DENR Region XI

The Dubai Municipality, Dubai-United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) recently awarded the Community-Based Forest Management Program’s (CBFM) Nagkahiusang Kritohanong Mag-uuma sa Maputi (NAKRISMA), a Peoples Organization in Barangay Maputi, San Isidro, Davao Oriental with the Best Practices Certificate for their outstanding initiative specifically on their “Romblon Mat Weaving Project”.

The Dubai International Award for Best Practices (DIABP) plays a crucial role in the identification of Best Practices from around the world. From 1996 to the present, over 2,700 Good and Best Practices have been obtained from 140 countries and compiled in the Habitat Best Practices database.

Best practices are analyzed with a view of extracting lessons that others can learn from and incorporate into their own work. Policy and legislative implications for scaling up and transferring lessons learned from best practices are also brought to the attention of the International Community at Intergovernmental Committees and the World Urban Forum.

NAKRISMA, which was formed in early part of 1993, is a holder of the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) of the DENR issued on September 1998 covering the area of 1,000 hectares.

The PO members are skilled in seedling production specifically Bagrass propagation, tree plantation, agro-forestry development and romblon mat-weaving. However, Romblon mat-weaving is already one of the alternative livelihood of women in the barangay because Romblon is abundant in the area.

Realizing the opportunity to further improve the skills of women in mat-weaving and to increase their income, the Romblon mat-weaving project was launched in 2004 under CBFM’s Community Livelihood Special Project (CLASP) where the women of NAKRISMA received PhP 70,000.00 for their Romblon Mat-Weaving Project.

Romblon is a variety of pandan species mainly used as raw materials for handicraft-making such as mats, bags and placemats. Ideally, romblon can be harvested in two years from the time of planting and is sourced out from individual backyards and from lots of at least 30 households.

Initially, NAKRISMA’s Cooperative is selling their finished products locally and to the DENR regional and neighboring offices. Their products are now being sold and displayed during special events within Davao Oriental and Davao City.