An alumna of the Agricultural Systems Institute (ASI), College of Agriculture and Food Science, UPLB, Ms. Jennylene Maloles-Layaoen obtained her BS Agriculture degree major in Agricultural Extension in 2005. She started her professional career as a Science Research Specialist at the Philippine Rice Research Institute where she was involved in various capacity building initiatives that aimed to increase the knowledge of farmers and extension workers on rice production technologies. She particularly handled the pilot-testing of the elearning project of the Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture (OpAPA) program and conducted several trainings for farmers on basic ICT and its applications to rice production. She was also given the opportunity to colead the Rural Transformation Movement (RTM) campaign of PhilRice, an initiative that mobilizes various expertise, organizations, and resources to rally and catalyze rural transformation in the rice farming communities.

After her stint at PhilRice, she served as the program associate for capacity building of the USAID funded project – the Energy Policy and Development Program (EPDP) and as the capacity building specialist of the Gas Policy Development Project (GPDP), which was funded by the US Department of State. Both programs aimed to enhance the capacity of regulators and policy makers to formulate coherent and evidence-based policies and strategies on energy-related matters.

Currently, she holds a Capacity Development Officer post at the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development, a nonprofit organization that works with people in the US and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources. She leads the capacity building initiatives of the Building Safe Agricultural Food Enterprises (B-SAFE) project in the Philippines, which hopes to increase the country’s agricultural productivity and expand trade of agricultural products.

In her continuous quest for higher education, she pursued her MS degree major in Development Communication from UPLB in 2014. This further strengthened her professional journey which paved the way for a continuous career path in the field of agricultural extension. Her field of expertise include strategic communication and planning, problem analysis, participatory monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis, training and capacity building and community organizing and planning.

The institute is privileged and honored to have Ms. Layaoen as guest speaker during the first virtual ASI Testimonial Program 2020-2021 held in August 3. In her speech, she generously shared her experiences, challenges and learnings. She emphasized the importance of REST, not only its literal meaning of having cease to engage in strenuous activity or to relax but rather the deeper meaning of each letter acronym; R- for Reflect, E-for Embrace, S-for Sort and T-for Trust. According to her, “We need to recharge and renew ourselves before we can go out to serve the people. The world needs you empowered when your time to serve has come, so be sure you are well rested”.

In closing, she reminded everyone of this old yet relevant quote “REST if you must but never QUIT”. (MCDCaceres)