Attempts at Reducing Vulnerabilities of Coastal Households through Sustainable Livelihoods and Social Protection

This project started in June 2008 and its main thrust is supporting sustainable livelihoods development among poor fishing households in Sitio Gumange, Brgy. Cuta na Daco, Sorsogon and social protection through gender-responsive household organizing.

Strategies:

1. Nurturing the social capital:

1.1 gender-responsive household organizing for DRR

a. understanding personhood
b. household visioning and planning
c. the essence of family and parenting
d. building practical family lifeskills
e. building socially responsible families
f. family synergy, family negotiations and agreements


1.2 Finding strength in each member of the community: Family Day


2. Understanding Risks to Disasters: PCVA

3. In search of sustainable livelihoods for fishing households facing the threat of typhoon and storm surges: supplemental and alternative livelihoods

a. shellcraft


b. handicraft from screwpines




c. compost preparation from managed solid waste and dried sea grass found in the shoreline

d. garbage collection from neighboring communities: waste sold for recycling and waste turned into compost

e. vegetable gardening



e. food preparation and vending


f. food retailing in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Social Work and Development, National Food Authority


4. Social protection

a. Access to health insurance: P4/day health savings from livelihoods for PhilHealth premium

b. Health empowerment for health resilience: capacity building for a community-based health program (i.e, indigenous health practices such as use of herbal medicine); feeding program for malnourished children



c. Preventing spread of diseases from contaminated water: Setting up level-two potable water system



NOTE: The barangay decided to replicate the strategies and methods used in Sitio Gumang through a barangay resolution. Brgy. Cuta na Daco has been awarded and cleanest barangay in the province of Sorsogon after the replication of the strategies from Sitio Gumang.

Name of Organization	Coastal Core Sorsogon
Location	Sorsogon
Contact Person	Shirley Bolanos
Address	1164 Molave St., Gate 2, SPPVS, Bibincahan, Sorsogon City
Contact Number	056-2111904
Email address	coastalcore@gmail.com, corecoastal@yahoo.com

Disaster preparedness in high risk areas and Integrating DRR in the Rehabilitation Work at Taysan, Legazpi and Anislag, Daraga in Albay

Understanding the risks in disaster-prone areas

Aims to inform the decision making of residents of resettlement sites (who want to go back in or attempting to go back to these disaster prone areas where they originally lived) as well as inform those still residing in these sites of the risks they face. Special target areas were Tagas and Binitayan.

Strategies Used: PCVA, community risk mapping and assessment, capacity building on DRR, understanding weather forecasts, organizing Quick Response Teams (QRTs), community contingency plans, community drills, and participation in the formulation of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP)

Attempts at sustaining livelihoods in Anislag and Taysan ( to prevent resettled residents from going back to high risk areas where livelihoods are perceived to be more accessible).

Strategies used: soft loan assistance for livelihoods, capacity building for business planning, bookkeeping

Attempts at increasing resilience through health interventions and social protection , thus, reducing risks to diseases particularly at the height of natural hazards

Strategies: Training barangay health workers for Anislag and Taysan, feeding program for children to increase access to nutrient-rich food, and facilitating PhilHealth membership (health insurance)

Attempts at increasing resilience at the household level.

Strategies used: Gender dialogue, family counseling, developing HH-based disaster action plan and preemptive/defensive evacuation

Social Protection, Sustainable Livelihoods, and Disaster Preparedness

BDRC Pilot Project 2008-2009: Community Organization of the Philippine Enterprise-Bicol
(Legazpi City, Bicol, Philippines)

Project Background

A post disaster sharing of initiatives and learning among local and national non-government organizations on implementing emergency response has been conducted both at the local and National level.

Focus has been given particularly in the Province of Albay, because of the concert of disasters that visited the Province in recent years. By virtue of the physical and geographical character of Albay, natural disaster is part of the daily lives of the Albayano. Impending threats are the Mt. Mayon, for volcanic eruption, storm surges, earthquakes, floods and super typhoons, coupled with double digit poverty incidence needless to say drives the Albayanos/bicolanos into further vulnerability.

