Philippines: Climate resilience

In line with the Department of Energy’s goal to attain 100% electrification of the Philippines, the Renewable Energy Access for off-grid Communities and Households (REACH) Project aims to reduce the vulnerability of rural poor Filipino communities towards adverse impacts of climate change through enhanced use of renewable energy (RE) sources. This initiative will energize off-grid and underserved households, community-based businesses and community-based organizations, train local RE technicians, and equip vulnerable barangays with disaster risk reduction systems across ten municipalities in Northern Samar. Through innovative, scalable, and sustainable RE technologies and systems, the project hopes to enhance social welfare, disaster resilience and economic growth in these remote areas.

Armed conflict broke out in the city of Marawi, in Lanado del Sur Province on the Philippine island of Mindanao, on May 23^rd, 2017. The conflict sparked a crisis that resulted in displacement of nearly 400, 000 who had to flee to neighbouring towns and provinces.
Although people began to return after the fighting died down, Marawi remained half-empty. A project in was launched in two peri-urban areas near Marawi (Tuca and Bangon) to continue humanitarian support to students after the crisis. By increasing students´ and young people´s capacities and improving their employability, the project aims contribute towards preventing recruitment by extremist groups.
The project’s main activities include awarding conditional grants based on the development of business plans. The students participate in a 2-2.5 month cycle of vocational education (e.g. baking, cooking, construction, etc.), business skills, and coaching before the grant is awarded. They have flexibility in planning their own business activities.

Eastern Samar is one of the poorest regions of the Philippines. It is particularly prone to natural disasters and has a very underdeveloped market system. The Project, funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, believes that cacao farming and processing is a key activity to tackle these challenges and to increase local farmers’ condition.

By investing in cacao production, the Project sets the ambitious objective of increasing the sustainable income of more than 1,000 Eastern Samar farming households, at the same time improving climate and economic resilience. During a three-year period, many key relevant activities will take place, such as capacity building of farmers, delivery of trainings, establishment of agribusiness enterprises and creation of a sustainable, inclusive market.

Global demand for cacao is constantly growing, together with its price, and Eastern Samar is now fully ready to take this opportunity.

The Eastern Samar Province is gradually recovering from the aftermath of the 2013’s devastating typhoon Haiyan, also known as Yolanda in the Philippines. Many sectors show relatively fast growth, but agriculture, which employs a majority of inhabitants, is still slowly recovering.
The successes and experience gained during the first phase of the project, “Making markets work for farmers I (2015 – 2017)” now form the basis of a subsequent phase. The project continues to work towards securing a sustainable system of services in the agriculture sector. The project also focuses on increasing capacities of local producers, and introducing effective coordination and communication tools among farmers and suppliers in the region.
One of these newly established platforms is “Harampang” (meaning “a friendly chat” in Waray Waray) which facilitates dialogue and exchange of views between government agencies, local governments, service providers, farmers’ cooperatives and the private sector.
The project also offers support to young farmers and newly established agricultural holdings that need to register, or gain a licence and certification, to start their business.

The Philippines has a large number of urban slum dwellers. For various economic, planning, safety and development reasons, the Government moves people from slums to relocation sites. In many cases the relocation sites are located far outside the city, and the sustainability of these sites is a concern.
The Philippines is well known for its Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) planning from the national to municipal level. However, smaller municipalities often do not have the necessary expertise to have adequate DRR plans in place. This problem is exacerbated at a community level, such as in relocation sites. Many of these sites are built on cheap land that is prone to natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. As a result, many internally displaced people (IDPs) return to suburban slums.
Since 2017, the project has involved meetings with local government, workshops focusing on community based disaster management, and community vulnerability assessments. The goal is to establish an early warning system, and a counter disaster preparedness plan.

A project aiming to restore livelihoods of local farmers affected by typhoon Haiyan was introduced in Eastern Samar in January 2015, in cooperation with Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and supported by Swiss Solidarity. The project focuses primarily on increasing production and supply of farmers´ products for local and regional markets. This approach, called Market Systems Development, favours connecting local providers over giving direct services and inputs, creating a more sustainable system.
The project has established 77 demonstration plots and equipped 3,000 farmers with skills and knowledge on cultivation of high value crops. The project has also trained 34 local service providers (LSPs) who reached 13,000 farmers in 12 municipalities.
The project also introduced an improved breed of buffalos for the development of dairy products in Eastern Samar. Late in 2016, the radio programme OMG (Oma, Merkado, Gobyerno) launched to serve as a platform to disseminate market information and technical advice and discuss government agricultural policies.