AsianNGO #3 - September-October 2013

www.asianngo.org ISSUE #3 | SEPT-OCT 2013

Funds | Partnerships | Learning

Integrity in question:

FEATURED ORGANISATION

ConnectingUp: technologies bridging communities

the non-profit sector not spared

Connecting Up, Inc. is a non-profit organisation that provides a variety of information, products, resources and programmes to other non-profits in Australia, New Zealand and some countries in Southeast Asia. Since 2012 they have been running a number of community initiatives in support of the non-profit Cont. page 13

FEATURED EVENT

Habitat for Humanity tackles Asia-Pacific housing issues in summit Habitat for Humanity International will host the Asia-Pacific Housing Forum at the Dusit Thani Manila on 2-4 October this year, gathering over 700 policy makers, corporate partners and NGOs to discuss solutions to poverty housing issues. “The Cont. page 14

FEATURED PROJECT

Urban gardening for a cause Lê Huynh Thanh Quy, 18, lives in Ho Chi Minh City with his five cousins and 64-year-old grandmother who struggles to feed them and keep them in school. Quy goes to school but he is not a very good student: after 12 years in public school, he is still in the eighth grade. But now thanks to the Green Youth Collective, a new social enterprise which aims to empower less advantaged Cont. page 12

Fighting the ills and roots of corruption and poverty has largely been portrayed in the role of the civil society, mainly working through the non-profit sector, in general. The crusade against political abuse of power and corporate monopolies firstly affect and are thus borne by the civil society—which is, in turn, prime stakeholder of non-profit organisations. Looking introspectively as a sector, however, begs for the question: how deep is our sense of integrity?

Undeniably, the development sector has had its fair share of anomalies, too. Cont. page 4

N E W S F EATURE

Civil society in focus: post-2015

L-R: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberain President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at the opening talks of the Post-2015 High-Level Talks of the MDG last December. The HLP subsequently held the discussions in Bali this year.

Since its turn-of-the-century inception the eight Millennium Development Goals have seen some success stories, such as halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, providing vaccines to four out of five children, and reducing deaths from malaria by a quarter. For some of the other goals the road has been bumpier, especially in low-income countries and conflict-ridden areas. Although the goals were set for the betterment of all, some groups where left out of focus, such as people living in fragile states; and did not foresee the effects of conflict and violence and events like the 2008 global financial crisis. Cont. page 4

Rights advocates urge EU: cancel grants for PH Justice Support The European Union (EU) was urged by Europe-based human rights advocates to withdraw the EUR10 million grant for the Philippine Justice Support Programme. The call was made through a resolution adopted by over 250 delegates of the recently concluded International Conference on Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (ICHRPP); citing the Aquino government unjustly enjoyed aid from the EU despite its failure to stop extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and impunity. Cont. page 5

U PC O MI N G E V E N T S

Training series for NGOs engaged in USAID programmes Claro KC, a consulting and training team focused on grants implementation and organisational management, is hosting a series of trainings called the “Grant and Cooperative Agreement Course for USAID NGOs”. These courses are custom-designed for organisations with current or prospective USAID sponsorship by former USAID Agreement Officers, with expansive experience in all aspects of [USAID] assistance processes, regulations and procedures. Claro KC is slated to host the following trainings: 15-19 September in Dhaka, Bangladesh; 11-15 November in Manila, Philippines; and 18-22 November in New Delhi, India. For 2014, the trainings will take place on 19-23 January in Amman, Jordan; and 17-21 February in Bangkok, Thailand. These courses are highly appropriate for staff involved in grant and cooperative agreement award and administration, compliance officials, financial staff and programme officers managing USAID-financed projects and activities worldwide.

The course series aims to enable the participants to understand the responsibilities and deliverables of grant recipients and guide their respective organisations through the myriad of USAID rules and regulations to ensure compliance and successful project implementation. It also imparts a deeper understanding of USAID’s prior approval requirements and award extensions, the award and sub-award implementation issues, and of issues on waivers. Cont. page 14

T OP S T OR I E S Bank with a heart for the poor Filipinos page 3 AusAID commits $390 M for Asia-Pacific MDGs page 5 The business of inclusive growth page 7 Country Feature: The Philippines page 10 Micro-finance sector shaken with aid decline page 10 Children judge CSR contest in Malaysia page 13 AIDForum to tackle food, water security in summit page 14 AsianNGO launches original content series page 15 Magsaysay Foundation honours Asian women in dev’t. page 16 See more about available grants across the region page 15

EDITORIAL From the Publisher

AsianNGO moving forward: sustaining strategic collaborations

Sreenivas Narayanan sreeni@asianngo.org

We are glad to bring you the third issue of Asian NGO, with the Philippines as our featured country and our theme, transparency and good governance in the non-profit sector. The timing could not have been any better. Whilst Philippines was one of the first countries in the region to have put in place an NGO accreditation process, there is much to be done in institutionalizing good governance amongst NGOs. The last few weeks have brought to light several anomalies on alleged bogus NGOs and how many are set up to channel development funds made available by the government. I am convinced that they are a handful; however, this can cast a dark shadow on the civil society in general.

The Philippines is home to a democratic and vibrant civil society movement. Not only are they very active and doing a good job; there are plenty of them: Official estimates put the number of NGOs in the country at a little over 300,000. It is certainly more fun in the Philippines! (For those who are not familiar, that is the tagline of the Department of Tourism.) As a media platform dedicated to empowering and enabling the civil society, AsianNGO is looking forward to working with these partners to build NGO capacity on the key topics of governance, effective management, project implementation and overall learning activities.

I am excited to say that our portal will be online very soon and additionally, the first in a series of Quick Guides are being produced to act as a reference toolkit for NGOs

in Asia. Whilst we expect both of them to be out by the time you are reading this issue, we plan to make a more appropriate introduction of the entire platform as part of the 10th year anniversary of ASSIST in November 2013.

ASSIST is the NGO which publishes Asian NGO as its Social Actions.

The coming weeks also bring several interesting conferences and forums across the region: September has four of them, which explores the role of the private sector in doing good and ensuring that they build inclusive models in their business strategy. Sydney, Singapore, Bali and Bangkok are hosting these events and you can see details in the ensuing pages. AsianNGO is proud to partner with the organizers of these conferences.

Large business groups have been experimenting on their business models to bring inclusive solutions for some time now, and a fantastic case study is presented to you in this issue (See the BanKO story on page3); and how two traditional and large corporations have joined hands to offer an innovative and inclusive financial service in the Philippines.

The private sector has a responsibility to the society and apart from traditional CSR activities that they engage in, I urge them to Adopt NGOs and turn them into vibrant institutions.

NGOs have the passion and social mandate; but they can create better impact and scale if they use certain tools and skill sets that businesses have been using for years. We have developed a programme, Adopt-an-NGO, and are in talks with various institutions to volunteer their people to train groups of NGOs on various functional skills.

Part in due to suggestions from stakeholders and partly from internal deliberations, AsianNGO will become a bit broader in its outlook: We will start looking at the non-profit sector in general and will have special features for associations/chambers and other membership-based organizations. In addition, we have also decided to dedicate time and space to discuss social innovation and enterprises as another key group. You can expect these changes to take place in the last quarter of 2013.

In closing, let me go back to Philippines: this year’s Asia-Pacific Housing Forum will be hosted in Manila by our partner Habitat for Humanity in October, and they have assembled great minds who will discuss various options and find solutions to provide this basic human dignity—a roof over our heads. ■

Editorial

Beyond aid: Asia’s MDG of inclusive growth

Mike Saycon mike@asianngo.org

While the region grapples with the coming deadline of the UN-Millennium Development Goals, many in Asia are falling short of attaining their MDGs in basic sanitation, under-nourished children, and infant and maternal mortality.

According to the ‘Ending Asian Deprivation’ study of the ADB and the National University of Singapore, the number of people being left behind in Asia despite economic boom demonstrates how previous development works have not been successful, amidst rising income gaps. Also, the slight decline in foreign aid to sustaining what would have been burgeoning new industries in the region’s emerging economies will eventually create a domino-effect on other sectors.

The Philippines, this issue’s country feature and tagged as Asia’s worst MDG performer, is one of those feeling the post-recession pinch in even young sectors as micro-financing (See story in Page 10); while at the same time caught in a crossroad between economic boom, a widening income gap and a lack of overall inclusive growth. But with a fresh new set of young legislators from last May’s mid-term elections, the Philippine government is seeing dynamic leaders who deeply understand and have a vast experience in the private sector and non-profit or social enterprise works.

Along with a renewed respect from the international community and an assurance for integrity and transparent governance—coupled with massive support from the private sector, the Philippines has also been setting a good example of growth, resiliency and dynamism in the region. Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are on the rise, GDP growth is at record-levels, FDIs catching up with the rest of Asia and two recent investment-grade status ratings this year. This generally positive outlook brings to mind the opportunity for the development sector and the civil society to actively engage both the private sector and the government for inclusive growth.

The ADB’s Norio Usui had warned that the country’s strong economic performance still lacks an inclusive growth dimension; and that apart from developing the service

sector, the government—along with the private sector and civil society—should empower traditional industries like manufacturing and agriculture. “What the Philippines needs is diversification; not just specialization,” Usui said.

About the Cover Photo

An untitled entry to the 2011 ‘CLICK’ photo competition hosted by the Asian Development Bank in 2011 in partnership with ASSIST Asia, this issue’s cover photo paints a dark picture of anomalous practices within development and humanitarian works across the globe. (See cover story continued on Page 4.)

But as Markus Dietrich of the Asian Social Enterprise Incubators (ASEI) would say (Page 7), collaborations between NGOs and the public and private sectors can enable the ‘base of pyramid’ (BoP) to become more active in the quest for inclusive growth—with them as the beneficiaries. Key target now is to develop new PPPs that create an inclusive socio-economic environment where business is linked to development and entrepreneurship to significantly reduce poverty.