Based on the series of consultation and discussion of COPE staff in consultation with Christian Aid, the target community of the proposed BDRC project is the COPE/Christian Aid permanent housing partner-beneficiaries from the barangays of Padang, San Roque, Bonot, Pawa, Bogtong, Arimbay and Rawis of Legazpi City and from the select communities in the Municipality of Daraga-specifically Brgy. Tagas and Binitayan which is considered as high risk areas based on the study of Manila Observatory (MO) conducted this year, devastated by super-typhoon Durian in November 2006.

Total number of target beneficiaries of this project is 450 families. It will be composed of 170 families from two resettlement sites (Taysan 110 and Anislag 60) and 280 families from Brgy. Tagas (110) and Binitayan (170) who opted to stay in the area despite the high risks and high degree of vulnerability situation of the place.

The reasons of prioritizing the targeted 4 pilot communities in the BDRC project are as follows:

1. the 280 families in the brgys. of Tagas and Binitayan are considered as one of the high risk areas in the Municipality of Daraga, which entails the high degree of vulnerability of the families who opted to still stay in the area for some various individual reasons

2. based from the series of consultation conducted in the resettlement site, there is more to be done in the site aside from disaster-resilient and permanent housing, particularly in terms of LIVELIHOOD and HEALTH/SANITATION as they explicitly stressed

3. the continuity of intervention to the site thru community organizing and linking DRR initiatives to development work

4. the site is in dire need of external developmental intervention and the most appropriate community to be considered as the pilot community for the implementation of BDRC project.

This pilot BDRC project will start its implementation on September 15, 2008 with expected impact after six (6) months (or until March 15, 2008) of implementation up to one (1) year of program implementation. It is collectively decided by the members of the learning circles that after two (2) months of implementation there will be a sharing of experiences and learning among CAID partners who implement the BDRC project in the Philippines, and after the 6 months implementation a documentation of the learning, strategies and initiatives, impacts of the projects and experiences will be conducted by UPCSWD.


Project Concept

Community organizing will play a major role for the accomplishment of this project. The principles of participation, collective decision-making and actions, empowerment and people-centered development, as well as methods of community analysis, community education, conscientization, community organization and participatory planning will be integrated in the disaster risk reduction processes.

The implementation of this project will be based from the following components;

1. Social Protection (Health and Well Being, Physical Protection, Livelihoods, Structural and Technical Measures)

(for Tagas and Binitayan)
Under this component, the proponent of the project will assist the 2 identified high risk communities (Tagas and Binitayan) to strengthen and organized community mechanisms that will eventually lead to risk reducing initiatives and strategies of the communities. Capacity building of the community is the most essential part of this component and community organizing work, which happen to be one of the field of specialization of the proponent. Major target output of this are, formation of active and operational QRT’s, familiarization of the communities to the basic DRR concepts, identification of vulnerable groups, setting-up early warning system (EWS), formulation of disaster preparedness plan and community drills are conducted that will heightened the vigilance of the target communities to be prepared and resilient to future disasters.

(for Anislag and Taysan)
Building up the capacities of the target-beneficiaries in the 2 resettlement sites (Taysan and Anislag) for addressing the need for social protection and implementation of sustainable livelihood. Active participation of the target groups will plays a major in this component thru participatory planning and community initiated risk reducing activities. Community DRR plans, developed and implementation of livelihoods managed by the community, acquired knowledge in health care and nutrition, trained and committed community health workers (CHW) and agreements with medical schools, churches, other NGO’s to build up and sustained technical and advocacy supports are among the major identified outputs that will addressed the vulnerability of the community in terms of health and sanitation, and sustainable livelihood.

2. Environmental Management (physical protection and technical measures)

(for Tagas/Binitayan and Taysan/Anislag) Target groups understanding on local and natural environmental and their potential risks will be heightened and strengthened thru FGD’s and any other form of info dissemination with regards on the results of the MO study on the high risks areas. Training on Weather Forecasting will be conducted to PO leaders as preparation for gathering relevant information on climatic and environmental conditions that will be disseminated to the target communities by the organized QRT’s and community disaster information teams (CDIT) (that will part of the QRT’s). Proper waste disposal are planned and implemented in the target communities.

