UPLB CPAf – What’s Rural Development Doing In A Place Like This?


In my new blog “The Wizard Of Os,” I am continuing my Creative Thinking Mantra of 5 Os: Obstacles, Opportunities, Options, Outputs and Outcomes..... 

In Los Baños, there once was in the UP College of Agriculture, UPCA, the Department of Agricultural Education, Ag Ed, where I obtained my degree, BSA major in Ag Ed, in 1965. Then there was the Department of Agricultural Education & Rural Studies, DAERS. Then UPCA became UP Los Baños, and then came the College of Public Affairs, CPAf.

Today, Wednesday, 29 January 2020, CPAf celebrates its 22nd founding in 1998 as a college dedicated to “Public Affairs” – it became the College of Public Affairs & Development in 2011, same acronym. The anniversary has the theme “CPAf At 22: Recalibrating And Meeting The Challenges Of The Next Decade.” Professor Rolando T Bello is the Dean; the guest speaker is Emil Q Javier, former President of the UP System, former Chancellor of UPLB and recently honored by President Rodrigo Duterte as a National Scientist. He speaks extemporaneously, and I cannot wait for the transcription, so I am going ahead with my own previous thoughts on the young CPAf.

Anyway, I have been thinking something like bringing out into the countryside the functions of 2 of CPAf’s component units: Institute for Governance & Rural Development, IGRD; and Community Innovations Studies Center, CISC[1]. Yes, rural development. In its website, CPAf says, “utilizing the trans-disciplinary approach,” its CISC “focuses its research and extension programs” on the following:

Community education
Development of communities in transition
Watershed communities as learning communities
National/regional communities
Local communities
Community-based governance for sustainable development.

Communities, plural – and sustainable development.

The adding of “Development” in the long name of CPAf to me was already “recalibrating” CPAf towards a more encompassing role in PH public affairs, especially with the Department of Agriculture, DA, and the Schools, Colleges & Universities, SCUs.

CPAf as CPAf is not a stranger to me. Sometime in 2005, I edited and produced the book Search For Shared Meanings by Prof Rhodelia Gabriel of CPAf. In June 2014, I was the trainor in a technical writing workshop for the staff of CPAf held in Baguio City, the papers intended to be published in its own Journal of Public Affairs & Development.

And so, even before today’s celebration, I had already been thinking of innovations:

CPAf in a national community education program in collaboration with the SCUs and with financing and management by the DA.

After all, with Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, and Moses-like, displaying his “New Thinking for Agriculture” in 2 tablets of stone – each stone with 4 “Paradigms” for development (right image above, left image being CPAf logo). With the DA and billions of pesos under its management…

After all, CPAf has the IGRD for rural development and the CISC for innovations studies – with a DA program, CPAf can go out into the countryside and actively assist the SCUs in originating and trying out innovations in technologies and systems in community education, all towards sustainable development.@517





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