A training on the Barangay Management Information System (BMIS) for Barangay Salvacion, Echague, Isabela, the Municipal Local Government Unit (MLGU) of Echague, Isabela and Isabela State University – Echague Campus was conducted on 26-29 September 2018 at the CHE Research and Extension Center, University of the Philippines Los Baños.
During the four-day engagement, the Barangay Council of Salvacion, representatives from various line agencies of the Echague MLGU, and members of the ISU Core Team were trained on how to encode data to the BMIS software from the BMIS questionnaires. The trainees experienced actual, hands-on encoding of their own barangay’s information, with the assistance of all BIDANI staff.
BMIS Coordinator Charina Maneja led the training. She also discussed and demonstrated how the Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) e-OPT Tool can be merged into the BMIS. Through merging the BNS eOPT Tool and BMIS, inconsistencies on the number, names, age, and sex of children in the barangay can be checked. The various tables and reports that BMIS generated, and data validation through the BMIS software were also discussed.
Arnold Abuyog and Ana Castañeda, Barangay Integrated Development Approach (BIDA) Coordinators, also trained the participants in preparing the barangay profile and the Barangay Integrated Development Plan (BIDP). Abuyog, Castañeda, and Maneja emphasized the need to look into and analyze data coming from the BMIS, which will help the Barangay Council to develop plans, programs, and activities that will ignite development in their area.
In order to appreciate how BMIS helps in development planning, the participants went to Nagcarlan, Laguna for a field visit. Vice Mayor Amie Malabag-Hernandez, and Councilors Rexon Arevalo, Nelia Consignado, and Errol Dorado discussed how they were able to use BMIS in determining their area’s concerns, and in planning for development programs and activities. Before becoming municipal officials, councilors Arevalo, Consignado, and Dorado were exposed to the BIDANI strategy during their respective stints in the barangay LGU level.
Barangay Yukos Chairman Pablo Cabrera, meanwhile, showed to the participants how the barangay LGU of Yukos uses BMIS in their barangay, including presenting and updating basic information about the barangay, and the barangay spot map.
They were also given an orientation on KALINGA supplementary mix at the Rural Improvement Club center in Villa Adelina, Barangay Mayondon, Los Baños, Laguna.
The field visits were led by Network Coordinator for SUCs Pamela Gonzales and Participative Nutrition Enhancement Approach (PNEA) Coordinator Belinda Lalap.
The said BMIS Training is part of the continuing revitalization of the BIDANI program in ISU. Meanwhile, a training on PNEA is slated for early next year.
– Guien Eidrefson Garma
