Unlad Kabayan wins in Panibagong Paraan 2008
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Mayor Lumaque of LGU-Kolambugan, economist Winnie Monsod (one of the jurors), and May-an Villalba |
Unlad Kabayan’s “New Lives for Old – Peace, Growth and Good Governance through Social Enterprise” was one of 33 winning entries to receive project grants of up to Php 1 million at World Bank Philippines’ Panibagong Paraan 2008.
The project grant competition/exhibit took place on April 9-10 at Megatrade Halls 2 and 3, Building B, SM Megamall. Out of the original 533 entries, 99 projects participated in this ‘marketplace of innovative ideas.’ Joining Unlad Kabayan at the exhibit was the LGU project partner, Mayor Bertrand Lumaque of the municipality of Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte. A people’s organization, the Lanao Comrades Multipurpose Cooperative (LANCOM), a growing group of returned rebels, is another partner in ‘New Lives for Old.’
The project will instill the value and practice of saving, investing and social entrepreneurship among the stakeholders; mobilize assets and financial resources; and sensitize the LGU in migration and community development, to collectively craft pro-poor and pro-migrant legislation and projects to support the socio-economic activities of Kolambugan’s community sector.
Building Bridges
Unlad Kabayan's director, Maria Angela 'May-an' Villalba, was named finalist of the Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2007 sponsored by Ernst and Young. She was featured on the front page of Business World newspaper, as shown below.
From Business World (www.bworld.com.ph)
Vol. XXI, No. 126
Monday, January 28, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Maria Angela Villalba
Executive Director
Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation
Even as a child, she always empathized with the plight of the poor. Some of her childhood friends in Butuan City became washerwomen but Maria Angela Villalba was fortunate to have parents who were teachers and a sister who was a social worker. She credits her family for instilling her fierce commitment to social issues, inspiring her to pursue a degree in Social Work at University of the Philippines in Diliman. After graduating, she had a stint as a teacher and a government employee but later on realized that non-government organizations (NGOs) was where she could influence the most change.
She was first exposed to the plight of OFWs when she worked in Hong Kong as a training and organizing consultant. She observed the behavior and learned about the pressing concerns of migrant workers, bringing these to the attention of her Korean boss. Her involvement with migrant issues eventually led to the creation of the Asian Migrant Center (AMC) and she became its first director. AMC focused on helping abused migrants and assisting them in their legal requirements. What struck her was that in each of the cases that she handled, the abused migrants would choose to stay and search for a new employer. “We had very interesting cases where the women were clearly abused but were not willing to come home. I can only imagine the kind of trauma that they had. I would ask, ‘What would it take to help you go home?’ They would answer, ‘We would lose face with our family. We would lose face in our community. What is there to go home to?’”
Because of this recurring phenomenon, Ms. Villalba sought to create a program for migrant workers to help them build long-term assets back home. She also prepared savings and investment studies about migrant communities in Hong Kong and Malaysia. After a year, she took her studies to Japan where she was instrumental in convening support advocates of migrant groups for the first time. She also took her cause to the United Nations where she was able to help draw better policies for migrants all over the world.
After conducting the studies, Ms. Villalba finally formed the Migrant Savings and Alternative Investment for Community Development and Reintegration (MSAI-CDR) development model. Migrants of different nationalities were grouped together. Their situations were assessed and a pool of savings was established for each group.
In 1996, she launched Unlad Kabayan in the Philippines with the MSAI-CDR development model at its core. Ms. Villalba then formed partnerships with local cooperatives to perform studies on what types of businesses are most suitable for investment. The first HK $100,000 of migrant savings was invested in a shoe factory in Cebu. A campaign to convince Filipino migrants to invest in local businesses in their hometowns also followed. Without knowing it, Ms. Villalba was actually doing financial management, something that she admits she did not have any previous knowledge. “I prefer calling it social value creation. I didn’t exactly have a background for this. I just used my instincts,” she says.
Unlad Kabayan concentrates its operations in poor communities in the country. This in turn presents benefits for all the parties involved. Migrant workers invest in a business that they can manage when they retire or when they decide to return home. The investments are welcomed enthusiastically by the community. Local residents are provided with jobs and the community can progress economically. At present, the organization is incubating five businesses in different communities nationwide. These include P7-8 million in assets in a coco coir plant, a rice center, milling, and palay trading business.