3. Planning Regimes

(for Tagas/Binitayan and Taysan/Anislag)
Enhancing the participation of the PO leaders in tripartite mechanisms that will concretized the integration of DRR into local governance. Advocacy work and lobbying are the key activities of the target communities in order to attain the objective of this component. A passed resolution to the concerned LGU’s requesting an adequate relocation intended for the families who are willing to relocate from Tagas and Binitayan (without precluding the initiatives and advocacy agenda of the key stakeholders in the Province of Albay in developing options for safer settlements in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction), DRR-conscious CLUP and development plans presented to Barangay and municipal/city special bodies, are among the target output of this component.


LIVELIHOOD COMPONENT OF THE BDRC PROJECT (for Taysan and Anislag)

The project will also make use of the sustainable livelihood seed money in the form of a loan assistance at PHP 3,000.00 each for a total of target of 136 partner-beneficiaries. At Taysan, we had initially identified 46 potential beneficiaries. And Anislag has 60 initial target Beneficiaries for a total of 106 partner-families for two sites. These target beneficiaries will still be subject to validation based on the following criteria: a. should be a good payor; b. managing an existing small business; and c. an actual resident in the Resettlement Site.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT POLICIES: (Livelihood Component of the BDRC Project)

The funds intended for the livelihood component of the BDRC project will be deposited in a separate bank account number, but still in the name of COPE Foundation and it will be separate from the COPE general bank account. The reasons for this are the following;

1. for security and safety purposes of the funds
2. to ensure a sound financial management system of the livelihood funds
3. to ensure a proper and efficient financial monitoring and evaluation of the livelihood funds

The three (3) signatories when there is transaction in the bank will be our COPE-Bikol Regional Coordinator, the Assistant Regional Coordinator and Nardito Sayson (COPE Bikol Staff) as the one who will handle and supervised the livelihood component of the project.

As part of the financial management system to observed clearly during the implementation of the project, a capacity building on “Simple Bookkeeping and Recording” will be conducted to the concerned identified PO’s from both sites and CO’s to ensure a proper and efficient handling of the financial management system of the project. The proponent will identified from our local allied stakeholders who are experts in financial management system to assists us in the conduct of the said capacity building, plus the proponent will maximized its personnel in the finance to also assist in the activity.

As financial management policy of the project, all loans will be made through CHECKS-for safety and security reasons duly signed by three signatories , and to ensure that the loaned amount thru checks will be directly named to the legitimate recipient of the livelihood projects. And only the legitimate recipient will be authorized to en-cash the check. Also, on the matter of disbursement and any other related transaction with the same nature will be made thru checks.

All loans shall be collected/claimed from the bank by the legitimate recipient, so that the assigned CO’s don’t have to carry cash in the area.

A receipt will be issued by the collector to the recipient during collection of payment of the loaned amount. And to ensure good payment turn-out, good standing payor will be rewarded an incentives by way of not paying his/her last day of payment.

Scheme of Loan Payment and Process:

Loan amount is P3,000.00 per beneficiary at 2%/ payable within 6 mos. The 2% of the loan [P60.00] shall be deducted from the loan able amount thus the net pay to the loaner shall be P2,940.00]. Part of the 2% shall be allocated for incidental expenses [receipts, cash book, journal, etc.] Another part of the 2% shall be allocated for transportation and honorarium of the collector and another for capital infusion as savings of the association or members.

The P2,940.00 shall be paid by the borrower in accordance with the policies as stated below:

1. The loan shall be paid within P120 days [excluding Fridays and Saturdays] at P25.00 daily.
2. No collection on Fridays and Saturdays to avoid collector from holding the collected amount because the Bank is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
3. The collected amount will be deposited to the bank the next day of collection, hence, collection on Fridays and Saturdays could not be deposited because the bank is closed.
4. The amount collected on Sundays will be deposited on Monday.
5. A collector from each relocation site {Anislag and Taysan] will be chosen by the group to go around the area everyday to collect payment and record it in his/her cash book, which he will remit to the bank on the next banking day.
6. The collector from each site will remit the money to the assigned CO for deposit to the bank.

