Southern Leyte State U partners with CRS-USCCB to upscale livelihood in Odette-affected areas in So. Leyte

The Office of the Research, Innovation, and Extension Services partnered with Catholic Relief Services- United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (CRS-USCCB) for an extension project dubbed "Upscaling Livelihood Projects in Small Villages in Southern Leyte: A Typhoon Odette Post Disaster Recovery Initiative" for the 340 Typhoon Odette affected families in the municipality of Tomas Oppus and Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte.

The extension project aims to support the re-establishment of the selected beneficiaries in their livelihoods in the five areas of concern—Agricultural Production, Livestock/poultry production, Fishing Restoration Activity, Microenterprise, and Aquaculture.

It aims to provide beneficiaries with training, workshops, and hands-on exercises conducted by the faculty experts from the different campuses of SLSU. It also targets to increase the income of the beneficiaries by ten percent. This initiative supports affected workers in their recovery to uplift the economic status of the province.

Among the CRS beneficiaries are from the barangays Buenavista, Sta. Sofia, and Cantotang in the municipality of Padre Burgos, and barangays San Isidro, Bogo, Anahawan, and Tinago in Tomas Oppus town.

The partnership between Southern Leyte State U and CRS-USCCB is funded ed by Republic of China Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF).

The CRS-USCCB is a US-based emergency relief and development organization which has been assisting typhoon Odette affected families in Southern Leyte by providing emergency assistance in the field of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), shelter kits assistance food and non-food assistance to meet basic and non-food lifesaving needs.

This project targets the Sustainable Development Goals such as the Zero Hunger, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Climate Change. It is line with the University's goal which is to increase the number of industry collaboration in the implementation of extension project and increase the number of faculty and staff engagements in research-based extension programs, projects, and activities.