But despite the success of her organization, Ms. Villalba grew quite restless as she preferred more practical experience. A friend advised her to take her research to banks as her work would be much applicable to them. Unknown to her, a colleague had been so inspired by Ms. Villalba’s work that he had entered Unlad Kabayan’s program in the Changemaker Awards given by Ashoka, the global association of social entrepreneurs. Fortunately enough the NGO won, and on hearing the news, Ms. Villalba truly felt for the first time that she was an entrepreneur. “I always thought I was a social worker,” she remarks.
The award changed the way Ms. Villalba and her colleagues saw their mission. “Bigger businesses provide more jobs. More jobs mean more transactions in the community. So we explored many businesses. We got into production, construction, and manufacturing.” Ms. Villalba also took this as an opportunity to grow. “It wasn’t going to work if I only used my instincts,” she admits. She took some management courses to fine tune her business skills.
Ms. Villalba finds fulfillment when she sees migrants now enjoying affordable packages and services made especially for them by leading Philippine banks. This resulted from Unlad Kabayan’s efforts to empower migrants and to ultimately provide livelihood to impoverished communities. In the next four years, Unlad Kabayan is set to support farming communities with new agricultural technology, crop and livestock production techniques, along with farm credit.
The success of Unlad Kabayan signals a very crucial shift in the common belief that there is little hope left for the Philippines. Ms. Villalba has demonstrated that social entrepreneurship can link people and their dreams; that there is hope in alleviating poverty. Unlad Kabayan bridges two of Philippine society’s significant yet under-represented sectors — OFWs and impoverished communities — by harnessing migrants’ resources, investing these wisely in communities that, in turn, develop the local economy.
Maria Angela Villalba is a sought-after speaker on migrant issues such as racism, human trafficking, abuse and migrant rights but it is in social entrepreneurship that she has made great strides in changing people’s lives.
Sharing Unlad Kabayan’s experience in Indonesia
May-an Villalba and Carla June Natan at the reintegration dialogue in Indonesia
In September 2007, Unlad Kabayan’s director, May-an Villalba, was the main speaker at a public reintegration dialogue in Indonesia. The reintegration dialogue, held in Krasak-Indramayu, was organized by the Center for Indonesian Migrant Workers and Urban Community Mission. Visits were also made to community enterprises, many started by former Indonesian migrant workers, in Krasak-Indramayu and Bali.
The visit reunited Ms. Villalba with former colleagues from the Asian Migrant Centre and the Christian Conference in Asia’s Urban Rural Mission in Hong Kong. Shown in the photo are Ms. Villalba sharing Unlad Kabayan’s experience at the reintegration dialogue, with Carla June Natan interpreting for the Indonesian participants.
Migration flows from Indonesia
According to the Migration Policy Institute, in mid-2006, the Minister of Labor reported there were 2.7 million documented Indonesians working overseas. This represents 2.8 percent of the total national workforce.
The majority of Indonesian migrants are women, mostly employed as domestic workers, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Emigration has not affected Indonesia as greatly as some other Southeast Asian nations, such as the Philippines. Being such a huge nation, its impact has been limited. Both government and NGOs have increased their activity in migration-related issues, particularly in the protection of migrant workers.
Global activist launches campaign to cut cost of sending remittances
From Philippine Daily Inquirer – Global Pinoy
July 22, 2007
May-an Villalba (2nd from left) at TIGRA’s press conference in New York City
[TIGRA, or Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action, is a movement of immigrant organizations across the US. May-an Villalba, Unlad Kabayan's executive director, presented the Migrant Savings for Alternative Investment (MSAI) program at TIGRA’s global gathering in the Bay Area in August 2006. May-an is a member of the oversight committee in TIGRA’s La Liga, who are representatives in US and around the world helping direct and shape TIGRA’s community reinvestment fund, and their current consumer campaign with remittance transfer giant Western Union. TIGRA’s campaign has these key demands: lower transfer costs, use fair exchange rates and reinvest in immigrant community projects, both in the US and the home countries.]
Francis Calpotura, 45, had been living abroad for more than 30 years when a study grant took him around the world and gave him a first-hand look at the sacrifices made by overseas Filipino workers.
Francis, who grew up in Loyola Heights in Quezon City, migrated with his family to San Francisco, California in the early ‘70s, and saw how hard overseas Filipinos worked in order to send money to their families back home.
