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Accomplishments
PHILSSA has come a long way since its formation in 1988 and is continuing to forge ahead in its quest for sustainable paradigms in the task of urban development. After more than a decade of service, the network has succeeded in making a difference in Philippine society through its initiatives.
- In 1990, PHILSSA played a key role in the formation of the Caucus of Development NGOs (CODE-NGO), the network of development NGOs in the Philippines.
- PHILSSA’s tried-and-tested development principles of autonomy, collegiality, subsidiarity, and complementation have gained wide acceptance within the social development community.
- PHILSSA has encouraged network and consortium-building. One concrete example is the formation of the District 2 Consortium. Ten PHILSSA- member and partner NGOs (COPE, CSPPA, FDA, FDUP, HASIK, ICSI, INDEX, SALIGAN, UPA & VMSDFI) that subscribe to an integrated approach to urban poor development are behind this initiative. By way of PHILSSA’s Social Development Code of Ethics was adopted by CODE-NGO for its own code of conduct, and PHILSSA’s key movers played instrumental roles during CODE’s complementation with people’s organizations in 28 barangays of northern Quezon City in the areas of local governance, parliamentary participation, alliance building, research and advocacy, and consortium development, the consortium has succeeded in creating such alternative centers of grassroots power as the District 2 Based Alliance, the District 2 Caucus of Alternative Service Implementors, and the Bilateral Coordinating Council (in partnership with the Quezon City government) The consortium’s efforts have also led to the publication of the document, the District 2 Urban Poor Profile and the formation of the Urban Poor Colloquium (UPC)
- PHILSSA served as the secretariat of the People’s Forum for Habitat 2, which formed the Anti-Demolition Group and the protocol Campaign for Just and Humane City presented during the UN Summit for Sustainable Cities and Human Settlement in Istanbul. This campaign was spearheaded by the Urban Poor Associates, a PHILSSA partner in the Urban Poor Colloquium (UPC)
- PHILSSA led CODE-NGO’s initiative of strengthening the social development sector’s successor generation. The member-NGOs with experience in working with students and training them in development work were at the forefront of this effort. This project involved CCS-OSCI, INDEX, SIO, KKP, and SICO. The Successor Generation Program launched by CODE-NGO has two running programs:
a. Kami Naman is a training program for NGO second-liners that is being run by the CO-Multiversity. It has six modules which tackle the various roles that leaders in development work are called to perform, namely, Visionary, Advocate, Synthesizer of Information and Innovator, Consensus-builder, Network-builder, and Keeper of the Covenant.b. Summer of Service (SOS) is a formation program for students who are inclined to take on development work as a calling after graduation. It is being run by a member –NGO, the Kristiyanong Katilingban sa Pagkabana (KKP). The program seeks to integrate social development work into the academic life of students promoting a continuing dialogue between social development institutions and the academe and the interplay of social reality and theory..
- PHILSSA facilitated the installation of a standardized system of benefit packages for development workers within the network, including life insurance and group hospitalization among others.
- PHILSSA has initiated fund accessing and sharing of resources within the network in two of its projects (i.e Mentoring and Innovation Transfer).
- Project Shelter, where PHILSSA member -NGOs comprise the Council of Implementors, is an innovative multi-stakeholder initiative working for adequate, quality, and humane housing for the urban poor. The project has succeeded in strengthening POs and NGOs at the local and national levels, involving local government units (LGUs) and the private sector as partners, and in influencing the implementation and institutionalization of the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) at the local level. Concretely, the project has made gains in the following areas:
a. Publication of Social Housing Policies, Legislations, Protocols and Commitments was undertaken to promote the socialized housing agenda. Mainly through the efforts of the PHILSSA secretariat. Project Shelter has come out with four comprehensive legal reference volumes on socialized housing and a reprint of the UDHA in Filipino and English.
b. Project BAHAY is a two-window mechanism that was set-up to support POs in their advocacy work for social housing. As coordinated by the PHILSSA secretariat, the project’s PO Funding Window and National PO Formation Window have already generated 35 projects/programs for over 1,066 people’s organizations/federations affecting 115,258 families. The initiatives have ranged from capability building, advocacy and local governance, organizing, and research to savings and loans projects (which gave 4,000 families in Mindanao P5.2 million in net savings for land acquisition and housing).Moreover these initiatives have galvanized the POs, forming a national federation called the National Project Bahay People’s Organizations Congress.
