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people in the communities who need to organize themselves to help government pinpoint the reasons behind poverty and help explain why such government interventions fail to address the problem. Coming up with options, alternative solutions, or other courses of actions should be thoroughly studied; government programs carefully planned and implemented jointly by anti-poverty players and actors for anti-poverty programs to work. People coming together from different sectors should be able to come up with the best possible solution to the problem. Two heads are better than one, so to speak. Plausible enough, the government is providing ample space for citizens participation in its undertakings. This was further boosted by the passage of Republic Act 8425 also known as the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act, which was signed into law. In June 1998, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) was created. Part of its mandate is to coordinate with national and local government, including the private sector, to assure the full implementation of all social reform and poverty alleviation programs. Partnerships in governance promote participation, which has varying definitions. The World Bank defines it as a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives and the decisions and resources which affect them. The Asian Development Bank states that the principle of participation derives from the acceptance that people are at the heart of development. They are not only the ultimate beneficiaries of development, but are also agents of development. In the latter capacity, they act through groups or associations and as individuals. Since development is both for and by people, they need to have access to institutions that promote it.
The NAPC is a partnership mechanism between government and civil society with its main mission of combating poverty in the Philippines. The creation of NAPC boosts the idea of forging partnerships in governance at all levels from the national down to the regional, sub-regional, and local levels to combat poverty. The challenge is how to make such partnerships in governance work. Partnerships are best forged by partners with certain level of commitment. In most cases, a contract, in the form of Memorandum of Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding determine the duties and responsibilities of the parties. The level of government intervention, as well as civil society participation in the implementation of antipoverty program which the parties have agreed upon is necessary. While there are formal programs aimed at alleviating poverty, there is definitely room for improved outreach of target sectors to harness the presence, experiences and strengths of anti-poverty groups and other stakeholders, both at the national and local levels, in alleviating poverty on a much significant scale. Partnerships for poverty reduction open opportunities for uniting reformers in government, in citizens groups and in local communities to put the best foot forward in the pursuit of sustainable human development. It is, hence, an opportunity that must be explored at all times.
Access to land, water and sanitation, health and education problems, for instance, can not be solved by DA alone. And the task of providing all these basic needs in farming communities require interagency cooperation between the DA, Social Welfare and Development, Health, Education. More importantly, LGU and citizens participation boosts efforts to fight these problems. Some also believe that graft and corruption is to be blamed. When budgets for anti-poverty programs or projects are pocketed, whether it comes in the form of aid from other donor countries or institutions, the trickling down of the supposed benefits of such benefits stops, thereby unable to reach the target beneficiaries or the poor and the needy. If this is the case, despite having all the resources anti-programs are destined to fail.
happen, programs or projects-partners should be able to accomplish their assigned tasks. Several partnership programs can best be cited why and how to build partnerships.
Go Organic! Philippines, led by the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), one of the countrys oldest existing nongovernment organization and a pioneer in rural development works and the La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga), a policy research and advocacy group, together with the DA-BSWM came up with program objectives and plan for implementation. To popularize organic farming, the OFSPs first phase was launched in 2008 and the three program components were simultaneously implemented in 2009 by the project partners. This was launched in six project areas namely: Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija, Samal and Dinalupihan, Bataan, Alaminos City, Pangasinan, and Tabacco, Albay. The Quad Media Information, Education and Communication (QIEC) component was led by La Liga while the farmers season-long training on organic farming systems and technologies, initially starting with 600 farmers in the six towns a city, all in Luzon, were simultaneously launched. The training includes the production of organic fertilizers and pesticides, which primarily aims to make the farmers selfreliant in producing organic farm inputs that can be found in their farms, such as rice stalks, rice hull, animal manure and other agricultural wastes. Systems of rice intensification, which has been tested in proven in many areas were introduced. A third component involves research and development of organic farming conducted by the University of the Philippines Los Banos. The OFSPs first phase is in preparation for the immediate conversion of 400,000 hectares of rice farms into organic farm sites, wherein farmers will produce and apply organic fertilizers from indigenous materials that can be found in their farms to produce healthier food, and promoting a safer environment, instead of
