Youth VCO producers win in British Council contest

We congratulate the Association of Linamon Young Producers (ALYP), our assisted youth group in Lanao del Norte, for winning in Hatag Kalinaw, the British Council Philippines’ project grant contest. The winning entry, “Good values through VCO – Youth as partners in community development,” is one of three projects to be awarded Php 100,000 each.

In Visayan, ‘hatag’is to impart, share, or grant, while ‘kalinaw’ means peace. Hatag Kalinaw 2008 is a youth-led project grant contest for school and community-based youth organizations in Mindanao, highlighting how peace can be achieved through mutual understanding and entrepreneurship.  

ALYP is a youth organization in Linamon, a fifth class municipality in Lanao del Norte, composed of young men and women who were mostly unable to continue their studies due to financial constraints. Formed in 2005, they were organized and assisted by the Australian National University, Unlad Kabayan, and the local government unit (LGU) in Linamon.

Representatives of ALYP were flown to Manila to make a presentation on March 25 before a distinguished panel of judges from the British Council, national government, academe and civil society. Aside from the project grants, the three winning groups received project management training on March 27-29, to equip them with the tools needed to implement their projects.

Livelihood for Linamon

Volunteer Sam Sambitory, on the cornfields with Flory, monitors the carabao project

From ‘Making the Difference Through Muslim Volunteering’ by Kapamagogopa Inc. and Nicole Van Zurk (2007)

‘I can now say that I have my own carabao, one that really belongs to me. I feel happy, because it is an answer to our financial problems,’ smiles 58-year-old Flory Monterde, pulling his carabao out of the mud.

Flory lives in Linamon, which is considered to be one of the poorest areas in Mindanao. Between 65 to 75 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, defined as a household of five with an income of 10,000 pesos a month or less. Like most of the people in Linamon, Flory is a farmer, who cultivates corn on land owned by a landlord, a business man in Iligan City. On this land he has built a bamboo hut where he lives with his wife, his son, his son’s wife, and four grandchildren. They do not have electricity because they cannot afford to pay the bill. He cultivates the corn with his son. ‘We harvest three times a year for which we earn 2,000 pesos per harvest. Until now we needed to rent a carabao for 80 pesos per day to plow the field before planting for four days. So we lost that money.’ For extra income Flory and his son peel coconuts on a nearby farm. In the past his son tried to find a better paid job. He looked around in the neighborhood and then decided to go to Manila. ‘He earned some money there as a factory worker, but the salary was just enough to pay his living costs, so he could not save. He did not even have enough money to come back here, so I had to send him money for the ferry,’ says Flory.

His family is one of the households with a monthly income of between 1,000 and 1,500 pesos, identified as the ‘poorest of the poor,’ and so eligible for the livestock dispersal program of Unlad Kabayan. 24-year-old KI-volunteer Shaminoden Sambitory, nicknamed Sam, was placed in this NGO, working on migrants’ saving programs, livelihood and micro enterprise. ‘After identifying 400 households in Linamon, the families decided how they would like to generate extra income. They could choose a goat, cow, hog or carabao per household,’ explains Sham. ‘All the animals are female and the owner has to look for a male animal for propagation purposes. Some of the offspring will be given away to others in the barangay who are in need. The participants set up a livestock association in which they decide who gets the newly born animals. All participants are also trained on animal healthcare, bookkeeping, selling animals, production and feeding.’

Flory is still waiting for his carabao to produce offspring. In the meantime he teaches the carabao how to plow the land and carry coconuts. ‘When my carabao is grown up, it will not only be used for plowing the corn fields but also as means of transport from the farm to the market area,’ says Flory. The only means of transport to the barangay is a rented space on the back of a motorbike, named a habal habal, or a carabao with a cart.

