SEDPI, as partner in Climate Change Commission’s (CCC) eco-town project, facilitated a meeting between the Local Government of San Vicente, Palawan and the Dungganon Bank, on January 17, 2013. This meeting aimed to explore the possibility of making Dungganon the financial service provider for the eco-town project. The CCC project hopes to create economically stable and ecologically sustainable communities to address vulnerabilities brought about by Climate Change.
SEDPI Team, two San Vicente local government unit (LGU) officers and two municipal council members went to Dungganon-Roxas Branch to meet its Branch Manager, Mr. Rolando Deniega. It was advised that Dungganon conducts orientation with possible clients, especially those residents who are beneficiaries of DSWD’s 4Ps and who were trained on Financial Literacy by SEDPI. The orientation for the residents will highlight the promotion of Dungganon’s savings product to encourage them to save at least one to two months before considering availing loans.
An important part of the project is for the LGU to create ordinances to make San Vicente conducive for microfinance and enterprise development. The LGU should also ensure that a reputable microfinance institution, in this case, the Dungganon Bank, offer financial products that participants can avail to at least finance the start-up of their livelihood. In aid of that, SEDPI facilitated trainings on microfinance and enterprise development, and Making Markets Work for the Poor to 21 participants from the LGU. The LGU is tasked to provide trainings on vegetable farming and farm management to the 4P beneficiaries. This is to ensure that the capacity of the vegetable farmers to manage backyard gardens are sufficient to pay of loans from Dungganon Bank.
SEDPI hopes that participation of local banks in government projects and their openness to extend their products to the poor will do wonders in the overall resiliency of the community. Their involvement in the project should result to wider financial inclusion for those who never had the experience of being involved in financial systems. It should provide local banks opportunity to cater to clients not tapped before, and as a result, should push them to come up with more financial products and services.