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Project ID: 1137
Northern Mindanao Community Initiatives and Resource Management Project To address the livelihood constraints outlined above, the project will seek to reduce vulnerability, improve access to essential services, support diverse livelihood options (crops, fishery and forestry), champion the empowerment of grass-roots institutions and mainstream gender and indigenous peoples concerns. It will reach the target group by: (i) promoting/strengthening and empowering community institutions so that they can undertake their own development initiatives; (ii) supporting the conservation and improvement of beneficiaries natural resource base while facilitating access to markets; (iii) improving village infrastructure; (iv) facilitating access and control over natural resources through the issuance of certificates of ancestral land titles/domain titles to indigenous people and advocating their representation in local councils; and (v) enhancing the responsiveness of local government units (LGUs) and other service providers to the diversified needs of community institutions. The six-year project aims to reach approximately 58 500 poor households living in 270 of the poorest villages (barangays) of Regions X (Caraga) and XIII (Northern Mindanao). The projects target group comprises poor and disenfranchised groups including, but not limited to, indigenous peoples, fisher families, agrarian reform beneficiaries, landless workers, upland dwellers and women. The project will be driven by the demands of participant communities, based on their needs, which will be determined through participatory consultative processes. It will promote a process of social mobilization and participatory planning that will enable communities to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate initiatives that they themselves have selected. The social preparation, mobilization, organization and empowerment of community institutions form the core of the project. Community development facilitators will work closely with volunteer community organizers (COs) to facilitate the promotion of community institutions and self-help groups (SHGs) in each settlement (sitio). Women will constitute at least 50% of all SHGs and are expected to be the main agents of change. SHGs will promote local capital accumulation through their own savings. Community institutions and SHGs will identify the activities that they expect to undertake to improve their livelihoods, including land resources and watershed management, fisheries development and off-farm activities. Special emphasis will be given to replicable systems of improved agriculture and natural resource management. The project will seek to improve the situation of indigenous peoples through advocacy campaigns, legal assistance and orientation programmes. It will also assist them in demarcating and mapping their ancestral domains, and formulating and implementing a sustainable development and protection plan. Loan amount: SDR 11.6 million (equivalent to approximately USD 14.8 million) on highly concessional terms Total programme costs are estimated at USD 21.6 million Cooperating Institution: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)  |
Project ID: 1066
Western Mindanao Community Initiatives Project The overall objective of this six-year IFAD-initiated project is to raise the level of farm and fishing household incomes and improve nutritional standards in selected areas of Western Mindanao. More specifically, the project will seek to: (i) develop cohesive communities capable of identifying and articulating their own constraints and able to mobilize resources to cover their priority needs; (ii) achieve sustainable and more productive use of natural resources at the community sites; and (iii) increase household incomes through higher productivity from on and off-farm enterprises. Western Mindanao, a region that has remained underdeveloped largely as a result of turbulent events over the last 20 years, is one of the most depressed and deprived regions in the country. The natural resource base has remained underdeveloped, with traditional monocropping prevailing; fish stocks have been depleted and fishing incomes have declined substantially. Nearly a quarter of a million people live in poverty, the majority in rural areas. The target group will consist of approximately 16 000 families, and an estimated 10 200 small-scale farmers and fishermen will be direct project beneficiaries. It is anticipated that the present low level of socio-economic development of women in the region will improve to compare more favourably with the higher status normally accorded to Filipino women in other regions. Innovative Features: IFAD attempts to build on the peace agreement signed by the Government of the Republic of The Philippines with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996 and intends to improve overall economic and political stability. By targeting ex-combatants formerly members of the MNLF, IFAD will play an important role in consoli dating their land ownership and increasing land productivity. The project will support the decentralization and devolution process by provi ding training, expertise, and project resources directly to local government units, and by enhancing the self-reliance of community organizations. IFAD plans to intensify land use by implementing a mixed farming system involving the interplanting of various crops, plants and timber. A further innovation lies in the process of consultation with all the organizations involved. Increasing participation at every step of the project maximizes the knowledge base and bolsters the capabilities of NGOs and people's organizations in the follow-up period. Loan amount: SDR 11.0 million (approximately USD 14.8 million) on highly concessional terms. Total project costs: Estimated at USD 18.2 million, of which a grant of USD 0.8 million will be provided by IFAD for agricultural rehabilitation of ex-combatants, USD 2.3 million by the Government and USD 0.3 million by the beneficiaries. Cooperating institution: UNOPS. |