Other financial scheme will be formulated together with the partner-beneficiaries to claim ownership in the formulation of the financial management system by the PO members.

COPE-Bikol Foundation, specifically the BDRC Team (2 CO’s assigned in Taysan and Anislag) will be assisting to manage the seed fund together with the officer and members of both housing sites. The PO’s will be tasked to assists in the collection of daily payment, in which a scheme will be formulated collectively by the partner-beneficiaries and our institution in order not to burden morethe members who are identified recipient of the said loan assistance. Aside from that, the PO’s will also be assigned to assists in the monitoring of the whole BDRC project to ensure their active participation and to build-up their sense of ownership to the project.

To ensure that the livelihood funds are revolving, we planning to stick to our initial identified recipient of the loan assistance, re; A) a good payor; B) managing an existing small business; and C) an actual resident in the Resettlement Site. But this is not to say we are closing some potential options to the most vulnerable groups in the communities. The most vulnerable groups who are identified in both sites will also be a priority of the loan assistance project, they will be assisted first by the assigned CO’s (plus we will tap the expertise of our local allied here in Legazpi City, who are expert in livelihood identification and management-which hopefully give their assistance for free) in identifying their livelihood opportunities focusing on the local potential resources and livelihood options inside the sites. After the identification of the potential livelihood opportunities of the most vulnerable groups, they will also be consulted on the interest rate of the loan assistance and their loan will be released.

The principle of gender equality in the implementation of the livelihood project will be emphasized thoroughly during the conduct of livelihood identification, livelihood management, series of PO meetings, decision-making, FGD-to ensure the gender friendly environment of this project.


Project Objectives

The General Objectives of the project is to strengthen the capacities of target communities in Binitayan, Tagas, Anislag and Taysan to prepare for and reduce risks of future disasters through community mechanisms for social protection and sustainable livelihoods.

The specific objectives of the project are as follows:

To assist target groups in Binitayan and Tagas organize and strengthen community mechanisms for disaster risk reduction
To build up the capacities of target groups in Anislag and Taysan for social protection and sustainable livelihoods
To strengthen the target groups understanding of local natural environment and their potential risks
To enhance participation of PO leaders in tripartite mechanisms towards DRR integration in Local governance

Sustainable Livelihoods and Social Protection

BDRC Pilot Project 2008-2009: Coastal Core Sorsogon
(Sorsogon City, Sorsogon, Philippines)

This proposed project will focus on building capacities and resiliency of 40 households in the above-mentioned area that represents almost half (45%) of the total unserved households in Sitio Gumang. These 40 households will be selected based on the family’s willingness to be active partners of the project, with children in the families, with poor or very limited access to other support and is willing to pass-on the knowledge, skills and resources that they have received. This criteria for selection of household partners is imperative to ensure the project’s prioritization for the most vulnerable members of the community.

The notes below presents the different vulnerabilities identified by the community during the PVCA workshops;

1.) Physical Vulnerability- since Sitio Gumang is located in the sea shore of the municipal waters of Gubat, most of the residents are significantly vulnerable to the rising tides, storm surges, flooding and tidal waves but there is no sea wall or any other protection structure and mechanisms to protect them from these hazards.

2.) Economic vulnerability- the area lacks sources of livelihoods except to their limited income from small scale fishing. Employment opportunities for these people is also nil due to their lack of skills and education. In addition to these economic difficulties, the marine resource of the community is also gradually depleting due to various harmful human activities, i.e. overfishing, illegal fishing, improper waste disposal and recently the mining spill from the opposite island of Rapu-Rapu that caused fish kills and heavy metals contamination in marine resources.

3.) Social vulnerability- from the PVCA results also of this sitio, one of the major concern also is their condition as informal settlers in the area. Their houses are also very weak since they cannot afford to construct more stronger housing but also they are not allowed to construct permanent structures. Though there is already a barangay plan to relocate some of these households through the assistance of Gawad Kalinga Program, it will still take time. As also mentioned above, 80% of households in this sitio have no access to sanitary toilets and potable water. Access to education is also a problem since they are economically poor.