often harmful chemical inputs which pollute the environment. Through the network of NGOs, POs, LGUs, and communitybased farmers organizations, Go Organic! Philippines was able to convince farmers who use chemical fertilizers to enroll in the farmers season-long training to learn how to go organic. The LGUs helped chipped in by providing land for the organic farm sites, as well as technical support through the Municipal Agriculture Offices (MAO). Among what the farmers more importantly learned during the training is the fact that there are better ways to produce food, such as rice and vegetable, without the excessive use of chemical fertilizers, which convinced them to make the necessary shift from conventional farming to natural or organic food production. Because of the success of farmers season-long training, more and more farmers are now learning how to produce their own fertilizers and are now applying them in their farm, convinced that organic farming works and has many benefits in terms of increase in income, better health and safer environment both for the food producers and the consumers. For its part, through the QIEC component, campaign materials such as the Go Organic! television and radio programs, website, blogs and even other social networking sites, posters, brochures, t-shirts, and other
promotional materials were produced, further raising the peoples awareness about environment-friendly ways of food production. The campaign also caught national attention, with news about the advocacy being spearheaded by Go Organic! Philippines, landing on prominent pages and space in national and local newspapers, internetbased news and other websites, which compliments television and radio interviews on Go Organic! Philippines personalities and organic farming advocates to share their experiences. La Liga, which also acts as secretariat of Go Organic! Philippines, coordinated with concerned government agencies such as the DA, BSWM, its partner-LGUs, the concerned offices such as the city and municipal agriculture offices, the private sector and other stakeholders before, during and after the programs implementation. Proper coordination, through formal communication letters mostly, led to the timely release of the budget, thus assuring the smooth flow of the program. Part of La Ligas task was to coordinate activities relevant to the program, such as organic rice festivals and farmers field day in the project areas, dialogues with farmers, even concerts and the hosting of local, national and international events promoting organic farming. In fact, the government is now allocating P500 million for the production and development of organic fertilizers, which can be attributed to the success of the program. The partnership made a significant breakthrough as far as starting the shift from conventional to organic farming. It is now up to the government to sustain the gains of OFSPs first phase.
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gation between the owner and the occupants informal settlers who have been living in the community for more than 20 years. Instead of waiting for the courts resolution of the case, the landowner sought La Ligas expertise on ADR to mediate and identify a win-win solution to the problem. A total of 74 families occupied the conflicted property to which, only 63 of them were actual occupants. The occupants are members of the Samahang Pang-Nayon 373, an urban poor association. To resolve the conflict, La Liga conducted a series of negotiations, mediations, backdoor channelings and leg workings, along its ADR framework. By November 2007 the La Liga started series of preliminary talks with key people to gather basic information on the organization of settlers, history of the land dispute, and their demands. By December, La Liga and the League of Urban Poor Associations (LUPA), an umbrella organization of urban poor groups in Malabon-Navotas area to which SP 373 belong jointly designed and began formal negotiation. At least two formal talks representing the owner, peoples organization federation as assisting party and La Liga as mediating entity, were conducted before the end of 2007. La Liga have established transparency, and was able to restore mutual respect between the parties involved, deeply based on the common good of interests and the formula of a winwin solution. Knowing that LUPAs influence will play an important role in the negotiation, La Liga meticulously sustained back channeling and enhanced its social and political capital with them.
PARTNERSHIPS for EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE
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By January 28, 2008, a Memorandum of Agreement was formally signed, having the signatures of the authorized representatives of both contending parties. Wherein the peoples organization demanded for a package of assistance amounting to P100,000.00, which includes housing and land for a sub total of P 72,000, for compensation, food allowance the sub total is amount P 28,000 for the 63 families. For 11 renters the amount of P25,000 intended for down payment of land. The owner, through its representative, presented its counteroffer: for the housing and land P72,000, for the food allowance P2,000 and compensation P6,000, for a total amount of P80,000 per family for the 63 families. While for the 11 renters, counter proposal is P10,000 per family. The amount represents a generous 80% of the peoples organizations demand. This amount is actually bigger than the minimum of P16,000 as per UDHA prescription. A general assembly was conducted by the peoples organization to present the owners counter-offer. After a series of back channeling talks, informal negotiation and d-day bargaining, the parties agreed and signed the handwritten agreement or kasunduan. Then a formal signing of contract agreement was executed containing the following components: A. For the 63 families: 1) 2) 3) 4) Relocation (Land) Housing Compensation (Livelihood support) Food Allowance P 52,000.00 20,000.00 13,500.00 2,000.00 P 87,500.00 =========
TOTAL
B.For the 11 renters P 15,000.00 per family C. Also stipulated under the contract are agreements on principles, pre conditions related to financial flow, and relocation of settlers. The agreement served as a compromise for both parties, wherein the informal settlers agreed to depart from the said property, given that they would be justly compensated. On January 30, 2008, a joint planning was conducted to execute the agreement.
