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| Mayor Jon Aying giving the opening remarks before the FGD activity |
The Municipality of Sara in northern Iloilo province is the target community of West Visayas State University's Unified Extension Program for 2020-2024. The program which aims to develop community resiliency through H.E.L.P. (health, environment, livelihood and pedagogy) interventions was approved in 2019 as per Board of Regents Resolution No. 100-2019 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation was postponed to 2021.
Sara, a 2nd class municipality comprised of 42 barangays is 98 kilometers away from Iloilo City. The municipality was chosen to be the locus of the One Extension Program, One university approach. The local government unit headed by Municipal Mayor Jon N. Aying has repeatedly expressed active and continuous interest in the extension programs offered by the university that can help address the socio-economic needs of the constituent especially. In particular, he envisions the municipality of Sara to be to one, if not the biggest Darag native chicken producing locality in Panay and in the whole country. This year, he targets 500 families to be recipients of UEDC's Darag Native Chicken project.
To jumpstart WVSU's engagement with the municipality, a Stakeholders Analysis and Needs Assessment activity was held last January 22, 2021 at the Sara Municipal Gym. The activity was conducted in partnership with Sara LGU, Panay Darag Breeders Association (PADABA), and Nutriboost Smart Fertlizer. tExtension coordinators and program leaders representing WVSU's colleges and campuses facilitated the conduct of focus group discussions (interview, SWOT and problem tree analysis) with stakeholders from the local government and farmer-beneficiaries. Another FGD session and data gathering with target beneficiaries was conducted in Brgy. Malapaya. The preliminary data gathered from the community will enable West Visayas State University to develop responsive and customized portfolio of extension projects that will address the health, environmental, livelihood and training needs of the constituents.
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