Finally, with the post-2008 pains of decreased private financing and slashed aid funding from traditional donorgovernments and institutions, the region’s development sector is pressed to maximise what donors can offer—albeit still very generously—and start diverting initiatives into sustainable, strategic and more enabling initiatives. But this also goes back to governments: what is needed most importantly for these efforts to bear fruition is support in infrastructure, improving urban communities, strong social protection programmes, removing gender inequities across all sectors and liberalise the labour market to boost (and diversify) employment opportunities. ■

“Water Scarcity” by James Singlador. This image, which appeared in the AsianNGO advertising material on Page 7 of the July-August issue of the magazine, was one of the finalists to the first round of the ‘Ten Photos that Shake the World’—an annual photo competition hosted by ASSIST Asia for professional and amateur photographers. This year’s competition in the Philippines closes on 31 October. To submit your entries, write the AsiaNGO team.

EDITORIAL TEAM Sreenivas Narayanan CEO & PUBLISHER

Mike Saycon EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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F E AT U R E S

Bank with a heart for the Filipinos

Gnowledge: an app for 21st century learning Gnowledge—a public online portal that enables users to create, publish, share and take tests, exercises and assignments—was born out of a real need. “Kids were merely memorising (but not learning) their lessons; so we created the app for educators to publish and assign tests to their students; and for students to take tests, share reference materials and acquire other sources,” says Gnowledge’s Choong Chong Yew. Learning now happens beyond the classroom, at an approach children in this era can easily relate to.

With the fast-paced advancement of technologies in learning (and recreation) readily available to children coupled with the high demand for children in some Asian countries to score high in tests, the creators of Gnowledge saw the potential to keep up with this and make learning for school children more interactive, interesting and rewarding.

BanKO account holders and partner business outlets across the country range from pharmacies, sari-sari stores, retail supermarkets, local cooperatives and other community-based enterprises—enabling the ‘base of pyramid’ to have access to a micro-finance institution that cultivates an attitude of saving up for their future.

In a country where 67 per cent of the population does not have a bank account, the culture of saving is not very popular. This then translates to low financial literacy and thus, the absence of a culture of saving. That was until BanKO, established in 2009, turned that trend around.

A convergence of Globe Telecom and the Bank of Philippine Islands (both of Ayala Corporation), BanKO offers mobile financial services by teaming up with community establishments and grassroots enterprises, micro-finance institutions and the private sector in enabling what is classified as the unbanked sector to start a mindset of saving up. As of this writing BanKo serves almost 400,000 individual account holders; and rapidly counting.

“Gnowledge is to tests, assignments and exercises what YouTube is to video sharing over the internet. Educators, students and their parents can follow. Tests are automatically marked when students hand them in; and their test histories are available 24/7—which then enables teachers to track and measure more objectively the students’ strengths and weaknesses in certain subjects,” added Yew.

Parents are given a more active role in the background despite their often busy work schedules. With children using Gnowledge, parents can also log on anytime, anywhere to keep tabs on their academic progress and potentials.

“They don’t have to be physically at home poring over their children’s’ books to do so,” muses Yew. The public portal—www.gnowledge.com—is free to use for all children across the globe. It only earns from enterprises who ask for private and customised versions of the portal.

“We are now in discussions with some universities in as well as the Malaysian Ministry of Education on implementing private white-labelled versions of the public portal with features specific to their respective organisations’ requirements. Pricing varies according to requirements and also institution size,” Yew added.

Gnowledge was one of the successful contingents in this year’s Apps for Asia competition jointly hosted by the ADB and Microsoft; and was exhibited at the Innovations platform of the [ADB’s] Annual Meeting in India last May.

As of May, when Gnowledge was exhibited in India, nearly 8,000 users from over 30 countries have subscribed; despite having only ever marketed in Malaysia and Singapore. To The system is foil-proof, too. Tests on Gnowledge are different see some examples of the Gnowledge user base, see www. every time students attempt them: the orders of questions gnowledge.com/saveurfle, which is run by a French language and their answers are randomised. Even if students take the teacher from Mexico, using Gnowledge (which is English) to same tests repeatedly, it compels them to better understand post French grammar and vocabulary assignments; and www. what they’re learning to score better; rather than just merely gnowledge.com/willmus, an elementary school teacher from memorizing their lessons. a native-American community using the site to post reading and vocabulary assignments. ■ But the benefit is not only for school children and teachers.

“We are a small bank, and we cannot do everything—at least just yet. But in the two years that we have set up BanKo, we worked tirelessly to minimise the barriers that the ‘base of pyramid’ face in opening a bank account; and made saving in a bank more accessible to all walks of life and to as young as seven years old,” Gigi Gatti, BanKo vice-president, fondly recalls the hard works on policy reform that they, along with the Central Bank, worked to pave the way for BanKO and other banks to operate in new ways not traditionally done in the country’s banking sector.

Among the structural changes that BPI and Globe achieved with the Central Bank were to simplify the application process of opening new accounts and lowering the minimum age of independent account holders. Likewise, the minimum savings requirements and maintaining balances were drastically lowered to make it easier and more affordable for clients to sustain their accounts.

“We would like to provide every Filipino the opportunity to be financially empowered by giving them access to relevant financial services using the latest mobile technology, which everyone pretty much is using; and a distribution network that is easily within their reach—thus offering a practical and sustainable platform for micro-finance and social development in their respective communities,” added Gatti.

BanKo, the country’s first mobile-based micro-finance savings bank, offers banking services through partner outlets like pawnshops, drugstores, grocery stores, internet cafes, gasoline stations—institutions that are accessible to the ‘base of pyramid.’

In turn, these outlets’ staff are trained and accredited to accept BanKO account applications and perform CASH-IN (crediting to customers’ account) and CASH-OUT (actual purchase/ payment) transactions.

ADVERTISEMENT 2col X 9.5233 in

Customers can transact in any of the 2,000 BanKO partner outlets and over 11,000 ATMs nationwide; and account holders can easily check their balance, send money, buy prepaid airtime or pay bills simply by accessing the BanKO menu on their mobile phone. Transactions do not use up their airtime and, thus, can be done even when there is no prepaid airtime credit loaded on their phones.

In its early days of formation, BanKo received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the research and development and focus-group discussions with their stakeholders and prospective clients. Through its institutional banking and social investment arms, BanKO now also works with international development-oriented organisations: the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for sustainable energy finance, the GIZ for micro-insurance, the International Rice Research Institute for technical advisory on rice farming, the DAI on the implementation of the USAID’s SIMM (Scaling Innovations in Mobile Money) Project; and with the CordAid of the Netherlands, which provides guarantees and technical assistance to micro-financing institutions, enabling shared resources and shared lending risks for their and their communities’ benefit. ■ www.asianngo.org

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COVER STORY from page 1

Integrity in question: the non-profit sector is not spared

Network (TAN), the ADB released last year a CSO/NGO Module in strengthening the government procurement system (dubbed as PhilGEPS), which can be a model for other countries in Asia. It enables CSOs and NGOs to increase transparency in monitoring public procurement; and improve the integrity of the bidding processes. (A copy of the PhilGEPS report and guidelines can be obtained from the ADB’s website, under “Documents”.)

With an outward perspective of NGO work, Lisa Henry, humanitarian director of DanChurchAid (DCA, a Danish NGO publishing annual corruption reports since 2008), also said in a Guardian article that the operational challenge with the issue of corruption is to communicate the subject in an understandable and consistent message to the whole organisation. “Get the team to be comfortable with making the reporting systems simple to use and non-threatening, and get senior management to prioritise the issue," she said.

The trust-accountability equation Marianne Quebral, VP for Institutional Development of the Asian Institute of Management, cited the case of the Visayan Forum Foundation, an NGO in the Philippines charged with anomalous spending of a USAID grant. It dragged on but irrespective of the outcome there was a much larger damage: NGOs conceded their credibility took a blow, particularly those reliant on grants. “Was it just the Visayan Forum that took the brunt of this case? Definitely not! As consequence, now all other NGOs have to endure added layers of scrutiny,” Quebral noted in a separate interview.

After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, INGOs were also questioned on the delivery of aid funds and goods to Sendai prefecture. The issue was largely on the perceived “fat paychecks of NGO executives who enjoyed huge cuts from donations even before the funds were transferred to its local counterparts in Japan”; and on a few enterprising, bogus NGOs collecting donations from individuals and organisations across the globe. The issue did not muster as much attention as the overall drive to help Japan; but donors, individuals or institutions, were encouraged to funnel all their donations to the Red Cross and other accredited INGOs to ensure proper flow of the funds into Japan.

the women and children they are tasked to protect. In 2006, reports on at least four INGOs operating in Sri Lanka shocked the region with allegations that women staff were either raped or forced to appear in pornographic materials.

The conviction of George Soros in 2002 for insider trading also yielded another issue: some INGOs allegedly having been recipients of funds from Soros to cover up for “institutional criminality” under the guise of promoting human rights and democracy. So whether it is a young local organisation in a developing country or internationals NGO with sizeable overseas operations; be it on issues of funds mishandling or one’s conduct, the question of integrity knows no scale.

Accountability—or the lack thereof—can be seen under the spectrum of a culture of dependency and a habit of blame. Often it is convenient to project responsibility within an organisation only to superior authority, who is expected to display a degree of moral ascendancy and from whom staffs derive a sense of accountability.

Likewise, pointing blame to another person or organisation makes it easier to justify one’s own lapses, falling into the trap of a cycle and eventually forming a habit and an attitude for it.

Quebral, herself a highly seasoned professional fund-raiser for organisations like the UNICEF, admits how it can still be a challenge for some development workers to keep their integrity at work—be it in matters of financial responsibility or of superiority in position within the organisation. As legitimate any organisation may be with the noblest of intentions, everyone after that muchpublicised row of the Visayan Forum either became a stigmatised, potential suspect for scrutiny or carried the burden to prove their track record of integrity.

