LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines – A graduate scholarship program jointly implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and a Southeast Asian center based here is on.
The DA-SEARCA Umbrella Capacity Development Program on Strategic Management and Policy for Agriculture Professionals and Executive is a joint initiative of DA and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA).
Government-hosted SEARCA, headed by Director Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., is one of the 19 regional “center of excellence” of SEAMEO, an inter-government treaty organization founded in 1965 to foster cooperation among Southeast Asian nations in the fields of education, science, and culture.
The four-year scholarship program aims “to produce a cadre of home-grown, world-class career bureaucrats who can competently and proactively steer the Philippine government’s agriculture program.”
The fields of study are strategic leadership and public management; agricultural policy-all in support of food security and rural poverty alleviation.