Upi, Maguindanao del Norte – The Bangsamoro Government’s Ministry of Science and Technology paid a courtesy visit to Honorable Mayor Maria Rona Cristina Piang-Flores of this municipality on September 8, 2023.

The courtesy visit aimed to instill collaboration with the Local Government of Upi and introduce the Grassroots Innovation for Inclusive Development (GRIND) Program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Engr. Jandatu Salik, Chief Science Research Specialist and GRIND Program Focal Coordinator, accompanied by Amira Salik, Project Assistant III, presented and discussed the GRIND Program, which is designed to transform communities through grassroots innovations for sustainable and inclusive development.

“We aim to empower marginalized communities by developing and strengthening their existing Grassroots Innovations and establishing the GRIND Network,” Engr. Jandatu said

On August 22, 2023, 18 college students from Upi Agricultural School were oriented about the GRIND Program. They will serve as the Lakbayers or solutions mappers who will embark on a journey of solutions mapping in grassroots communities to identify needs, issues, opportunities, and innovations

Meanwhile, Mayor Piang-Flores committed to supporting the program and identifying locations in the Municipality to conduct the SalikLakbay immersion to identify and map grassroots innovations. She also pledged to inform communities with grassroots innovations about the program.

The GRIND Program is a strategy to empower marginalized communities and combat the effects of COVID-19 and the New Normal. It is a pioneering initiative of DOST Region XI in partnership with the United Nations Development Program in the Philippines (UNDP Philippines) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) aimed at providing opportunities to stimulate the overall growth of the country by utilizing community-led solutions geared towards sustainable development.

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