Breaking the culture of blame and vendetta Sure there’s the occasional headline from Human Rights Watch or Transparency International calling out governments, fellow NGOs or private corporations’ errors. There have been enough cases that illustrate why (and how) development workers must adhere to a higher ethical mentality than, say, the traditionally stereotyped blame-worthy government agencies. But human as we all are, things are never bound to be perfect. And we can—rather, should—break this cycle of blame and vendetta.

Of high ethical mentality?

It is hardly spoken of outside the development industry but even in international relief operations and developmental work, stories of exploitation and abuse of power can happen just as badly. Some directors of local child protection NGOs in Israel, for example, were alleged of high-profile cover-ups of sexual molestation. Field officers of humanitarian agencies operating in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa have faced allegations of sexually exploiting

First, there is a need to accept the fact that as much as corruption exists everywhere, everyone is accountable; even the boss. That is why there are pre-emptive procedures that deter us from giving in to any temptation. Take for example, the procurement guidelines set by the Asian Development Bank for bidding projects out to governments, private-sector partners or in collaborating with NGOs.

from page 1

In collaboration with the Transparency and Accountability

Indeed, opportunities for corrupt practices abound when internal controls—organisationally or nationally—are weak or lack strong support from members of the community. Henry added that “among the effective ways to support partners to improve work is to systematically involve local communities in humanitarian and development work. In places where the DCA and its partners work, a complaints system is in place apart from regular monitoring systems.”

Second, and more importantly, working in the sector requires just as much resiliency and personal dignity to withstand the demands and pressures that come along with the job— misconducts included—and keep up with the ethics and accountability standards set by INGOs concerned with the issue.

In 2011, the Humanitarian Practice Network’s (HPN) task force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) reviewed their efforts in and enhanced the policies and strategies on combatting exploitation within NGOs. The review, attended by the UN, International Organisation for Migration, International Federation of the Red Cross and other NGOs, resulted in a project to implement community-based complaint mechanisms. The co-chairs were convinced that if NGOs asked communities what mechanisms they would feel safe to report misconduct by their own staff, not only would they be able to address mis- or under-reporting; but also create a preventive impact. Accreditation processes, certification and regular peer-reviews, would also keep NGOs grounded and aware that there are organisations ready to expose their malpractices.

Ultimately, this enhances the credibility and professionalism of NGO professionals.

In the end, we cannot always be a policing body among our fellow NGOs and development workers; but we can be whistleblowers whenever appropriate—even in as small a setting as our own office. It does not stop there, however. The non-profit sector must have already learned enough to take a grip of the illness within the system, address it, and restore the [sector] to its healthy, proper position of moral ground. The right channels are within reach, but whether making a stand or putting an issue to the fore is not just a structural function at work. It is a personal choice we all make. ■

the private sector is to facilitate an economic transformation that boosts jobs creation in an inclusive economy, where opportunities and profits trickle down to all levels of society. In the last two decades the international community has aspired to combine social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability; but no country has yet achieved creating an economy that provides a sustainable outlook for the future. CSOs can respond to the growing public pressure on the private sector to address issues of the realignment of the MDGs with a proper interpretation of inequality—by actively offering new businesses ideas that not only what civil society constitutes at this moment in time; and how can profit but also benefit the general public. they work in a mutually reinforcing relationship?

Most importantly, transformative shift should enable new If we consider the report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent partnerships in national and international politics and Persons on the Post-2015 Agenda launched last May; and which developmental work. Increased connectivity calls for increased proposes focal points for post-2015 global development agenda cooperation and stronger partnerships. Crucial to the functioning and a new set of [development] goals, there are big transformative of this global partnership is mutual trust between all the involved shifts that need to take place. parties: not only governments, businesses and international institutions should strive to be trustworthy partners; CSOs should First, CSOs should be a vital voice for marginalised groups, mainly function as the public’s voice. driving policy-makers in their direction and monitoring that their needs are being catered to. These vulnerable groups include The road to achieving the MDGs has been a hugely successful women and children, people living in conflict areas, indigenous experiment of a global campaign for development, with clear and local communities and people with disabilities—as they set goals and a straightforward timeline. Although the MDGs are also more vulnerable to the effects of climate change and have not been as perfect, CSOs have also proven that they are conflicts. Aside from taking the position of watchdog and an indispensable part of this framework. In the run up to 2030, urging governments and businesses to act in an environmentally there should be a consolidated role with all stakeholders, mindful responsible manner, CSOs, along with the academe and research of the shifts the world has seen in the past two decades. To centres, can make scientific and technological innovations accomplish the transformative societal shifts needed to provide a essential to the environmental aspect of the post-2015 agenda. suitable environment for sustainable development for the world’s population, an empowered civil society is much stronger than one Another area where the civil society should raise awareness with influential government’s interests. ■

Civil society in focus: post-2015 Perhaps more importantly, the MDGs fell short to link development with the environment—wherein economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development were not integrated. And another area blurred in the clutter: transparency in the governance of institutions, which go hand in hand with development.

Rather than simply putting to an end the MDG story, the 2015 ‘deadline’ for the MDGs should thus be seen as a time for review: to learn from the past and take actions for the future; and reconsider the role of civil society organisations with regard to the full realisation of all the other goals. With economic and political influences shifting from traditional centres of power; and new technologies re-shaping the planet, CSOs need to take these shifts and trends as an opportunity to drive the post-2015 framework.

In the last two decades, the civil society has changed significantly.

There has been an explosion in the number of registered CSOs, with significant emphasis in developing and emerging economies.

Civil society is growingly interconnected, internally and externally, and this global network pushes people to become even more involved in addressing societal issues they want to see tackled.

Thus, looking at 2030 from a 2015 viewpoint, how do we merge

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F E AT U R E S from page 1

Rights advocates urge EU: cancel grants for PH Justice Support “Impunity in violations of human rights in the Philippines continues amidst the unjust and selfish interests of European big businesses and their equally greedy and corrupt Filipino collaborators in business and politics, resulting in unfair competition, corruption, environmental destruction, displacement of communities, maldevelopment, breeding people’s resistance movements and state repression; are placed above the aspirations of the Filipino people for genuine democracy, social justice, development and peace,” the resolution pointed out.

In particular it cited the unresolved and unprosecuted killings of Dutch missionary Willem Geertman in Pampanga province, and Italian Catholic priest Fausto Tentorio— both long-time development workers in the Philippines who were killed by suspected state agents under the Aquino administration.

(When did the killings happen? Where was Tentorio killed)

Round 3 of ‘10 Photos to Shake the World’ tilt now open ASSIST’s pioneer social initiative, the Ten Photos to Shake the World (TPSW), is launching the photo competition in the Mekong region while the India competition continues to receive entries.

The photo contest this year in India was unveiled at the ADB’s 46th Annual Meeting in Delhi last May; while the third run of TPSW Philippines kicks off on 1 September and will culminate on 31 October.

“Photography is used not only to capture memories but also to express creativity, to tell a story and to inspire action to achieve social advancement and transformation. Through TPSW, ASSIST would like to motivate the people to look deeper in the current situation of their communities and explore how and where they can contribute to the change in their society,” ASSIST’s Social Initiatives Manager Olga Babina said.

Left photo: ‘Light of Hope from Wind of Change’ by Danilo Victoriano, First Prize winner of the 20112012 ‘Ten Photos to Shake the World’ competition. Right: ‘Two Dreams’ by Carlo Zamora, Top 5 finalist. picture through the ASSIST Facebook page.

The competition wrapped up with an Awarding Ceremony in March 2012 at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Manila.

“With this photo contest, not only their skills in capturing images will be put to practice but also their visual skills and social awareness in looking for more meaningful interpretations of the state of the environment—like the relationship of people, societal advancement and poverty realisations— that figuratively shake the world and the people The first run of TPSW in the Philippines, a to take action,” shared ASSIST Group Managing collaboration between ASSIST, Nestle, Kraft, Petron and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, gathered Director Sreenivas Narayanan. over a hundred submissions from amateur and Round 2 of TPSW collaborated with the ADB’s professional photographers from all over the CLICK photo competition in August last country. Over 5,000 people voted for the best

year, which gathered images that chronicle the varying stages of economic, political and cultural development and efforts in enabling positive social change. Themed “Challenges and Triumphs in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development,” the competition saw almost 400 entries; with about 15,000 people voting for the best picture. It was supported by the Ayala Foundation, Globe, TÜV Rheinland, BPI Foundation, Asian Institute of Management, Business World, Nestle, Bank of Commerce, Mondelez International, CALATA, Digital Photographer and FPPF. To know more about the competition’s mechanics, visit the TPSW Facebook page at www.facebook. com/tenphotostoshaketheworld, or contact Olga Babina at olga@assistasia.org. ■

The newly established International Coalition for Human Rights (ICHR) in the Philippines also expressed frustration over the fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Aquino III in July, which made no mention of concrete judicial ways to address the prevailing culture of impunity in the country. ■

AusAID commits $390 M for AsiaPacific MDGs The Australian government, through its AusAID programme, has committed AUD390.9 million to help countries in the Asia-Pacific attain three Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): poverty and hunger, universal education, and maternal health. Set to be distributed over four years, the aid will finance nutrient supplements and supplementary feeding to over one million people; provide 100,000 vision screenings and 10,000 sight restoring surgeries; and support an additional 1.2 million children to have a better education and help 900,000 women access improved maternal and child health services.

"Research evidence can guide us on how we can intervene to solve development problems, what strategies will work best in which situations and what factors need to be considered to optimise benefits," said Sophie Gordon, AusAID spokesperson. Actual funding for research was not broken down

by AusAID but its policy framework revealed that medical and agricultural research together with education will be the flagship of the aid programme.