In order to minimize the above-mentioned vulnerabilities and to build their capacities towards disaster resiliency, this project specifically aims to employ strategies on risk management and vulnerability reduction (Thematic 4, John Twigg’s Guidance Notes on DRR). Using this guideline, this project will focus on the specific components of resilience which include the health and well being, sustainable livelihoods, and social protection. Described below is the characteristics of Sitio Gumang that we want to achieve at the end of the project;

Keeping in line with the Coastal CORE’s principle in project implementation, this project will be participatory and gender-responsive in its approaches. Hence, this project will be collaboration between and among the Barangay LGU, the Municipal LGU through the Office of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development, Coastal CORE, COTIPABA and the target households. These target pilot families will be group into two (2) self-help groups to enhance participation and co-management approach and also foster harmonious relationships among them. These self-help groups will be given tasks related to project management and monitoring and so honing their skills on basic project management and also develop their communication and negotiation skills. For the part of the LGUs, the Barangay and Municipal government both committed to provide technical and financial counterpart for the project. COTIPABA on the other hand will assist Coastal CORE in mobilizing the target families; co-facilitate training and community activities as well as monitoring of the project.

Coastal CORE will also try to leverage this project with the LGUs and other development agencies to access additional support for water system development, mangrove reforestation and seedlings provision for communal vegetable garden.

Having enumerated the above activity plans, the characteristics of a disaster resilient community that these activities aim to create are summarized in table 1.


Project Objectives:

To provide selected households of a sustainable and hazard-resilient livelihoods.
To ensure a healthy and sanitary environment.
To ensure access to health insurance.


Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies:

Given the characteristics of the target pilot area, the stakeholders and beneficiaries, this project will mainly be using three (3) DRR strategies delving on sustainable livelihoods development, social protection and improvement of health and environmental sanitation.

These strategies are:

1.) Capability-Building for DRR and Behavioral Change Towards Better Health and Environmental Sanitation

The state of poor sanitation in Sitio Gumang is a concern which must be equally addressed to further reduce various risk and vulnerabilities of these households and the community as a whole. The unhealthy and unsanitary practices of the residents in Sitio Gumang have a significant effect to their lives as well as to the coastal environment and resources. To prevent this, the project plans to initiate or facilitate various learning activities on the importance of environmental sanitation to their health and to the marine resources as their primary source of livelihoods. Values enhancement exercises will likewise be carried out to strengthen the culture of caring for self, for others and the environment as well as values of service and accountability. The following orientations and learning activities will be facilitated by the project;

a) Orientation on Basic Health and Environmental Sanitation
b) Disaster Preparedness and Management Training
c) Community Visioning and Planning (Health, Environment, Sanitation and Disaster Management)
d) Sustainable Livelihoods Planning

2.) Improving family/community nutrition and access to potable water

Part of the initiative towards building a disaster resilient community is the ability of the people to adapt to change, absorb stress, manage disaster events and recover from disasters (Twigg, John. Characteristics of a Disaster-Resilient Community: A Guidance Note. August, 2007.). This therefore requires and entails the need for healthy members of communities.

Considering the above area description, the area’s vulnerability to hazards’ risks is aggravated by its poor health and sanitation conditions. Hence, the project will strive to improve households’ access to potable water as well as improve its health and nutrition practices. The project then proposes to facilitate the provision of bio-sand water filters to be utilized by the community. One (1) unit bio-sand filter will serve 8-10 families for their potable water and the project could initially provide five (5) units of this facility while the LGU (municipal and barangay) will also provide the other 5 units. The project will also attempt to resolve the problem on the use and maintenance of the existing communal toilets by reviewing and enhancing its policies together with the self-help groups and LGUs. These interventions are planned as this because according to the Barangay Officials, these households are their target beneficiaries for the Gawad Kalinga Housing Project and maybe relocated in the next coming years.

As mentioned above, the family health savings will also be introduced by the project as a social protection strategy. This health savings will be part of weekly or monthly savings of the households that will be set aside from their livelihoods income.

