A Bookkeeping seminar was conducted in two communities of Abra namely Masablang, Licuan-Ba-ay and Binasaran, Malibcong which are program areas of CorDis RDS. On April 28-29 a two day activity was conducted in Masablang, Licuan Ba-ay and on May 1-2 the same activity was also conducted in Binasaran, Malibcong.
A total of 53 participants attended the said activity. The participants in Masabalang were mainly composed of the members of Masablang Farmers Organizarion (MaFA) and participants in Binasaran were composed of members of the Manapnap Community Organization (MCO). There were also participants from different barrios who were interested in bookkeeping. These People’s Organizations are partners for an integrated community development program and community-based disaster risk reduction and management project for the last 6 years until now.
The purpose of the activity was to impart additional knowledge to People’s organizations in managing their self-help livelihood projects and for the participants to further comprehend the importance of socio-economic projects in the development of their community.
The community organizers of CorDis RDS serve as instructors of the activity. The activity was focused on how to simply manage, record and audit the projects of the PO’s such as Rice Cooperative and Rice Mill effectively. The participants were also given an orientation about how to properly manage projects for it to be sustainable in order to continuously provide benefits to the community.
Part of the training are workshops wherein participants apply the simple format for proper recording and auditing that was taught by the community organizers. All the participants actively participated especially the community leaders and those who were assigned in-charge of recording.
The bookkeeping activity was requested by the two People’s Organization to the CorDis RDS so that their services to their members will be more improved. In Masablang, they needed the training so that they can further improve and understand the concept of self-help service of their palay cooperative which is continuously supporting their community for over 20 years. This palay cooperative was created in order for the residents in Masablang will no longer travel far to buy rice and borrow money with high interest during lean months. In Manapnap, the reason they requested the activity was to improve the management of their Rice Mill which had been supporting them for 29 years. They wanted to improve their management skills so that they can continuously provide services not only to their member residents but also residents from neighboring barrios.
The participants had a positive reaction toward the activity. Participants who are from other barrios said that they also want the same activity to be conducted in their respected areas.
Maria Bautista, a participant of the training said that she is grateful that the seminar was conducted. Even though some part of the activity was confusing, she was able to learn a simple way of recording and auditing.
Lydia Viernes, also a participant said, “Ibingay ko ti inadal ko iti dadduma pay nga padak nga mangimatmaton kadagiti naduma duma nga proyekto iti umili” (I will share the knowledge that I have gained through this activity to other individuals who are managing other community projects.)