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In May this year, Australia announced a record AUD5.7 billion development assistance for 2013-14, a steep increase from the A$513.4 M previously committed for 2012-13.The fund came from a percentage of Australia's gross national income. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Bob Carr, said the Australian government “remains committed to increasing its international aid budget to 0.5 per cent of their GDP.” The main beneficiaries for AusAID funding are Asia-Pacific countries, with over 85 per cent of its overall aid budget going to the region.

With Indonesia receiving the largest, A$646.8 M was set for 2013-14 to improve health, education, justice and governance. Others countries receiving significant amounts are Myanmar (A$82.8 M) and Fiji (A$58.2 M). ■ www.asianngo.org

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GUEST WRITER

Gloria Steele gsteele@usaid.gov

US-Philippines partnership for broad-based and inclusive growth

The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) portfolio in the Philippines has evolved in the past three years that I have served here as Mission Director but our commitment to the Filipino people has remained strong. For many years, the US allocated as much as 60 per cent of its development assistance in the Philippines on efforts to promote peace and stability in Mindanao. Our investments included support in livelihood development, education, health and infrastructure. One of our major infrastructure achievements in the region was the construction of the General Santos City and Tawi-Tawi airports, which helped link the provinces with the rest of the country.

We also assisted in bringing electricity and water to thousands of families in Mindanao; and we brought hundreds of young college graduates—future leaders of Mindanao—to Manila to serve as interns in Congress and give them exposure to legislive work and the principles of governance. While we continued to work on health, combating human trafficking, and helping improve efficiency in the judiciary and the regulatory environment, by and large our focus has been Mindanao for the last two decades.

I arrived in Manila in 2010, just two days after President Aquino delivered his first State of the Nation address. It was then when he delivered his inspirational “We can dream again” and set forth the vision of achieving inclusive growth for all Filipinos. It was also that time when I saw the opportunity for the US, a close friend and longstanding ally of the Philippines, to contribute to that dream—where all Filipinos live in dignity and enjoy the benefits of the tremendous growth the country has the potential to achieve.

public sector, private sector and civil society to improve the regulatory environment that will help the country improve its competitiveness and become a more reliable trading partner.

We work closely with our government counterparts to improve fiscal policy and expenditure management, enhancing the government’s ability to finance projects that make growth more inclusive. We also work with the judiciary to help improve their effectiveness in contract enforcement and protecting intellectual property rights.

In a departure from a 30-year practice of funding only basic education, we are now funding higher education so universities produce better graduates who are trained in areas needed most by the industry. USAID is striving to improve faculty capacity, particularly in science and technology, to foster innovation and a more robust industry-led growth that we hope will generate more jobs domestically.

To promote sustainability, we are focusing on more sustainable management of the Philippines’ natural resource base and green growth. And to lessen the negative impact of natural disasters, disaster risk reduction is a also key area of our assistance.

We are still helping foster peace and stability in Mindanao but with a focus on conflict-affected areas. USAID is enhancing local governance capacity and delivery of basic services in these conflict-affected areas, while promoting civic engagement and developing youth leaders.

USAID also continues to support the Philippine government’s universal health care agenda to ensure increased access to quality health care. We need a healthy workforce to take advantage of a more competitive economy. At the national and local levels, USAID is improving access to maternal and child health care, family planning information and services, and tuberculosis prevention services. We are also developing effective models for addressing HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases.

Programmes focus on the poor and marginalised communities, including conflict-affected areas of Mindanao and youth.

The following year, the Philippines was selected as one of only four countries—alongside El Salvador, Ghana and Tanzania— to join the United States in a Partnership for Growth (PFG).

Under this White House initiative, the US and a select group of countries collaborate as a whole of government to accelerate and sustain broad-based economic growth. In the Philippines, PFG represents a commitment to reach this goal by addressing the most binding constraints to growth—weak governance, constrained public finance, and inadequate human resources.

As key player in the PFG Initiative, the USAID works with the government of the Philippines (GPH), other US government agencies, the private sector and CSOs to help put the Philippines on an accelerated growth trajectory that benefits the majority of its population.

Aligning our priorities with the Aquino Administration’s Philippine Development Plan, we took a 180-degree turn and re-focused our assistance programme. Today, our strategy in the Philippines is focused largely on promoting inclusive growth nationwide, including Mindanao. Our projects engage the

It is important to point out that we have two paradigm changes in executing these programmes. First, we select a number of secondary cities whose growth we will support. If we focus on making the urban areas an engine for growth, we may generate more robust and inclusive growth in both the urban and surrounding rural areas.

The second paradigm involves embracing new partnerships. In the past all of our projects were set aside for implementation by international organisations. Now we seek to devote up to 40 per cent of our grants and contracts to local organisations, as we believe that diversifying our partner base will encourage innovation and facilitate sustainability.

As we move forward in the implementation of these programmes, we look to the commitment of our partners—the national and local government, the private sector, civil society organisations and local communities—to achieve our shared objectives of broad-based and inclusive growth that will benefit the majority of the Filipino population. ■

About the Author A career member of the US Senior Executive Service, Gloria Steele assumed the duties as USAID Mission Director for the Philippines in July 2010. In October 2011, twelve Pacific Island countries were added to the USAID/Philippines portfolio.

Prior to her appointment in the Philippines, Ms. Steele served as the USAID’s Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Global Health. She assumed this position in January 2005, and was responsible for overseeing an average annual health programme budget of USD1.5 billion, and a staff of 240.

Ms. Steele also served as Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia from 2001-2004. Other USAID assignments include seven years in the Bureau for Africa as Agricultural Economist; and seven years in the Bureau for Science and Technology overseeing applied research on key rural development issues such as land tenure, access to agricultural credit, food security, and natural resource management. She also served for one year in the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination in 1995, where she led the development of the first food security policy of USAID. Ms. Steele earned her Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 1978; and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Maryknoll College in the Philippines. From 1974 to 1980 Ms. Steele served as a management consultant to the Philippines' Secretary of Agriculture. She taught business economics at Letran Graduate School for Business in Manila, Philippines in 1979.

Ms. Steele was the recipient of a Presidential Meritorious Executive Award in 2007, and a Presidential Distinguished Executive Award in 2008.

Duncan Greene 6

www.asianngo.org

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

The business of inclusive growth The Asian Development Bank recently compiled country studies in Asia on inclusive business driven by large and medium-scale companies with defined social aspect in their business models. The studied areas—India and Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Mekong region, the Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam—are largely developing but emerging economies. Remarkable economic growth in the Philippies is even declared. Yet, poverty is still rampant. Markus Dietrich, director of the Asia Social Enterprise Incubators (ASEI), shares their study on the potentials of inclusive business in the country translating to real, inclusive growth; and how the private sector, government agencies, NGOs and local communities can and should closely cooperate.

You conducted the Philippines country study. Do you believe inclusive business translates to inclusive growth for the country?

The potential is certainly there. Inclusive business (IB) is a core business activity within a company´s strategy integrating the low-income segment, or the Base of the Pyramid (BoP), within its value chain as suppliers, consumers, distributors and/ or employees in a way that creates shared value. IB should be an additional and powerful private-sector strategy to achieve inclusive growth because they offer either income or products and services to the low income population. One of the main differences of IB from social enterprises (SE) is that SEs in Asia are mostly start-ups aiming to achieve scale and profitability.

IB activities, on the other hand, are conducted by established medium or large businesses that have already achieved scale and profitability. The challenge for them is to modify or expand their core business models to include the BoP. Once the BoP is incorporated in the value chain of a company, inclusive growth will become apparent. Our study shows that IB is still a very nascent concept in the country but the examples we have found are very encouraging and show the enormous potential of IB as a way towards inclusive growth.

As IB promotes inclusive growth could you give us some successful examples of IB initiatives that highlight its potential; and how, if replicated across the country, it could bring about real, inclusive growth.

IB business models can be classified according to the mode of engagement with the BoP. Pre-dominant modes in the Philippines are the engagement as a customer and as a supplier.

Working with the BoP as distributor or employee comes third and fourth.

In terms of inclusive growth, including small farmers in the company’s value chain offers the biggest potential as poverty in the Philippines is mainly found in the rural areas. One example is Jollibee’s Farmer Entrepreneurship Program, which successfully includes the BoP in the value chain. (Jollibee Foods Corporation is the biggest fast food retail company in the Philippines.) Jollibee sources input products, especially onions, from small-scale farmers in Nueva Ecija province through longterm contracts and technical assistance for the farmers. This model started as their CSR work and is now part of [their] core business with larger growth prospects for more farmers, and towards more products.

In the eco-system of inclusive business, NGOs can be service provider to private-sector companies rather than working bottom up-with communities and only later looking for a market.

Another example is Nestlé, which practises their global creating shared value (CSV) model also in the Philippines by purchasing green coffee beans from local farmers. It further assists small farmers in increasing their yield and improving quality of coffee by providing access to better farming technologies, propagating coffee planting materials, promoting sustainable practices and directly buying from farmers. Nestle, active in the Philippines for over a century now, is working with 5,000 small coffee farmers; and is committed to engaging 20,000 farmers by 2017.

In the category engagement as a customer we found promising models in the financial services sector, health, education and housing. The low-income financial sector has traditionally been www.asianngo.org

very strong in the country with a fast growing microfinance industry. MFIs, along with rural banks and insurance companies, are expanding their portfolio to offer microinsurance and other services to the BoP. CARD MRI, for example, the largest MFI in the country with 2 million clients, now offers insurance, health services, energy products and leasing products.

In the health sector we have found that in recent years pharmacies offering generic medicine, such as Generica Drugstores, have successfully entered the market using franchising concepts for fast scale up and outreach activities to convince the brand conscious BoP consumer of the advantages of generic medicine. The BoP housing market has only recently come in to the focus of private sector real estate developers as it was previously dominated by government initiative mostly based on large scale relocation projects. Selected companies, such as Phinma Property Holdings and Ayala Land Inc., are now developing low cost housing either as a private public partnership (PPP) or completely private sector led.