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Getting in touch with Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity, which builds housing for the poor, finding a suitable site for the housing project became a problem. A relocation site was identified but it turned out that it is not suitable for construction of a housing project. This resulted to a waste of time, effort and resources. The La Liga, then decided to seek the help of the local government of Navotas. Sometime in February of 2008, La Liga president Horacio Morales requested a meeting with local officials of Navotas City to discuss the possibility of accommodating the Samahang Pang-Nayon 373. Mayor Tobias Tiangco agreed to accommodate the SP 373 by including them in the beneficiary of the first phase of the citys socialized housing program in Barangay Tanza. Talks with Habitat for Humanities finally paid off and a partnership was forged for the construction of the housing unit. On May 5, 2008, a Contract between the Habitat for Humanity Philippines and the Urban Poor Association Samahan Pang Nayon 373 signed a Contract as partner beneficiary for the construction of housing units and back to - back signing of Memorandum of Understanding which forged partnership between La Liga and other development Institutions and the Navotas Local Government for the 1st Phase and entire 8.4 Hectares Tanza Socialize Housing Project implementation. The first time table for relocation on April, targeting a property owned by the Siochi family, was doomed to fail, after it was discovered that the property is not suitable for relocation. The July timetable also failed due to various factors of dealing with slow paced government processes and procedures like bidding and
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other technical pre requisites, the peculiar nature of Tanza Navotas as being below sea level with its frequent flooding caused delay. Navotas City Government. Amidst the processes, the handling of on-going court litigation has been jointly manifested by both counsels of the contending parties who sought for the temporary suspension of the court proceedings so that it will not contribute to the delay. The initial consensus was to complete the land-filling by October 2008, site development by November and the building of houses shall start sometime November and fully completed by December. These targets needs more detailed planning and ground-working efforts for all stakeholders. While there are some delays, the development of the property the relocation site in Tanza and the housing units which now include SP 373 members are well on its way.
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The project amounted to P6.5 million, with the Australian government contributing P3 million, Philippine governments counterpart of P1.5 million; provincial government of Cebus counterpart fund of P.48 million; municipal government of Sibongas counterpart amounting to P100,000; and the Office of Cong. Guliass contribution of P1.5 million. It involves the construction of a main piped-water system which was later turned over to the Sibonga Water and Sanitation Service Cooperative (SIWASSCO), which was organized to own and manage the system. Other infrastructure components of the project involved the rehabilitation of an existing spring box, the construction of a new one, and the installation of water processing equipment and water pipes. In 1992, to strengthen the commitment of the project partners, a memorandum of agreement was signed, defining the respective roles and responsibilities of the partners, which also include the Regional Development Council (RDC). The RDC and Central Visayas Water and Sanitation Project Project Management Office was responsible for the promotion and coordination between and among regional line agencies and local government units, providing technical assistance to the provincial planning development office, municipal planning development office, conducting training sessions, and securing materials for water supply and sanitation from AIDAB and counterpart funds from the Philippine government. The provincial government of Cebu also helped in the coordination between and among the line agencies, conducted site inspections, preparation of engineering designs and plans, supervising and assisting NGOs in community organizing, supervising andmonitoring actual implementation by assigning a project engineer.
