Project Citizenry Is A Coordination Of

Project Citizenry is a coordination of students to identify a specific problem of a community, surveying and coming up with a good solution.
This project helps me to understand what the real world is all about and what is going on with it. I first thought that I lived in a luxurious place with all of God’s creations, but we are not aware of how we destroy our own treasures. Just like the problem in Brgy. Diego Silang, Butuan City which is improper waste disposal. It made me think, why do people not segregate their garbage even though there are policies regarding that problem?
As we all know, Solid Waste Management was designed to have an organized collection of garbage in order for it to be beneficial not only to people but also to our mother earth.
Segragating non-biodegradable from biodegradable wastes and plastics, Clean Ground Zero Waste Policy is just an example of how to have solid waste management yet residents don’t follow it. All of the barangays don’t show any progress.
As for me, community awareness, Government implementations (to the projects) and focusing on regarding the concern are some of the abilities a community should have to solve this common problem. I felt sad that the Government and especially the residents do not participate well in projects regarding this because they were too busy to pay attention to this kind of matter.
It might be better if official could conduct seminars in their barangays, submit a petition to the Government, or anything to catch their attention and make them realize what a big problem we will be facing if this issue will not be resolved immediately. The actions of the citizens to the problem are not only for themselves but also to protect human kind and other kinds in our environment.
The Government should be a good role model to the community so that residents will follow their orders and have the slightest chance of changing our world from dirtiness to cleanliness.

For me Project Citizen is one way of studying common community problems which aims to help individuals evaluate not just their environment but also the way they interact with it.
LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Each member of the group is assigned to do different things depending on the topic given to them. As a member of this project, I didn’t just learn what are the important things to do but also how it should be done. We were assigned by our coach to interview residences of a barangay (particularly Barangay Diego Silang). I always listened to everything they want to say because I believe and I’m pretty sure that I would learn through that one of a kind experience. And because of that it really built my self-confidence to face people and talk about the given problem (Proper Segregation of Waste). They really shared a lot of solutions which would probably help this project to become a successful one.

The Project Citizen provides opportunities among us to participate in the public policy process through identifying, analyzing and proposing a policy concerning a local/state issue of interest to them. The Project Citizen experience was really great. We were composed of 20 members in a team and we were divided into 4 groups to make the task easier. Actually, it was quite difficult to accomplish the job but we were motivated to do it.
We were the group who was assigned in identifying the problem of a certain barangay. The first day we had our surveys and interviews to the citizens of Barangay Diego Silang, we really found out the real image of the community who is not aware of sanitation. In addition to it, some citizens were not willing to be interviewed and just ignored us. It was quite challenging to accomplish the job but despite everything, we were motivated and that became our asset to finish it.
Some people said that only few were following the ordinance implemented in their community. As what I have observed, many citizens didn’t know how to segregate their garbage properly. They just dumped their garbage anywhere. We interviewed young people and aged ones to make a comparison on what they said but the information we have gathered were just the same. We really considered them as concerened citizens at Barangay Diego Silang. It’s amazing to help a certain community because we can help them to solve or lessen their common problems. It made me feel pleased while interviewing and socializing with them. Many barriers and troubles tested us especially the bad weather conditions due to the LPA.
We can say that proper garbage disposal is just a shallow and common problem of the community, but we all know that dumping our garbage anywhere is one of the factors why we suffer flooding especially in Butuan City.
Working on Project Citizen made me feel that I was getting involved in the community. The great experience that our group encountered will be our basis and guide that will help us to be a more concerned citizen in the community we are living in. I believe that our team made a big effort to get this project to be the best one we could do.

I’ve learned a lot of great things during our interview from various people living in Brgy. Diego Silang. I’ve learned a lot within myself, I’ve discovered my hidden talents that may change my view on my self worth. Through working with this, I had learned about the functions and operations of our government. In the community, I gained knowledge of local resources available to solve community needs. It helps me promote personal growth and self-esteem in a way that I understood that the community helps fasten empathy and self-efficacy. It is not so hard for me to interact with people and with my co-members for we are very tight already. This project brings us much more closer together. We are uniting from diverse backgrounds to work on a common goal, building camaraderie and teamwork. I, also discovered a lot of problems regarding the Improper Waste Disposal, not just Brgy. Diego Silang but also the rest of other barangays. I become more mature in dealing with problems and collecting data to come-up with a solution. Lastly, I also appreciate the importance of throwing garbage in a proper disposal and making our community a better place to live in.

It’s a big problem if we have some unsolved issues. Environmental issues, cleanliness, and many more. We can’t even understand why we have these problems, but we can think of a solution. And I believe I can help.
I once went to a seminar filled with different teachers from different schools around the city. I helped my co-SSG officers to facilitate the seminar. I observed that it’s all about the problems of the Barangays of Butuan City. I also noticed that all of the main problems are all about the ecoewaste problems. What I like about this project is that we, the youth, can help solve this problem. We can roam around the Barangay, with the consent of our parents and teachers, to ask for their problems. We can approach the kagawads or conduct a survey including restaurants, houses and stores.
I learned that the reason we have all these problems is because the government, the barangay officials, and the residents are not fully cooperating with each other. They lack both community funds and cooperation­­­---which can both cause an even bigger problem. I think that through Project Citizen, we can show the officials of our city that their program, “Clean Ground Zero Waste”, is not being implemented properly. We can also show them, that despite our young ages, we can make a huge difference in our community. They might think that teenagers like us are meek and weak-willed, but we can actually cause a small movement that can turn the impossible dream of a waste-free Butuan, into reality.
As far as I can say, I am proud because I joined this project and I aim for our group to find the best solution, not because we want to win but because we want to improve the Barangay.

“Project Citizen”. This requires students to first develop a thorough understanding of a public policy and the politics, processes, and procedures associated with creating effective policy in order to critically engage a problem affecting their community. Students will work together to collaboratively remedy this problem. Throughout the project, students will follow a step-by-step plan to identify community problems, build an action plan and grow into meaningful contributors to the larger community by proposing a solution to the said problems.
It is an opportunity for me to be part of this activity because in a way, I am also learning about how to solve a problem through undergoing the different steps. And it helps me in analyzing and thinking of methods or ways to find a solution to a certain problem.
For project citizen, as a group which was assigned for making the policy, we went to the barangay hall of Barangay Diego Silang to hold an interview about the problem they have in their area. We were able to interview Mrs. Jael, one of the barangay counselors of the said barangay. We asked her about what they needed to improve in their barangay. The problem she introduced to us is about the management of wastes and also the maintenance of their sorroundings. This certain barangay is not that big but still is having a hard time in maintaining their cleanliness.
We also asked her if their governance has already made an action to this, she said yes. She also said that they imposed a policy which charges fines to those who will be caught littering in the place. But then, it was not strictly implemented because there was no one in their barangay who will collect from those who violated. In addition to this, she told us that they would be talking about this matter and they will try their best to really implement this policy. Another problem they have is the collection of wastes because they do not have their own garbage collector truck.