Although we have found only a limited number of IB models in the country, the good news is that most companies are planning to expand their initiatives, increasing their impact and raising the potential that other companies follow the lead.

Let’s hark more on the opportunities and methods, rather than challenges, of corporations adopting inclusive business models and involving poor rural communities, given the BOP’s lack of access to tools and resources for their business.

One interesting finding of our study is the fact that over 70% of the companies have CSR activities and 50% have their own corporate foundation indicating a strong social consciousness in the Philippine private sector. Traditionally, CSR and foundation initiatives have been in the field of education, health and the environment, mostly not connected with the core activity of the company itself. In some IB companies we have seen this change; and foundations are employed to support the core activities of the company especially in providing tools, training and resources to the BoP partners. One example is MCPI Corp., a local seaweed company: it’s foundation not only performs the social preparation and capacity-building of fishermen in seaweed farming; but also provide loans as seed capital for equipment if the latter could not afford the initial cost of small scale-farming.

In the case of Jollibee, it is the Jollibee Foundation organising the support and training to the onion farmers; the actual training provided by NGOs who are experts in rural small-hold farming. This shows the role NGOs play in the eco-system of IB as service provider to companies rather than working bottom up-with communities and only later looking for a market.

Another concept governments are pursuing to deliver inclusive growth is public private partnerships (PPP). Please tell our readers more about the potential of PPPs in conjunction with IB. We see PPPs generally in large infrastructure projects of the government with limited involvement of IB. But we found an interesting PPP of a local government with a local private housing company: Phinma Properties has developed an inclusive PPP model with Quezon City government, converting an

informal settlement into a socialised housing project called Bisteckville II. The city government purchased the land on which the settlers had built their houses from the landowner and provided them for development to Phinma. The informal settlers were temporarily moved while construction took place; and thus returned to their original site, not losing their livelihood.

Another key element in this business model is Pag-Ibig, the state-owned mortgage firm which provides loans and financing for affordable housing.

“NGOs need to view their role as part of an IB eco-system and develop the capacity to function in this role. They must be partners on the ground interacting as needed between corporations and the base of the pyramid.”

Which sectors/industries in the Philippines and in Asia yield optimal returns and present the most opportunities for IB to thrive on?

As far as our study is concerned, the prospects for IB in the agriculture/food and beverages, financial services, energy, health are most promising. The agricultural sector proves to have the largest share (26%) of IB activities in the Philippines, which mirrors the prevalence of poverty in the rural areas and underscores the importance of agri-business to the economy as one-third of the population is engaged in this sector. 78% of the companies in the agriculture sector utilise the BoP as supplier; 17% of them employ the BoP; and 6% engage the BoP as consumer. IB business models with growth potential in agriculture were found to be (1) in higher-value markets, such as vegetable and organic produce; (2) with products for which yield issues do not exist or can be overcome, such as coffee, seaweed and seafood; and (3) companies willing to extend financing to small farmers.

The second promising sector for IB activities in the Philippines is the financial sector garnering a 14% share. Companies in this sector engage the BoP as consumers; and they belong to three different categories: commercial banks, micro-finance plus, and remittances plus. Commercial banks in the Philippines have been restricted by regulation—along with their collateral-based lending practises and minimum-deposit requirements—in their ability to reach the BoP. Inclusive financial institutions have developed business models that overcome these challenges for two target groups: micro- and small entrepreneurs, and private individuals for which minimum-deposit requirements and transaction costs were either lowered or waived. Micro-finance Plus summarises the models employed by the leading institutions to offer additional financial services, especially life and non-life micro-insurance products. Next to the low cost, the fast and non-bureaucratic claim settlement process, made possible by the dense network of account officers backed by large insurance Cont. page 15

About the Interviewee Markus Dietrich is an inclusive business (IB) and renewable energy specialist with extensive experience in consulting, research and project development on base of the pyramid (BoP) and renewable energy based in the Philippines.

He founded the Asia Social Enterprise Incubators (ASEI), Inc. in 2009 to apply his broad knowledge on the nexus of business and development to ASEI’S clients, which include the Asian Development Bank, the GIZ, the Frankfurt School, BCI Asia and other corporations. A member of the World Presidents Organization, Markus has top-level business experience and is connected to a wide network of local and international organisations, such as the BoP Global Network and the international impact investment community.

Markus has a B.Sc. in Business Studies from CASS Business School and MS in International Community Economic Development both from Southern New Hampshire University. He also participated in INSEAD's Social Entrepreneurship Programme in Singapore in 2011.

Markus keeps a blog on inclusive business at www.scoop.it/t/inclusive-business-in-asia. His publications include “Inclusive Business Market Study Philippines”; “Housing at the BoPManila”; “Pathways out of Poverty”; and “Achieving Scale and Sustainability in a Social Enterprise at the BoP”.

For your comments and feedback directly to Markus, contact him at markus.dietrich@asei.com.ph

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COVER STORY

A painful by-product of the 2008 recession: businesses closing down is equivalent to job losses, notwithstanding the millions of university graduates who enter—or at least try to—the workforce.

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While many social enterprises and CSR initiatives have provided work opportunities for grassroots communities, out-of-school youth and those in between jobs (left photo); some high-school and college graduates choose to do small-scale factory work or stay in their family businesses in rural areas largely for the lack of opportunity or stiff competition for corporate work in the urban centres (right photo). www.asianngo.org

C O U N T R Y F E AT U R E

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Nguyen Van Quan was born in 1984 in Thach That, Hanoi.

After graduating from Hanoi University of Pedagogy, instead of looking for a job in big cities, Quan decided to move to Sin Thau Commune, Muong Nhe District of Dien Bien. It is a mountainous province in the northwest of Vietnam, where he served the Vice-Chairman of People’s Committee. Sin Thau is a poor commune of 245 households, of which 97 per cent are Ha Nhi ethnic minority.

voice of local populations and other civil society organisations working in the developmental field is needed.

“600 Young Vice-Chairmen for Poor Communes” Quan is one of the 600 intellectuals under age 30 selected in a pilot government programme that aims to enhance leadership quality in 62 poor districts in five provinces in Vietnam. It is an initiative by Vietnam’s Youth Union that was approved

by Vietnam’s Prime Minister in January 2011. Under this programme, young professionals who have university qualifications, extensive community engagement experience and good moral records are selected and appointed by local government authorities to be vice-executives of the people’s committees in these poor communes for a five-year tenure.

They are tasked with taking a lead role in surveying poor households and monitoring their progress, promoting universal education and developing and disseminating advanced models of productive rural areas.

The other project is the Secondary Education Sector Development Program that starts in July 2013 with the main purpose of developing training materials on theory and practice of ICT applications in teaching; and aiding the evaluation committee to revise training materials if necessary. Similarly, the United States Agency for International Development launched last year a USD2.5 million grant with the aim to strengthen human and institutional capacity of the country’s higher education institutions to develop and deliver training and research programmes that underpin economic growth.

The role of NGOs in advancing the cause In matters of prospects for sustainability, this is also where nongovernment organisations and international aid agencies may be involved. for instance, the Asian Development Bank has teamed up with Vietnam in a partnership strategy fully aligned with the country's socio-economic development plan through two recent Many villages of the commune are remote with no paved roads projects. One is the Upper Secondary-Professional Teacher to the commune’s centre. It is always a big challenge for the Development project, commencing in June of this year and is local people, let alone a young city man like Quan, to commute aimed at improving access to and quality of upper-secondary between the village and town centre, especially during the rainy (US) and professional-secondary (PS) education by developing season. Besides, he also faced huge linguistic barrier as he did not and enhancing the quality of teachers and educational institution speak the language of Ha Nhi. managers.

Street peddlers in Ho Chi Minh City. Many of them are parents who chose to continue their enterprise on the streets and, through time, because of the lack of opportunity or the stiff competition in Vietnam’s newly booming workforce, some youngsters follow in their parents’ footsteps.

Vietnam, being a rising star in the boom across Asia what with the advances it has made in the last decade, will not solely rely on the hard cash that comes with development. As a response of the Vietnamese government to rising unemployment, training young leaders in local community leadership roles not only provides a clear-cut solution (albeit temporary); it also harnesses the young leaders’ progressive thinking and forward-looking Both the ADB’s and the USAID’s projects very well compliment attitudes to drive policy-making; grooming future leaders that the Vietnamese government’s programmes such as the 600 truly understand the shifting needs of the region: from mainly Young Vice-Chairmen for Poor Communes by improving the labour to becoming a knowledge hub. Ultimately, the key tool competencies of prospective community leaders. As knowledge is to re-enforce is education and the country’s youth its pillar passed on from one generation of future leaders to the next wave in sustaining this aim for progress. (With reports from Mike of graduates, the momentum is sustained.

Saycon and Do Thanh Hai) ■

A young professional trying his luck to hail a taxi on the streets of Hanoi, during the morning rush-hour.

The programme could be a deliberate response to bad governance and poor performance in terms of socio-economic development in many remote, mountainous localities across the country and widespread brain drain from these areas to the main economic hubs and cities. It is expected that university degrees would improve leadership qualities and performance in these difficult areas. In fact, most of the local youth who went to big cities for university qualifications decided to stay on to look for a job after graduation. This results in the shortage of qualified leaders in the public service in poor areas. Also, it can take a long time for young people to climb up the political and bureaucratic ladders, even at the grassroots level. Consequently, the programme does only remove bureaucratic barriers but also creates incentives for young intellectuals to engage more extensively with their poor communes. For the government at all levels, the project is designed as a medium to empower the young intelligentsia and groom potential leaders in the public sector and train them in a hands-on approach.

