Project News

• Terminal Evaluation and 6th JCC Meeting (1)

Furthermore, the summary of five criteria evaluation of the project was described below ;

Relevance of the project is very high on the ground that : Natural disasters are occurred frequently in the Philippines; Flood control is relevant in the context of national policy in the Philippines; The identification of project target group is highly appropriate; An approach adopted in the project is highly pertinent for the achievement of project purpose, The project is highly relevant to aid policy of Japanese government for the Philippines.

Effectiveness of the project is high on the ground that:The project purpose is achieved at the certain level in a sense that (1) knowledge and skills of FCSEC engineers have been enhanced to a large extent in terms of planning, designing and construction supervision of flood control project, research, training and information management compared with their capacity five years ago. (2) eight out of ten RO/DEO which responded to a questionnaire already utilize TSG/Manual; The causal relationship of five outputs and project purpose is strong and they contributed toward the achievement of project purpose.

Efficiency of the project is high on the ground that : Four outputs are produced at the satisfactory level and one (output 5) at the moderate level; In producing output 1, the strategy of the pilot project implementation is very appropriate; Shortage of C/P as well as slow disbursement of local budget negatively affected the effective implementation of project activities and the achievement of outputs.

Impact of the project is high on the ground that:During the survey by the evaluation team, no negative effects were identified or reported that brought about by the project; The following positive effects were identified.

1. Some RO/DEO are reportedly using TSG/Manuals produced by FCSEC/ENCA for designing and constructing flood control structures within their jurisdiction area.
2. FCSEC plays a crucial role in developing M/P and F/S for 12 river basin throughout the country.
3. The following positive effects were observed at pilot project sites.
   1. Engineers at DEO in the 3 rd phase beyond JICA project in Kinanliman pilot project have applied by themselves new knowledge and skills which were acquired through 1st and 2nd phases.
   2. Engineers at DEO in Sta.Fe pilot project have learned cost-effective and low-emission soil cement techniques and they now plan to use the technique for the construction of flood control structures. An idea of applying the soil cement technique at other DEO’s is also emerging.

Sustainability of the project is ambiguous at the time of the terminal evaluation because the organizational support to FCSEC by the Philippine government is not clear as of mid-February 2010. If the rationalization plan is endorsed by the government and FCSEC holds permanent status, human resource and financial are secured even after the termination of the project. Hence, FCSEC could function toward overall goal and sustainability can be considered as high. If the FCSEC permanency is not realized, provision of human resources and finance would continue over the next couple of years for studying on 12 river basins but the shortage of staff and slow disbursement of budget would prevail as the case of now. Furthermore, the role of the FCSEC and its expertise will not be sustained after the termination of M/P and F/S development unless permanency is realized. There is a serious risk that the enhanced capacity of FCSEC might fade away if the engineers are moved to other positions inside or outside DPWH upon the termination of M/P and F/S development process. Sustainability is considered as low in such a case.

The project is very positive overall, at the time of the terminal evaluation, and five evaluation criteria results are favorable, except that sustainability is dependent on the policy choice by the government of the Philippines. Furthermore, the enhanced knowledge and skills of FCSEC engineers, which were materialized through their actual experiences of the project implementation, are truly precious assets in addressing flood control issues in the Philippines as there is no such quality expertise within the country other than in FCSEC. All the efforts made by C/P and Japanese experts as well as other concerned stakeholders involved in the project.

6th JCC Meeting

These assessments were officially approved at the 6th Joint Coordinating Committee Meeting on February 24 (35 attendants). Mr. H. Yoshino, second secretary of embassy of Japan and Mr. N. Matsuda, chief representative of JICA Philippine Office gave a speech in the opening and closing of the meeting, respectively.

Mr. Matsuda said "most of the outputs have been accomplished and the objectives of the project would be accomplished by the end of the project duration. I'm hoping that FCSEC will continue to develop what they have gained in this project and can continue to be a core organization which will be responsible for Flood Control and Sabo in this country. From the viewpoint of sustainability, however, there are still many remaining issues to be addressed by FCSEC & DPWH as well to fully meet the requirements of not only the Project but also the real needs of the country in the field of the Flood Control and Sabo to protect human lives and their assets from natural disaster. We at JICA are always ready to support your efforts on mitigating damage of natural disasters in a form of financial and technical assistance as long as DPWH show strong commitment and ownership."