Another participant of the livestock dispersal program is 32-year-old Cresenciano Zafra. Despite being a college graduate, he had difficulties finding work. He finally got a job as a manager of a courier company delivering medicines. Unfortunately, several times the medicine boxes were delivered broken, which made the receiving companies file claims to Cresenciano. He could not afford to pay the claims himself, so he resigned and instead he and his wife cook home-made Filipino sweets like biko, moron and suman. The couple sells their food house-to-house in the nearby city of Iligan. However, it does not generate enough income for them and their two children, so they joined the livestock dispersal program. Almost two years ago they received two hogs from the NGO Unlad Kabayan. ‘My neighbor has a male pig and we have an agreement that every time, when I borrow his pig and my hog produces piglets, I give one piglet to my neighbor,’ explains Cresenciano. ‘It goes really well. I attended workshops, since I did not know anything about pigs, and learned how to handle, love and take care of them. They will not grow if you do not give them love.’ Cresenciano sold over sixteen pigs on the market in Linamon and gave a lot of them away to others in the barangay. ‘They always come to monitor to see how I handle my pigs, but they are very well fed,’ says Cresenciano, pointing to Sam. ‘I have saved money for my kids’ education and I bought a coconut grater, so we can grate the coconuts faster and easier for the coconut cakes we sell. I dream of a big pig production and I am sure it will work out.’

Shaminoden Sambitory: Learn from other cultures

From ‘Making the Difference Through Muslim Volunteering’ by Kapamagogopa Inc. and Nicole Van Zurk (2007)

Shaminoden Sambitory, nicknamed Sam, was a volunteer from Kapamagogopa, and is now Enterprise Development Officer of SEEDS Lanao.

‘I grew up very dependent on my parents and family, in almost all aspects of the common practice among Maranaos. Nearly all my friends were Maranaos. After graduation I planned to explore other places in order to interact with other cultures and religions but that proved to be difficult. Everything changed when I volunteered for KI. In the organization where I was placed I was the only Maranao Muslim. Sometimes it was difficult as a Muslim working in a Christian organization because their culture is very different. However, it was really great and I experienced new things about work and life. I realized two main aspects in life or essential attributes of a person that I lacked before. I am more flexible and have love for people. I will treasure these experiences because I did not acquire them through money or by other means, but of sweat while in volunteering. I will bring these special treasures wherever I go and whatever work I do in the future.’

Lanao SEEDS Center

In February 2004, Unlad Kabayan entered into a partnership with the local government in Linamon, Lanao del Norte, led by Mayor Cherlito Macas. At the core of the partnership was the shared commitment to people-centered development. Both parties shared the same approach of asset mobilization or resource enhancement as a working framework to sustainable community management.

The Linamon Medium-Term Development Plan (2001-2004) was a “doable plan empowering our town and people to enjoy a better quality of life. It will pursue a responsive and integrated development strategy for the total uplift of our community through optimum utilization of human, natural and material resources. The guiding principle is the institutionalization of planning with the people for transparency, participation and good governance. Poverty alleviation and people empowerment is the bottom line and battle cry of the present local government leadership.”

For its part, Unlad’s mandate is to promote social entrepreneurship and social enterprises by mobilizing migrant workers, the marginalized in the community and their resources to build a sustainable local economy. As an approach to community management, asset mobilization views a community as inherently endowed with wealth-creating assets. If managed equitably, these assets would work for the benefit and well-being of its people. Like a glass with water, communities are seen as half-full rather than half-empty.

The partnership was formalized in a Memorandum of Agreement, which includes a 15-year usufruct agreement for a 10-room building on a 1.5 hectare land owned by the local government unit (LGU).

The LGU’s commitment and track record to development is a major asset of the community. The sincerity of the mayor to the partnership was made more evident when he put the LGU’s Agricultural Training Institute building, unused for five years, at Unlad’s disposal. Unlad rehabilitated the building and transformed it into a SEEDS Center (a community-based training and resource center that provides Social Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development Services).

After the inauguration of the Bag-ong Linamon SEEDS Center on March 28, 2004, which served as the formal entry and introduction of Unlad to the Linamon community, work started in earnest in April 2004. At present, the Lanao SEEDS Center has on-going projects, including household-based livestock production in partnership with the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, and high-value crop farming together with the LGU and Department of Agriculture technicians.