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Initial successes but uncertain long-term impacts The programme is now under review after two years of implementation. Some successes have been reported; and Quan is an example. He reportedly conducted an extensive needs survey and advised the commune’s leadership on a project to build one out of five kindergartens in the commune. One of his peers, Vu Thi Chien, was praised for her efforts to introduce corn plantation to Giao Thien, a poor commune in Lang Chanh, Thanh Hoa province. Corn has brought additional supply of crop that saved a village in Giao Thien from food shortage. Some other successes were reported in the website of Vietnam’s Youth Union while failures have been rare.

Despite initial successes it is too premature to foresee the sustainability of the program. Three key challenges can be noted. First, good qualification might not make a competent executive leader. To be ready to take on their new roles, these young leaders must have a deep understanding of the localities and sufficient practical experience. Second, the process of selection and appointment of these vice-chairmen may create conflicts in terms of legitimacy, responsibility and accountability.

Finally, as the whole project was based on its outcomes, the regular monitoring and reviews of the higher authorities against the performance of these young leaders are not sufficient to understand the effectiveness of the program. In this situation, the www.asianngo.org

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C CO OU UN NTTRRYY FFEEA ATTU URREE

Philippine NGOs: fighting for their good name For much of the latter half of the past century the Philippines has been the darling of international aid and development, with its heyday in the post-Marcos era. Whereas back in the Marcos regime NGOs were a convenient suspect for being part of the communist or leftist movements, the Aquino years that followed the 1986 People Power revolution saw a surge in development aid from international NGOs and foreign governments mainly to support the massive restoration of democratic institutions and the country’s overall re-building of the nation.

But Western allies and local activists alike who thrived in the post-revolution spree may also have opened a Pandora’s Box from the country’s long struggle for democracy. The clamour for restored liberties was too overwhelming for the government and the people to handle that we saw another fight for the Filipino people: that of knowing (and keeping) reasonable limits of a much-enjoyed, newly-restored freedom. From being the region’s envy as top economy (second only to Japan) in the years that Marcos did well, post-1987 Philippines slid to become the ‘sick man’ of Asia—all because of what Transparency International and the World Bank would label as ‘serious corruption levels.’

(Ed.: As of 2012 TI ranked the Philippines 105 out of 176 countries in its corruption index, just along the ranks of Algeria, Bolivia, Gambia, Kosovo, Mali, and Mexico.)

Again, there was—and still is—a glowing opportunity for local and INGOs to offer help: eliminate poverty, improve education and health care, uphold transparency and good governance, capacitate local communities, bring new technologies, build infrastructure…the list goes on. But fast forward to 2013, while (coincidentally) under the watch of another Aquino presidency, the Philippines—especially its non-profit sector and the local NGOs in particular—is battling yet another challenge: re-building its credibility to international donors and deeply looking into the government agencies’ complacency or accomplice to corruption.

Beyond the decade-long pork scam Five senators and 23 members of the lower house of Congress, with government agencies as conduits to the trade, are implicated in the scandalous diversion of priority development assistance fund (PDAF)—more aptly known as the ‘pork barrel’—to bogus NGOs. Each senator receives PHP200 million (roughly USD4.8 M) annually, while representatives each get P70 M ($1.7 M). Do the math.

One person, Janet Napoles, is tagged as the brains in setting up 16 bogus NGOs under her portfolio of corruption-tainted businesses with the government. The 16 NGOs identified so far are mostly named after and aimed at helping the country’s agriculture sector and empowering farmers—the country’s largest industry and main source of livelihood for majority of Filipinos. Since the inception of these bogus NGOs from as far back as 1990, one could easily surmise at that least P10 B ($240 M) from the public coffers of a 98-million populace is lining the pockets of a few dozen individuals. In total, almost a hundred NGOs have been found to be set up by government officials and their business partners, with them as member(s) of the board of directors, incorporator, a trustee of or stakeholders.

Legislators implicated in the scandal are either mum about it, denying any association with Napoles or now turning against her. They claim innocence on where their PDAFs go or insist on the integrity of the NGOs to which their millions are supposedly diverted. “As legislators we are not obligated to look into the credibility of the NGOs that receive our funds; it’s the job of the respective government departments to ascertain this. All we do is endorse the NGO(s),” said Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, one of the five Senators implicated in the multi-billion peso scam and son of ousted former President Estrada.

The burden of the NGOs (now) Not only are legitimate NGOs unnecessarily shamed for their fellows in the sector and fearing their own credibility forever magnified with scrutiny; international aid donors and multilateral agencies now also have to step up and revisit their grants and procurement policies.

At a national level, the department of social welfare and development (DSWD) is revalidating its 421 accredited NGOs and CSOs for its pork barrel-funded projects. Secretary Corazon Soliman said that “while the DSWD ensures the PDAFs it receives are given to accredited CSOs,” they now have to conduct revalidation checks following the pork barrel scam.

This not only means a disruption to on-going projects across the poverty-stricken districts in which DSWD-partner NGOs operate; it also calls for stricter and even limited release of funds to the already accredited CSOs or foundations.

Sure we can pledge to the likes of AusAID, the EU, the GIZ, the USAID, World Bank or the ADB that we are not one of these

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N E W S F R OM T H E P H I L I P P I N E S

JICA proposes transport plan for Metro Manila The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is proposing a transport roadmap plan for Metro Manila that could decongest the metropolis and save PHP2.4 billion lost due to traffic jams each day. The Transport Infrastructure Development Roadmap for Mega Manila, set to be finished this month, highlights the urgent need to decongest Manila traffic and spread the economic activities to growth centres in Cavite, Subic, Clark, Tarlac, Batangas, and Lucena in Quezon province.

“We want to help the Philippines attract more investments and create jobs in other areas in the country. The roadmap would serve as a guide in setting policies and strategies in tackling the transportation challenges and help spur long-term investments in areas such as manufacturing, agro-based industries, services, and tourism as well as accelerate industrial development,” said JICA Philippines chief representative Takahiro Sasaki.

Members of the House of Representatives (lower house of Congress) in session at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City. (Image from Yahoo! News)

NGOs masking corrupt practices behind development-focused projects. But that’s largely besides the point. Sixto Donato Macasaet, executive director of CODE-NGO, a national hub for NGOs further, laments that the scam drags down the image and credibility of genuine NGOs who do hard work in many communities, often with limited funds, and is quite unfair.

“Why do legitimate NGOs find it very difficult to avail of government funding for worthy projects; yet dubious individuals are able to use bogus NGOs to run rings around government financial rules?” he asked.

Why this issue will not die A 2011 PDAF Watch study headed by CODE-NGO showed that only three of the 23 senators and eight out of the 269 representatives in 2009-2010 replied and provided information on their PDAF allocations. “Filipinos are in the dark about the lawmakers’ PDAF. Legislators and the agencies involved should disclose information on their PDAF projects, even in the absence of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law,” Macasaet said, adding that policies should emphasise transparency and thorough validation of documents and reports submitted by NGOs and government agencies.

CODE-NGO has called for an investigation and review of the policies and procedures in the releasing of the PDAF to NGOs and CSOs; and urged Congress for transparency in allocating funds for their projects. One way CODE-NGO put forward as solution is to require that recipient NGOs are endorsed by recognised and independent agencies like the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC). The PCNC certifies NGOs that have good governance and financial management systems and track record for creating impact to their beneficiaries.

Other stakeholders—local and INGOs, advocate watchdogs, media—have called on the government to abolish the pork barrel system and rather put emphasis on established financing programmes for development nationwide, throughout all levels of government. But President Aquino, propelled to power in 2010 due to his last name and promise to weed corruption out of the government system, has so far refused to make that move.

Why would he? The ‘pork’, long been a huge chunk in the country’s annual appropriation, has always been any president’s (which, by the way, was born in the Cory Aquino presidency) tool to gain support from the legislature.

This issue is far from isolated as political; it is a moral issue: it deprives the people who should benefit from the county’s wealth while at the same time tarnishing noble organisations’ reputation and impeding their chances of receiving aid from partners in and outside the country. If its own government keeps its hands in the cookie jar under the guise of non-existent NGOs doing taxexempt ‘projects’ and splurging non-liquidated funds, all the local NGOs in the Philippines will have to live with the perennial need (and long processes to) prove their integrity—further derailing what spotty success the NGO sector has achieved since the country’s post-1987 re-claiming of democracy.

Its NGOs’ reputations sullied, even a good country’s name will find it difficult to rise from the ranks of the world’s most corrupt. And surely, the Philippine government does not want another episode of the 2002 White House decision to remove the country as beneficiary of a multimillion-dollar annual food programme. This is not a battle for NGOs alone; it is a country’s fight for a good name. ■

The proposed roadmap outlines short- and long-term components as part of a technical assistance project for the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA). It shows the need to boost infrastructure development like new gateway airports and seaports, improved road networks and expressways, an integrated urban mass-transit network in Metro Manila, road-based public transport modernization; and “soft” components such as the upgrading of Metro Manila’s traffic management system.

JICA’s proposal cites cases of successful cities like Tokyo, Yokohama, New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore since 20-62 per cent of commuters in these cities use railways. (ABS-CBN)

Micro-finance sector shaken with decline of foreign aid funds Since the 2008 financial crash, the Philippines’ micro-finance sector has been tight in the past four years, largely from the drop in the flow of foreign aid that had allowed lenders to provide cheap financing to small borrowers. Shrinking donor funds have caused the micro-finance industry’s portfolio to shrink.

“The scarcity of these interest-free funds means microfinance institutions have no other way but professionalise their operations to ensure availability of cheap credit for borrowers at the base of the pyramid,” said Lourdes Pineda, president of Rizal Microbank (a unit of RCBC). Pineda warned that if the trend continues, microfinance lenders will need to raise their interest rates to be able to compensate for the high costs.

