CIRDAP visits DREAM Office

As part of their one-week seminar in the Philippines, the Center on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) delegates representing 7 countries visited the DREAM Office in the National Engineering Center last 4 July 2014. Program Leader Dr. Enrico Paringit presented the Program’s workflow and the applications of its outputs, particularly in disaster mitigation.

The visit to the Philippines took place from 30 June to 9 July 2014, and was entitled the “CIRDAP-NIRD Collaborative International Training Programme on ‘Application of Geo-Informatics System (GIS) for Mitigation and Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management.” The DREAM visit was funded by the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) based in Hyderabad, India, the partner institution of CIRDAP, which is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The CIRDAP participants were: Dr. Muhammad Mehedi Hassan from Bangladesh, Mr. Jiuta Waqavonovono from Fiji, Mr. Priya Ranjan and Mr. Prabhakar Bapurao Gawade from India, Mr. Ryutaro Siburian from Indonesia, Mr. Keyvan Keshavarz from Iran, Mr. Samountry Phanisone from Lao PDR, Mr. Phyo Myint from Myanmar, Mr. Ram Krishna Sapkota from Nepal, Ms. Benilda D. Alvarez, Mr. Danilo Ibañez, and Ms. Loida L. Jones from the Philippines, Mr. H.M.J.K. Herath from Sri Lanka, Ms. Pimpilai Nuallong from Thailand, and Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh from Vietnam.

Meanwhile, The CIRDAP Officers were Director-General Dr. Cecep Effendi and Director for Training Division Dr. Vasanthi Rajedran.

The DREAM visit was coordinated by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretariat—Ms. Belinda Serna, Ms. Adeliza Gabalfin, Ms. Carmela Pagulong, and Mr. Chris Roland Hebron, headed by Director Susana Evangelista-Leones of the Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development (BARBD), who serve as the representative of the Philippines in CIRDAP.