The province of Kalinga is located within the northern Cordillera region of the Philippines, twelve hours away from Metro Manila by land. Through a partnership with the Small Business Corporation (SBC), SEDPI conducted an organizational appraisal for BIBAK Multi-Purpose Cooperative (BMPC) running from May 22 to 26, 2013. BMPC operates mainly in Tabuk, with its home office situated within the campus of the Kalinga-Apayao State College. Some of its clients are coffee farmers in Balawag that are registered under the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Rural Micro Enterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP). SBC also provides financial assistance to DTI’s RuMEPP program that prioritizes 19 provinces in the country, one thereof is Kalinga province.
SEDPI offers Organizational Appraisal (OA) as one of its capacity-building services to microfinance institutions. OA aims to analyze an organization’s overall performance in terms of finance, human resource, information systems, product design, governance, marketing and promotion, and general operations.
A majority of BMPC’s clients are from the academe – teachers and school staff– while a small percentage is composed of RuMEPP clients. The academicians have stayed longer with the cooperative than the RuMEPP clients, with most memberships lasting 5 years or more. Meanwhile, the coffee farmers recently joined BMPC in 2010 when the program piloted in Kalinga. SEDPI’s initial findings reveal that the clients’ membership to BMPC has helped them in funding their income generating activities (IGAs), educational expenses for their children, and food costs. In line with this, their economic status has greatly improved as compared the years prior to their affiliation.
The clients’ IGAs involve rice and coffee farming and fruit harvesting. Some of the teachers live inside the campus and a portion of farm land is given to them. Rice and coffee planting and fruit harvesting are two main farming activities salient to BMPC clients. In Balawag, a distinct mushroom cultivation is also exercised. IGAs either expand or produce new products and services. Equipment acquisition pushed through as well.
Moreover, the results disclose that educational expenses for the clients’ children are financially shouldered in terms of payment in tuition fee, school supplies, and daily allowance. It is also notable that BMPC clients’ diet has improved in the past year, attributing it to the cooperative’s financial services. Part of the appraisal is assessing human resources management and employee well-being of the cooperative. According to SEDPI’s findings, management staff has low satisfaction in terms of its incentive scheme despite exemplary performance. Nevertheless, BMPC garners high overall satisfaction from its clients.
Ms. Josephina “Josie” Vengco, the Department Manager in the Small Business Corporation, agreed of the results of the initial findings: “I agree with the initial findings so far, especially the issue pay of staff. It’s good that you pointed out underlying sentiments like those.”
SBC establishes partnerships with private organizations to capacitate microfinance institutions and pre-microfinance institutions. SEDPI is proud to be a partner of SBC and cooperatives such as BMPC. It is also slated to conduct BMPC’s strategic planning session this July.