Pineda commented on a Philippine Central Bank data citing that outstanding loans of micro-finance institutions dipped from PHP8.4 billion at the end of 2012 to P8 B by March this year. Pineda noted that donor funds, usually from charitable organisations overseas, had been vital in supporting the growth of the micro-finance sector over the last decade. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

IMF concerned over PH ‘middle-income trap’ The International Monetary Funds has voiced its concerns that some emerging economies in Asia are becoming more susceptible to ‘middle-income trap’, a phenomenon wherein the economic situation of countries reaching middle-income status stagnates, unable to move up to high-income levels. An ADB study last year pointed out the Philippines and Sri Lanka are now in the lower middle-income trap, both needing 35 and seven years respectively to reach the upper middle-income level. (Verify!)

The IMF warned that while external risks of severe economic fallout from the euro crisis have diminished, regional risks loom.

The Philippines, one of the three ‘trapped’ Asian countries, needs to improve its economic institutions and anemic infrastructure to attract more job-generating foreign direct investments (FDIs), which are crucial for a sustainable growth rate. It also called for improved economic institutions and infrastructure, both seen as key factors to drive the economy up to the high-income level. Another ‘slow-down’ factor is the Philippines’ poor results in institutional strength, corresponding to its level of political stability, bureaucratic capability and the amount of conflicts and corruption.

Proof of a regional awareness of the middle-income trap is the EMIT (Escaping the Middle-Income Country Trap) project, initiated last year and will run for four years. It is a three-country venture between research institutes in the Philippines, Thailand and the Netherlands. Analysing the societal, economic and political factors in the Philippines and Thailand, the 13-strong team aims to gain insights in the trajectories of countries moving up the income level and building long-term potent strategies and policies to combat the risks of falling into the middle-income trap. (Reuters)

www.asianngo.org

C OA UC NRT O R YS SF E URE AA S TI A N E WS F ROM THE PHILIPPINES

USAID and Microsoft team-up for Bohol fisherfolk registration

World Bank grants $300 M dev’t loan for inclusive growth In his first visit to the Philippines last July, World Bank VicePresident for East Asia and the Pacific Axel van Trotsenburg expressed to President Aquino and his economic team the Bank’s commitment to support long lasting peace and development in the country. “There is a clear convergence between the government’s goal of inclusive growth and the World Bank Group’s twin goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and promote shared prosperity for the bottom 40% of the population in each country,” Mr. van Trotsenburg.

The World Bank announced the transfer of USD300 million under the development policy loan (DPL) to support critical reforms in accelerating growth that creates more jobs and reduces poverty in the Philippines. It is also currently developing a new aid strategy for the country on complex development challenges; including the creation of jobs and livelihoods especially in rural areas, improved social service delivery, comprehensive infrastructure development and the protection of vulnerable and poor families from climate change impacts and natural disasters.

The Philippines’ Finance Secretary Cesar Purisma said “the World Bank has been a crucial partner in promoting growth that is both empowered and empowering. Projects like the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme and their contributions to infrastructure plans bode well for inclusive growth and a more dynamic business environment.”

There are 22 active projects worth $2.05 billion currently financed by the World Bank in the Philippines, under the 20102013 aid plan that encourages economic growth to trickle down to the country’s poor. Mr. van Trotsenburg and President Aquino also discussed the country’s sound macro-economic management and robust growth. “Turning high growth into inclusive growth is increasingly important for the Philippines,” said Mr. van Trotsenburg. (WB)

The Department of Science and Technology’s ICT Office, Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Microsoft Philippines have collaborated to establish online connectivity in facilitating a mobile registration system for the fisherfolk of Bohol province.

The municipalities of Talibon, Trinidad, Bien Unido, Ubay and Carlos P Garcia, located in the province’s Danajon Reef Marine Key Biodiversity Area, will use TV White Space—unused TV broadcast channels that has similar functions of wireless internet connections (WiFi)—will give local government units access to BFAR’s Fisherfolk Registration System (FRS) directly from the field. The system does away with tedious processes of completing forms on paper and encoding of entries back in the municipal

hall. This allows municipalities to immediately distribute critical IDs, certificates and licenses to fisherfolk especially in remote areas.

“This groundbreaking initiative demonstrates how win-win solutions for the environment and the business sector can be both profitable and sustainable,” USAID Mission Director Gloria Steele says of the initiative.

Supported by the USAID’s Ecosystems Improved for Sustainable Fisheries (ECOFISH) Project, the new registration system compliments the Philippine government’s economic assistance to the fisheries sector that is sustainable for local needs in terms of restoring the health of ecosystems to produce more fish, feed more people, and generate more jobs. Microsoft Philippines is providing Windows 8-powered tablets to aid mobility for the registration. ■

PPP funding gets boost from AusAID, Canada government

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell and President Aquino. Mr. Tweddell, who presented his credentials to the president in January last year, has recently reiterated his government’s continued multiplatform support to the Philippines through institutions like the AusAID. (Image from the Official Gazette.)

The Australian and Canadian governments are providing additional funds to strengthen the country’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center and expedite project roll-outs. The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) will contribute AUD12 million to the centre's Project Development and Monitoring Facility (PDMF) and another A$3 M for capacity-building and institutional strengthening. The Canadian government is adding CAD3 M to both projects.

“Australia remains a strong supporter of the Philippines government’s PPP agenda with our increased funding support totaling AUD22 million,” Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Tweddell said. He added that he believes Australia’s support generates increased private sector investments to fund infrastructure projects are needed for the country’s socio-economic development.

For his part, Canadian Ambassador Christopher Thornley said “Canada is committed to strengthen the Philippines’ PPP project development, implementation and monitoring.” ADB Country Director for the Philippines, Neeraj Jain, also said the PDMF supports the preparation of 25 PPP projects, with total estimated investments amounting to over USD4.2 B; and the pipeline of projects continuing to grow. “We are happy to provide additional support to the government to sustain this positive momentum,” he said.

The funding for PDMF by the Philippine government will now increase to USD22.3 million. ADB’s funding for the project is USD2 million. With the added funds, not less than 15 PPP projects are expected to be implemented or ready by 2016, up from the original target of five projects by the end of 2013. To date, one education and two tollway PPP projects have been successfully bid out, with one supported through PDMF. (GMA) www.asianngo.org

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C OA UC NRT O RY S SF E AA S TI AU R E from page 1

Urban gardening for a cause life, temperature regulation, noise reduction and an increase of accessible green spaces; while the environmental benefits from storm water management, urban heat island effect reduction and the creation of a potential habitat for species. “This is an important time because Ho Chi Minh City is developing. If we integrate sustainable ideas now, there will be a larger benefit than in, say the US, where cities are already extremely built up and where it is harder to change,” Mefthah notes.

The GYC also plans to become a sustainable social enterprise, co-operatively owned by employees and managed by a board of directors. Successful graduates from training programmes will be offered full- or part-time positions, decent wage and job security. “The idea is to offer them an actual career that they can pursue and is sustainable. We call it a collective because it will be owned as a collective,” adds co-founder Leslie Wiener. “If you are involved, you have a share.”

Soon, young people like Quy will get the opportunity to receive the training offered by the GYC and the chance to escape the cycle of poverty. The Collective gives young people like Quy the capacity to advance their situation and look into the future with better options than before, while also contributing to a Quy, here pictured with his family (right), has had a life-changing experience sustainable living environment. ■ with the help of the Green Youth Collective project; and has since been working hard to re-integrate himself back into the society and in his studies.

(Images from the Green Youth Collective.)

youth by training them in urban gardening and healthy food production, Quy has the chance to be of value to himself, his family and the society.

USAID project to train Indian teachers A new program that will share educational best practices between US and Indian teachers was announced by the USAID through a partnership with Arizona State University's (ASU) Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. The USD4.3 million programme will offer intensive training course covering a range of topics like teaching methods, in-service and pre-service teacher education, and assessment techniques. The programme will enable the India Support for Teacher Education program (In-STEP) to send 110 educators from institutes in the eastern and northeastern states of India to ASU to participate in a three-month programme.

ASU will offer the Indian educators avenues to observe American schools and best-practices as part of this customised program. They will see first-hand innovative teaching and learning approaches; and will closely work with ASU professors to create proposals for reform in the Indian government in specific areas of education, which they would then be able to implement in their respective states. The programme’s ultimate goal is to produce better-trained teachers and improved educational outcomes for Indian students. (India Times)

Iceland funds UNICEF child protection works for Syria in Jordan UNICEF’s child protection initiative in Jordan received a USD180,000 contribution from Iceland’s government, to offer better protection to Syrian children in refugee camps and communities along the Syrian-Jordanian border.

The Green Youth Collective is a Ho Chi Minh-based social enterprise with a mission to empower youth living in poverty with viable alternative livelihoods in urban gardening and healthy food production. They offer a vocational training program to allow urban youths to become actively involved in enhancing environmental sustainability, producing healthy, affordable food and attaining a better quality of life.

“UNICEF is a key multi-lateral agency in our international development cooperation strategy over the next four years; and we have recognised the organisation’s important role in our development aid, particularly in conflict-affected regions, where children are extremely vulnerable,” said Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, Iceland’s minister of foreign affairs.

“Kids are being exploited; trained to work in a factory where they simply repeat the cycle of poverty,” says co-founder Tanya Meftah. She and co-founders Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Nguyen Thanh Doc and Leslie Wiener created the GYC as a project to address both environmental and social concerns, and promote public awareness, education and direct action. They believe that by training the less privileged youth to design and install rooftop and wall gardens, both the state of the environment and the vicious cycle of poverty can be highly impacted.