For the improvement of family and community nutrition, the approach will be two-pronged. One is for the long term, and the other is for the short term or the immediate need for nutrition as part of the projects’ capability building strategy. Lectures, seminars and demonstrations on how to achieve better nutrition by meal planning in the family will be initiated by this project. A community crops and vegetable garden will be established in the area using organic farming technology to ensure supply of organic and nutritious food that will also respond to the nutrition problem. This could again be managed by the self-help groups and the seedlings will be the counterpart of the Local Government Units. Products of this communal farm could be utilized for children feeding program as well as for community consumption. During the establishment of communal garden, families will be encouraged to actively participate and a rice-for-work scheme (Participating families will receive 2 kilos of rice per 3 hours work in the communal garden) will be carried out as form of support to participating families and this gardening period should coincide with the starting of family livelihoods implementation so as to avoid also the possible misuse of their livelihoods funds (some families are forced by the situation to use part of the livelihood funds to buy rice or other basic goods and thereby reduces its revolving capital for livelihoods and will eventually diminish rather than increase).

3.) Hazard-Resilient & Sustainable Livelihoods Development

All the target pilot families with no previous livelihood assistance from the organization and other agencies will be given the chance to identify, develop and sustain hazard-resilient livelihoods based on their expertise and capacities. The project will ensure diversity and linking of livelihoods activities in the communities to avoid conflicts. During the PCVA workshops, women in the communities were insisting to train and support them on sewing/dress-making/tailoring, food cooking and handicraft-making. Technical assistance will be provided by Coastal CORE as the main implementer of this project and will link also these households to various service agencies of the government to further develop their knowledge, skills and livelihoods. Similar with the household organizing strategy, these households will first define their vision and goals for their family and community before it will proceed to livelihoods planning. The project will provide financial and material support to these households to develop and enhance their livelihoods. As mentioned above, these activities will be jointly managed by the Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Coastal CORE, COTIPABA and Barangay LGU. Monitoring and capital build-up management for replication strategies will be simultaneously handled by the same group though COTIPABA and the SHGs directly keep the funds.

The main target beneficiaries of this livelihood engagement are the women in the community. The PCVA results showed their specific desire to be productive members of the community since fishing as the dominant source of livelihood in the area is basically a male-oriented. The women of the community characterize themselves mainly as idle or support systems of their spouses’ livelihood. This have led most of them to believe that they are the less productive members of the community which highly affects their tendency to be involved in small time gambling activities (card games), chatting all day, and other nonchalant activities. The goal for this strategy is additional income generation for the selected families, wherein women members of the household will be given the chance to create or develop her choice of livelihood depending on her skills and interest. Capital or seed fund will be provided to the women beneficiary after capability-building and cooperative membership orientation.

This strategy is seen by the project as an important opportunity for the family to increase their income, generate funds for savings, and thus promote stronger family resiliency to disaster with their stronger capacity to bounce back from its damages. In the gender sensitive lens, the PCVA results show low confidence amongst the women members of the society with their “passive and spouse-dependent” self images. Part of the characteristics aimed by this project for a disaster resilient community is gender sensitivity since women compose half of our population, they too must be empowered as part of our DRR strategies.


Negotiated Strategies and Indicators

Vulnerability of livelihoods:

Approach:
Capacity building to develop livelihoods (gender, social enterprise and value-chain approach?) Provision of seed capital
(NOTE: Fund management and replication managed by COPATIBA and SHGs) Increase in income (due to alternative livelihood developed)
Savings mobilization

Indicators:
HH-based disaster-resilient alternative livelihoods developed Small enterprises given technical and marketing support by DSWD, COPATIBA, CCS, LGU

Health vulnerability
Health savings mobilzation
Use of HH savings for health insurance
Use of bio-sand filters for drinking water
Health and sanitation education in cooperation with BHWs
Community plan for the use a maintenance of communal toilets
Communal garden
(NOTE: use of rice for work scheme in developing communal garden)
Nutrition program

Indicators
Family savings
Family health savings
Access to health insurance
50% of HHs with access to bio-sand filters for clean drinking water Signed community agreement on sanitation maintenance
Consumable and medicinal plants planted in communal garden
Crops from communal garden used by LGUs in the feeding program in the barangay
Communal plan and agreement for access and use of produce from the communal garden