“The money workers send to their loved ones did not earn easily,” Francis told the Inquirer in an interview. “It comes from their blood, sweat and tears… pure hard work.”
To him, the act of sending money home was more than an obligation: it was a noble gesture of love.
He noted that many Filipinos abroad have jobs with low salaries and minimum benefits, if at all.
“What would be left of their money if a significant chunk is ‘lost’ to the high cost of remitting?” he asked rhetorically.
This is why Francis, together with other concerned groups and individuals, is aggressively lobbying to lower the cost of sending remittances through formal channels to help overseas workers and their families get the most of their hard-earned money.
He vowed to help his kababayans send their hard-earned money to their families at home with better efficiency at the least possible cost.
According to Francis’ research, money transfer companies charge up to 15% of the amount being sent. That means if an overseas worker sends $200 to the Philippines, as much as $30 can be charged per transaction.
Hard time
Activism came slowly to Francis.
“It was a hard time for us here in the Philippines in the ‘70s so our family decided to migrate,” Francis said. “It was a personal struggle for me. When I arrived in the US, I didn’t know anyone there. I had no friends to talk to.”
Francis was only 15 when he first went to the US to live with his mom, who was already working there as a nurse in a healthcare center, and his other siblings. His father, Venancio, an established lawyer in Quezon City, chose to stay behind, occasionally going abroad to visit his family.
He went to school at the George Washington High School just three days after his arrival in San Francisco.
Discrimination among races seemed a fact of life there, but Francis said his high school life was generally all right. He remembered being called “Bruce Lee” because of his slanted eyes. “But it’s okay, I don’t really care what they call me anyway.”
Reconnecting with friends
After high school, in 1980, Francis enrolled at the University of California in Berkley and pursued a career in engineering but shifted course after a year. In 1984, he graduated with a double major—a BA in Philosophy and English.
He was affected by the assassination of Ninoy Aquino in 1983. “I looked up to Ninoy so much that I didn’t want to go back to the country after he died,” he said.
It was after this incident that Francis got involved with the anti-Marcos movement in the US. At first, he would join forums, meetings and rallies with other activist groups in their locale. Eventually, he began participating in demonstrations.
Life changing
Ninoy’s assassination was the first life-changing event in his life. The second, he says, was his first job after graduating from college.
In 1984, right after getting his degree, he joined the Center for Third World Organizing, an Oakland-based, non-profit group which does community work for the minorities in the area, focusing on healthcare issues.
Here, he worked as a trainer and co-director of the group. This brought him closer to minority groups. He said it taught him the value of hard work and perseverance.
“With my experience, I found out that I can work for social justice and make a living at the same time,” Francis explained. “I also began to fully understand how racism underpinned my experience as an immigrant in the US, and how my situation is very similar to other people’s experiences as well.”
For 16 years he worked with the organization until he gave up his post in 2000 to try and tackle new challenges in life.
Francis took up a teaching job in the San Francisco State University, teaching community organizing to his students. But his stint as a teacher did not last long. After a semester, he quit his job. “I enjoyed teaching but it was just not my calling,” Francis elaborated.
Somehow, he realized, he wanted to be close to the concerns of migrant workers as the importance of increasing globalization became clear to him.
Francis was given a grant by the Ford Foundation in 2002 to conduct an international comparative analysis of social change infrastructures. During his research, he visited Australia, Rome, and other European and Asian countries including the Philippines.
Aside from the research results, Francis gained more information on migration. “I asked myself: How big really is this phenomenon?” he said.
He also became aware of the issue of the high cost of remitting money “that millions of people have to tolerate.”
“For me, sending money back at home is the single most symbolic experience under globalization. And we have eight million Pinoys abroad!” he added.
Option vs necessity
Francis then founded the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA), a “non-profit movement that promotes financial justice through the economic power of immigrants.”
“I believe migration should be an option and never a necessity,” Francis said. “Working abroad is good. It introduces fresh ideas and enriches one’s experiences. But the question is: Under what terms?”
TIGRA, under Francis’ leadership, believes that reducing the cost of sending money from one country to another will significantly hasten the process of migration as an option rather than a necessity.
The group’s latest project is a global campaign against the high cost of remittances.
