canares, managing consultant of Step Up Consulting Services supported the efforts of the Bohol Organic Farmers Alliance, an aggrupation of groups, associations, and cooperatives that promote organic farming in Bohol in a recently concluded training on Alliance Building and Board Governance. The activity was conducted last 22nd of June 2009 at the FCB Foundation Training Room, Tagbilaran City.

Step Up Consulting Services signed a new contract with Kindernothilfe-Germany to conduct an organizational assessment of one of its partners in the Philippines based in Davao City.  The engagement intends to assist the partner to come up with critical action steps in ensuring organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

The engagement is to be implemented for the whole month of June 2010 with terminal report due 5 days after the end of the month.

Step Up Consulting Services was contracted by the Municipality of Pavia, in Iloilo to facilitate the preparation of a gender-responsive comprehensive development plan. A workshop was held with the planning body of the LGU last June 9 to 11 at Tequero Adventure Resort in Guimaras.

Michael Canares facilitated the three-day activity upon the request of the Great Women Project local area coordinator Ms. Bing Lao.

Michael Canares attends this week a training on mainstreaming gender in the preparation of the Comprehensive Development Plan.  He is joined by an associate of Step Up Ms. Regina Estorba-Macalandag, invited personally by the Local Area Coordinator Ms. Ester Espinosa.

The training is held at the MMLDC in Antipolo, May 24-25 and is participated in by roughly 40 people across the country.

The Provincial Technical Working Group on food products headed by Bohol Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Mayette Gasatan conducted its planning session last 21 May 2010 at Casa Rey Francis, Tagbilaran City.  The activity was intended to define priorities of the working group in four priority products, namely, ubi, banana chips, cara-beef kusahos, and calamay.  As an output, the planning workshop was able to define the priority action areas of the agencies present to ensure that micro-entrepreneurs engaged in the production process will be assisted in making their livelihoods sustainable.

The PTWG on Food is composed of several agencies. Besides BCCI, national agencies as the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Agrarian Reform, Agricultural Training Institute, Bohol Agricultural Promotion Center, and business sector representatives (Bohol Quality Pastries, Bucarez Processing) were present in the gathering.

Step Up recently concluded its audit of Sacred Heart Learning Center based in Baclayon and a review of the financial statements of Bohol International College Alumni Association. Both clients are part of Step Up’s mission program of making financial services accessible to small organizations while at the same time offering on-the-job trainees a concrete experience in the conduct of financial attestation services.

Step Up trainees Paul Stroud, Julius Lim, and Abraham Apit were involved in this engagement. Abraham Apit heads the junior team in ensuring that the objectives of the engagement were met.

The Nortehanon Access Center (NAC), Inc. was formed in late 2005 by a group of civil society organizations in Northern Samar.  The aim was to establish a broad coalition of civil society organizations that will work together and harmonize development efforts in reducing poverty in the province. With the support from the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF), a poverty mapping was conducted in 2005 to determine the poverty situation in Northern Samar and identify the poorest municipalities based on selected poverty indicators. The result of the poverty mapping posed a challenge to the local NGOs and POs.  And in October 2005, a general assembly was convened attended by 33 NGO and PO representatives which elected interim members of NAC governing board.  The interim Board subsequently drafted the VMGO and formed an organizational structure that would best respond to the development challenges in Northern Samar.  NAC was finally registered with SEC in March 27, 2006 and was granted an operational fund from PEF in December 2006.

Four years after, NAC sees the need to restrategize to make itself relevant to the communities that it sought to serve.  A strategic and financial planning was conducted by Step Up Consulting Services with the board and staff members of NAC.  The activity was held at Castle Peak Hotel in Cebu City last May 5-7, 2010.  Michael Canares, Step Up managing consultant facilitate the activity funded by Peace and Equity Foundation.

Step Up Consulting services started working with the Multi-sectoral Alliance for the Development of Negros on a consulting engagement that seeks to strengthen the organization’ monitoring and evaluation system and financial management.

MUAD-Negros is an island-wide alliance of NGOs, POs, church-based groups, and multi-sectoral bodies organized to help improve the quality of life in Negros island. To realize this vision, MUAD-Negros defined its program, “We-CARE Negrosm,” to assist 10,000 poor families by 2013 by establishing stable sources of livelihood access to basic social services and a balanced environment, and effective governance.

Step Up’s commitment to MUAD-Negros will run up to August 2010 when the revised M and E manual shall be completed and an enhanced financial management system will be implemented by the organization.

The Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project is a governance and capacity development project that aims to promote and support a gender-responsive enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment, particularly those in microenterprises.

Bohol is one of the eight project sites across the country of the said project. More particularly, the project works with the Provincial Government, and the municipalities of Balilihan, Buenavista, and Jagna.

Step Up works with Jagna in at least two engagements – the finalization of its Comprehensive Development Plan and the formulation of the strategic document for the convergence strategy for the Calamay industry.  It has also been recently engaged by the Municipality of Balilihan in the preparation of its Comprehensive Development Plan. The Provincial Technical Working Group of Bohol also commissioned the firm in the consultative conference on women’s economic enterprises, and the recent annual evaluation and planning held in Anda, Bohol.

Step Up’s involvement with the GWP started with its Managing Director was invited by the Philippine Council for Women to attend a training on gender training for non-gender experts in Manila sometime last year.