Rationale. The Program Management Office (PMO) has scheduled an orientation for the newly elected officials of the eight (8) member municipalities of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, the City of Tacurong and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Members of the province of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat on the existence of the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance (AVLDA). The City/Municipal/Provincial Budget Officer, Treasurer, Accountant, and the Local Government Operations Officer shall also be invited to join the orientation. The Municipal/City/Provincial Environment Officer (M/C/PENRO) and the Planning Development Coordinator of each of the municipalities/city/province shall serve as focal persons to assist the PMO.

Part of the activity would be the presentation of the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance profile and activities undertaken during the past 10 months of operation including financial status of the Alliance.

The orientation will serve as basis of continuing support and policy development of the respective LGU members.

Rationale. After two months of formal operation through the organization of the Program Management Office manned by four personnel, the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance (AVLDA) has been launched last March 19, 2004.

Prior to its launching, the PMO staff, together with the Technical Working Group of AVLDA attended a Seminar Workshop on Program Development, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation last January 29-30, 2004 at Tacurong City through the assistance of Local Government Support Program (LGSP) and came up with the Operational Plan for Year 2004. integrated in the plan were specific activities for Comprehensive Planning and Systems Review, and Mid-Year Evaluation of the Programs and Projects. The conduct of the AVLDA Comprehensive Planning for a FIVE-YEAR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM should have been done last April to May 2004. but because of inevitable circumstances like the May 2004 national and local election, the PMO has not been able to convene LGU members for the writ-shop. The planning was re-scheduled this July 2004.

In preparation for the actual conduct of the AVLDA Comprehensive Planning on Watershed Management and Protection, the PMO staff, together with the PPDO of the Province of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat shall meet for two days to discuss the pre-requisites/preparations for the training. The activity will include preparation of the training design, review of the EMP to identify issues/concerns for planning, preparation of the training schedules and programs, identify gaps and problems of PMO, and to develop monitoring and evaluation tools/matrix for the mid-year evaluation and assessment.

Rationale. During the National Conference on Integration of Local Governance in Forest Conservation, Livelihood and Eco-tourism held last November 9-12, 2004 at Subic Bay, Olongapo City, Zambales, AVLDA was able to present its programs and mandates. During the conference, the European Commission (EC) opened a venue for AVLDA to possibly access grant assistance through their SMALL GRANT FACILITY PROGRAM (SGFP). The SGFP had set a deadline for the submission of project proposal on January 20, 2005.

The Program Management Office (PMO) of the AVLDA with its ardent desire to realize the much needed support for fund accessing is requesting members of AVLDA Technical Working Group to sit down and formulate a Project Proposal for the abovementioned project with the assistance of the technical staff of the Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) who have the expertise on watershed management and Geographical Information System (GIS). ESSC is being tapped to serve as AVLDA EU-NGO-Partner in the implementation of the proposed project to satisfy the basic requirement, re: EU local partner, for eligibility with the EU-SGFP window. ESSC has been implementing EU-funded projects in the different parts of the country and hence, has established its track record as EU_local NGO Partner. AVLDA through the PMO has an initial partnership with ESSC through the Landscape Mapping Project funded under the AVLDA local funds which shall hopefully commenced by the first quarter of year 2005.

In the long run, it is expected that this initial project shall paved way for AVLDA to establish its own track record and credibility in managing and implementing responsive, relevant and sound environmental projects in the Allah Valley Areas. Long term partnership with other institutions is being considered as a strong pillar of the Alliance's existence.