In this advocacy, the group is asking major players in the remittance industry, particularly the money transfer players, to adopt an agreement lowering the cost of sending remittances, reinvesting of a more reasonable amount of money to migrant workers, and setting a fairer exchange rate.
“This is not a campaign against remittance industry players,” Francis cleared. “We simply want them to have more accountability to the welfare of the communities where they benefit from.”
In May, Francis was in the country to launch the global campaign here with the help of other concerned groups such as the Migrant Forum in Asia, Center for Migrant Advocacy-Philippines, and Unlad Kabayan.
He is not thinking of retirement. But when it does happen, he sure won’t be spending the rest of his life in just one place, he said. “I’m a transnational person. To me, home is where you are.”
Unlad Kabayan one of four reporters of civil society to GFMD-Brussels
The GFMD logo is analyzed at the Global Community Forum in Brussels organized by Migrants Rights International
In July 2007, Unlad Kabayan actively participated in three key events in Brussels, Belgium:
- Civil Society Day (CSD) organized by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) on July 9;
- The inter-governmental Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) led by the government of Belgium and the (governmental) Friends of the Forum on July 10-11;
- Global Community Forum on Migration, Development and Human Rights, organized by the Migrants Rights International (MRI), and co-organized by the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and December 18, also on July 10-11.
Some 200 delegates representing all global regions came for the CSD on July 9. Europe and Africa were amply represented, coming from NGOs, trade unions, faith-based organizations, migrant and refugee organizations, and the academe. From the private sector were the US Chamber of Commerce and remittance transfer companies including Western Union. The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) and a representative from ICMC were the only two from the Middle East.
The CSD deliberated on three major themes following the themes of the inter-governmental GFMD. Human rights, social and economic justice, fair trade, and gender were issues that resonated throughout the day in workshops and plenary. The role of private sector remained a contentious issue.
Four speakers presented the civil society report to the inter-governmental forum:
- Oscar Chacon (US – National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities) on Theme 1: Human Capital Development and Labor Mobility;
- May-an Villalba (Executive Director of Unlad Kabayan) spoke on Theme 2: Increasing the Value of Remittances and other Diaspora Resources;
- Oumou Ze (Africa and Belgium – National Center for Cooperation and Development) on Enhancing Institutional Policy;
- William Gois (Regional Coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia) presented the expectations of the CSOs on the process and content of GFMD 2008: “The Road to Manila.”
Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002), who moderated the CSD, was unequivocal in her position on human rights and economic justice. Juxtaposed to this were words from some representatives about government not wanting to hear about the root causes of migration and human rights.
It was therefore an inspiring surprise to hear the speakers at the opening session of the inter-governmental forum talk about the tragedies that befall migrant workers because of human rights violations, poverty, inequality in access to resources, that migration is the face of a poor woman. The Prime Minister of Belgium opened the session and spoke about the deaths of migrant workers as they try to cross borders in Morocco and the Mediterranean. Another speaker pointed out the irony of North governments spending 2 Euros a day in building and keeping the borders up while the poor of the world live on less than a Euro a day.
The process and unities achieved during the Asian consultation on GFMD in Manila, held in June 2007, enriched the Asian participants' contribution to the CSD.
At least three points in the CSO report were underscored:
- Even at its most positive, migration cannot overcome structural barriers to development, such as lack of infrastructure, inappropriate economic policies, corruption and disadvantageous trade relations and high levels of violence.
- Remittances or labor export programs cannot be the basis for development strategy.
- Universal ratification of UN and ILO Conventions, and a more solid role of the UN in GFMD, are much needed.
At the Global Community Forum, networking and strategizing for common platforms and activities took place, e.g. domestic workers’ solidarity, financing programs for migration and development; undocumented workers, human rights and policy. MRI and co-organizers agreed to build together the CSO road to GFMD 2008 in Manila that would provide more space for interaction with government and policy makers. As members of MRI’s Executive Council and Steering Committee, Unlad Kabayan and Migrant Forum in Asia would be expected to engage in a major way from hereon.
On another note, Unlad Kabayan maximized the visit to Europe to build and renew relationships with partners and migrant organizations. Undocumented migrants have been on the increase. Ms. Villalba and Bernice Roldan (Advocacy Officer) attended meetings of support groups for detained African migrants in the Netherlands, and met with cooperatives of Filipino migrants investing in Unlad Kabayan's community of women and projects. New investments were also mobilized.
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