c. Professionalized NGO Workers is Project Shelter’s training program that aims to standardize the intervention capabilities of NGO workers with regards to the requirements of adequate shelter and security of land tenure delivery. Spearheaded by PHILSSA NGO –member, CO-Multiversity, has facilitated the formation of the NCR-CO Urban Forum and the formulation of Urban CO Standards on housing intervention, the NCR-CO Framework the Urban CO Success Indicators. The NCR-CO Urban Forum held a common training-orientation on the implications of globalization, the national housing situation and national land use laws, and also the NCR-CO Urban Forum is now establishing links with rural COs.
d. The Technical Resource Pool is a team of architects, engineers, construction managers, physical and environmental planners, and other experts assisting NGOs and POs in actual social housing project, as coordinated by the Foundation for Development Alternative. Project Shelter inventoried the technical need of POs and NGOs in their social housing concerns and came up with a directory of committed technical experts whose voluntary services were then matched with the POs and NGOs according to their needs. Student volunteers were also matched with communities. In additional to developing training materials, training on site development and social housing were also given by the technical pool in partnership with Mapua and CO-Multiversity.
e. Savings and Loan Network is the Project Shelter program tasked to form a national consortium of NGOs and a federation of POs implementing savings and loan programs as their key intervention toward installing the necessary social housing infrastructures for he urban poor. Coordinated by the Foundation for Development Alternatives (FDA), the program has inventoried the various approaches being taken by NGOs and POs in their respective savings and loan programs for housing purposes. An NGO-SLP consortium and a national PO-SLP federation have been established. Moreover, a savings and loan program primer cum Video Documentary has been produced. Strategies for sustainability are already being implemented.
f. Innovation transfer seeks to harness alternative housing technologies for the socialized housing requirements of the urban poor. Under the guidance of PHILSSA member-NGO Harnessing Self-reliant Initiatives and Knowledge (HASIK). The program piloted EcoShelter Housing model in Cebu (using fire-water impact-resistant materials like container van frame, omniboard and corromesh wall) and in the National Government Center in Quezon City (using breakdown steel frames, omniboard and corromesh wall)For the pilot projects, on-the-job training workforces who had undergone the Basic Site Engineering Module formulated by the Technical Resource Pool experts. Complementary spin-off mechanisms have been worked out.
g. The Standardized Community Management program evaluates PHILSSA member-NGOs successful community management experiences and formulates standards for the effective management of urban poor housing. Facilitated by the Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs, the program has produced a reference book entitled A Place Called Home: Working Together Towards Adequate, Humane and Quality Housing for the Urban Poor. The preparation of the book involved extensively studying of pertinent documents and drawing on the experiences of Project Shelter and communities nationwide.
h. UDHA-Compliance Monitoring of LGUs aims to monitor LGUs’ implementation of the Urban Development and Housing Act. Led by the Urban Poor Associates. Project Shelter submitted a draft framework and instrument for monitoring UDHA compliance to LGUs in the regions that were willing to test the draft for their own monitoring purposes. The program has also documented the experiences of LGUs in implementing the UDHA and their efforts to address the land and housing needs of the urban poor in their respective localities.
ASSESSMENT:
PHILSSA’s network and consortium building efforts have been enhanced and programs have been integrated regionally and nationally. Project Shelter initiatives have set in place effective structures and mechanisms for the urban poor’s social housing and socioeconomic concerns. Internal programs are moving ahead with the continuing Successor Generation program and Innovation Transfer initiatives.
The Publication component is complementing the programs well. Having experienced entering into contractual arrangement with the Department of Health-for it Community Health Program, external funding becomes more accessible. Partnership with the private sector has been encouragingly productive. Critical collaboration with LGUs on programs and policies has been considerably strengthened. And finally, links with local and internationalgroups and networks have been improved.
- Community Partnership for Health is a partner project between PHILSSA and the Department of Health’s Urban and Nutrition Project. Its goals were to help urban poor POs identify and address their health needs and improve service delivery in the areas of tuberculosis control, integrated maternal and child health and environmental health; to demonstrate workable mechanisms of coordination among stakeholders at the local level in addressing urban health issues; and to build the capabilities of all stakeholders in managing and sustaining community partnerships for health.