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The municipal government of Sibonga helped identify the barangays, and assisted the NGO, hire a qualified project engineer to help supervise project implementation at the barangay level. This partnership, however, would not have led to the success of the project, had it not been to the social preparation aspect, with the help of a nongovernment organization LIHOK Pilipina Foundation, that was contracted to undertake community organizing and form the cooperative. LIHOK, an NGO engaged in organizing womens groups micro-financing, womens crisis intervention and on issues like water and environment organized residents to form a cooperative as well as community-based water associations. It also conducted community profiling conducted trainings and seminars on health and sanitation, gender sensitivity and water management, which paved the way for successful turn-over of the project to the people, which now manages the water business. Today, safe drinking water is now available in Sibonga, Cebu 24 hours a day, improving the lives of thousands of beneficiaries.
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In the 1990s, with a limited arable land, low agricultural productivity and dwindling natural resources, local officials saw the need to promote tourism to generate jobs and livelihood, to boost incomes. The province, at that time, has a 71% poverty incidence, the highest in region 10 and a survey conducted in 1996, covering 10% of households showed a mean household income of P41.48. The annual household expenditures reached a mean average of P36,868. The Comprehensive Development Plan of the provincial government of Camiguin aims to reduce poverty incidence from 71% to 30% in 10 years and increase average household monthly income from P3,457 to P7,000. Despite noted increase in tourist arrivals, competition with other tourist spots in Mindanao was stiff. In fact, it was noted that foreign tourist arrivals decreased from a peak of 12,783 in 1993 to a low of 5,162 in 1997, which was attributed to, other than competition with other tourist attractions, the closure of Camiguins airport, and low rank on the preference of overseas and foreign tourists. Promoting the province as a tourist destination was particularly difficult because of the lack of modern telecommunication system. In 1994, through a grant from the Federal Republic of Germany, the installation of a modern telephone system began. The local government of Camiguin sought the German funding for the project and initiated the formation of Camiguin Telephone Cooperative (CAMTECO). CAMTECO started with 80 members. This is below the minimum requirement of 400 subscribers needed for the project to be viable. CAMTECO was duly registered as a cooperative in April 1991. A Provisional Authority to operate a telephone system was subsequently obtained from the National Telecommunications Commission in August 1992. The partnership between lot owners and the provincial government began with the donation of lots for the telecom structures, including rights of way for telephone poles, repeater stations and other installations.
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For its part, the provincial government provided the initial facilities for the operations. The provincial government also created a favorable policy environment to fast track the operation of the telephone cooperative. It granted a local franchise to CAMTECO to operate and maintain the telecommunication system. In 1994, the project was formally turned over to CAMTECO through a memorandum of agreement between the German Government, the Camiguin Provincial Government and the cooperative. Republic Act No. 8483 formalized the franchise of the telephone system to CAMTECO. The House of Representatives passed Republic Act 8483 in 1997 granting the franchise to CAMTECO. The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) through the Municipal Telephone Projects Office (MTPO) supervised the installation of the telephone system and issued the necessary permits. The National Telecommunication Commission issued the certificate of public convenience and necessary permits and licenses and through the prescribed procedures the Alcatel SEL was awarded the project. It was responsible for the development of appropriate technology mix for the Camiguin Telephone System, which covered five municipalities. With a telephone system in place, the promotion and reservation of tourists resulted to wider market coverage for the province. Tourist arrivals grew by 469% from 1991 to 1995. Resort and accommodation facilities increased by 57.4% or from 14 to 22 establishments during the same period. More work opportunities have become available in new business establishments and the ongoing construction projects of both government and private institutions. The telephone system also paved the way for closer integration with Cagayan de Oro, which the center of trade and commerce in the region, and transactions was made easier and significantly less expensive. The success of the project could not have been possible without the strong support of the local government units. The positive impact of the project to the lives of the people in the province can be measured not only by the job and livelihood generation, but increase in incomes, too.
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The European Union is made up of 27 Member States who have decided to gradually link together their k now-how, res ourc es and destinies. Together, during a period of enlargement of 50 years, they hav e built a zone of stability , democ rac y and s us tainable
dev elopment whilst maintaining cultural diversity, tolerance and individual freedoms.
The European Union is committed to sharing its achievements and its values with countries and peoples beyond its borders.
The European Commission Illustrations used in this publication were produced by Action for Economic Reforms (AER) Book design and cover by AER is the EUs executive body.
Study undertak en for the CEMENTING PATHWAYS TO FINANCING THE MDGs project. This publication is funded by the European Union. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
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