Over half of the 500,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan are children left without their parents or family members. UNICEF and its partners have already provided 50,000 children access to psychological support since the start of the year. UNICEF spokesperson Dominique Hyde said Iceland’s contribution will intensify support to organisations in ensuring Syrian children are offered better protection. But with only 30 per cent of its needs for the remainder of the year currently covered by the grant, UNICEF still faces shortage in its Child Protection funding requirements. (IceNews)

The focus on green training comes from witnessing the impact of Ho Chi Minh City’s rapid development. “There are many issues related to pollution and the environment that need to be addressed and there is infrastructure that isn’t being used,” says Meftah. “Green roofs and walls are a simple solution to a big problem,” she adds.

US NGO calls for more humanitarian aid from US, Japan

Green roofs and walls provide benefits for people and the environment. Individual advantages include extension of roof

World Bank promotes data use for Myanmar development The World Bank Open Development initiative has conducted a series of workshops on data, research and information usage in support of people-centred reforms in Myanmar; by empowering them to make better informed decisions to improve their lives. “We need data, on poverty and social change,” Htong Kham, a student, said about the new World Bank project at the introductory workshop in Yangon; adding that “data can help us get new ideas and better work with others to find even better solutions.”

“Greater access to data and information enables everyone to make better informed choices and decisions, to improve their work systems and have more impact in lives of people,” said Kanthan Shankar, World Bank Country Manager for Myanmar. The Open Development programme supports similar causes that echo the global demand for greater transparency, accountability and governance. This particular initiative allows users to access the Bank’s data, research, information and analytical tools on the internet free of charge.

Over 120 civil society organisations, research institutes, government ministries and student organisations have come

12

together at the recently held workshops to explore the newly available data and tools and discuss how it can help them overcome development challenges.

Htaike Htaike Aung, who works for Myanmar ICT for Development, a local CSO, is taking information and communications technologies to rural areas; teaching middleschool students to 60-year olds how to use a computer.

They take laptops with spare batteries and use the village generator. In a country where only 1 in 4 people have access to electricity, the group needs to be creative. “Our outreach aims to empower people, especially the youth, by showing how to use the internet more effectively and learn from courses available on-line. In remote areas people cannot read English, so localising the software and contents is also very important,” said Htaike Htaike.

“Participants in Yangon were very engaged, and these discussions really bring home the importance of data for development,” said Neil Fantom, one of the speakers at the workshop. “We hope participants will find many innovative ways to use the tools that are available.” (WB)

US-based non-governmental organisation Peace Winds America has called on the Japan and US governments to strengthen the security alliance by improving their humanitarian assistance capabilities in the Asia-Pacific.

Peace Winds released recently a report covering a two-year examination of how prepared the two nations are for dealing with disasters throughout Asia, including lessons learned from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. CEO Charles Aanenson said: “About half of global natural disasters happen in the Asia-Pacific, and people turn to Japan for help and also to the US.” Peace Winds developed a civilian-military initiative which served as basis for the report, stressing the need to include NGOs and businesses in government planning so strong relationships can be built in advance of disasters. Such initiative included Japanese, US and South Korean defense authorities, aid coordination agencies, private-sector companies and think-tanks. (Japan Times)

CSR C AO CR N O ES R S ASIA

Children as judge in CSR initiatives tilt in Malaysia At the World Marketing Summit Malaysia 2013 (WMSM2013) in Kuala Lumpur from on 28-30 September, 85 orphans will be judging eight companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Dubbed ‘Re-thinking Actions,’ the competition wants to encourage children as future consumers to take part in and as prime consideration in the development and evaluation of CSR programmes.

“These children, aged 13 to 17, are even more ‘brand neutral’ and are generally not yet as heavily exposed to various brand promotional activities as other teenagers would be,” said WMSM2013 Chair Dr. Marceline Lemarie.

The children will be judging the projects based on their compatibility with the UN’s Millenium Development Goal 7 (MDG7), which is to ensure environmental sustainability. They will select the best MDG7 initiative from a pool of entries from companies like Maybank, Staedtler and Green Technology.

from page 1

ConnectingUp: technologies bridging communities sector including online forums, fortnightly TweetChats (#npau) and supporting local NetSquared groups.

Through partnership with TechSoup Global, Connecting Up provides donated technology products and services from companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Symantec and Adobe to eligible income tax-exempt (ITE) Australian non-profit organisations, including advocate groups and libraries.

They also provide a series of learning and networking sessions for individuals and organisations interested in social entrepreneurship, technology, and social innovation; and host events like online webinars, workshops, forums and their annual Connecting Up Conference.

A quick run through their case studies shows

their long track record in community works with non-profit organisations in Australia and Asia—from donating equipment to NGOs to training non-profit groups in making full and efficient use of different software applications for their respective thrusts.

Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project, one of the recipients of Connecting Up donations through partners, received software upgrades that enabled its team to produce more accurate statistics that help them succeed in funding applications, build a contacts and donor management database, write better reports for supporters and the media, and present evidence when advocating with government for policy improvements.

The organisation helps asylum-seekers from different countries who want to settle in Australia process their documentation.

Another NGO, CARE Australia, with the aim to put an end to poverty worldwide by providing international development assistance, has lauded the works of Connecting Up for facilitating donations from Microsoft. CARE Australia’s IT Manager, Ray Brown, says “they have significantly saved money from buying software thanks to Microsoft’s donations,” and that the money saved from buying software is significant; thus “having more money available can greatly expand our online presence and our marketing.

This means more exposure; and more exposure leads to more partners and more donations.”

To register for Connecting Up’s donation drives, follow their discount programmes, keep track of their events and projects or be a member of their online community, visit www.connectingup.org. ■

“As future consumers, we hope they will understand the concepts of good brands and good corporations,” Lemarie said at the launch of the project at the National Science Centre in Kuala Lumpur on 26 June.

The children have time to cast their votes until mid-September, and the winning company will be announced during WMSM2013 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. “Project ‘Re-thinking Actions’ is not only here to resolve, but also encourage all to work together in developing the best programmes to address the issues that arise,” Lemarie concluded. ■

Puma hosts water, waste systems training in Cambodia, Indonesia

Indonesia’s urban areas frequently experience flooding during the rainy seasons, largely due to poor sewage and waste disposal systems in cities like Jakarta.

Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (ASSIST) and Puma have launched the SAVE project in Cambodia on in July; complemented by a management training sessions on energy and GHG and sessions on water and waste management in Indonesia.

Sustainable Action and Vision for a better Environment (Project SAVE) is a publicprivate partnership (PPP) project co-financed

by DEG and PUMA, with the aim to create more environmentally friendly footwear apparel and accessory supply chain production sites in developing countries of Asia. ASSIST, as project implementation partner, takes the lead in the capacity-building component of the project.

The launch served as introduction of the project to the participating stakeholders. Adam Brennan and Edel Anit from PUMA; and Aru David and Outi Annala from ASSIST were present at the event. The two management trainings were facilitated by Kama Neson Ganeson and were held in the training room of Pou Chen factory, a PUMA Footwear supplier.

Key members of the General Affairs Group of Pou Chen; and secondary supplier DIAMOND attended the 2 day courses. ■ www.asianngo.org

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FO E AUTNUTRREYD F EE VAET N C U TR SE

Food, water security from page 1 Habitat for Humanity tackles Asia-Pacific top development housing issues in summit agenda Forum is an incubator for leading minds to offer creative solutions and address the housing issues in Asia-Pacific. One in eight still lives in a slum in the region; so there is tremendous scope for collaboration between governments, businesses and the development sector to improve the situation,” said Rick Hathaway, Vice-President for Asia-Pacific, Habitat for Humanity International.

Themed ‘Housing as a foundation for breaking the poverty cycle’, the forum will feature five discussion tracks focusing on affordable housing finance, disaster resilience and climate Fresh produce from the farmlands, waiting for the change, shared value and corporate social morning rush of buyers off one of the streets of Mumbai. responsibility leadership, housing policy and (Image from the ADB’s 2011 CLICK photo competition) advocacy and sustainable housing solutions.

It will feature workshops on the Eco-Town The United Nations headquarters in Bangkok Framework by the Philippine Climate Change will host the “AIDF Water Security: Asia 2013” Commission and demonstration/discussion and the “AIDF Food Security: Asia 2013” workshops by the Asian Development Bank on conferences in November. The conferences will energy efficiency technologies and sustainable Too comfortable for studying: despite the economic boom bring together policy leaders and practitioners energy for all. across the region, millions of urban residents do not have involved in agriculture, water, health, access to proper housing. (Image from the ADB’s 2011 environment and utilities from governments, Among the confirmed speakers for the CLICK photo competition) UN agencies, NGOs and the private sector, event are policy makers, business titans, The Forum is supported by sponsors and to highlight the challenges the sectors face, and thought leaders from humanitarian partners including Aditya Birla Group, the share best practices, showcase new technologies agencies and research institutions; including ADB, Ayala Corporation, Ayala Land, Bayer and services, and forge new partnerships to Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay; MaterialScience, PT Caturkarsa Megatunggal, encourage sustainable development.

ASEAN Deputy Secretary Alicia Bala; Philippine Senator Loren Legarda; former US Cemex Philippines, Citi, Energy Development “The forum is a great opportunity for us to Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros; Grameen Corporation, Philippine Housing Urban engage in expert discussions, share relevant Koota Managing Director Suresh K. Krishna; Development Coordinating Council, International Federation of Red Cross and Red knowledge, and learn from the experience ADB Principal Energy Specialist for SE Crescent Societies, Move.org, and Philippine of others. The world today is facing diverse Asia Sohail Hasnier; and former Singapore Climate Change Commission. The media challenges, and the humanitarian business needs Housing Development Board CEO Dr. partners of the event are ABS-CBN News to keep up,” said Birgitte Olsen, IFRC’s head of Liu Thai Ke. Also in the lineup are Hassan Channel, AsianNGO, Channel NewsAsia, Global Logistics Service.

Ahmad, CEO of Mercy Relief; Graham Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Rappler Inc. Saunders, Head of Shelter and Settlements “AIDF Water Security: Asia 2013” and “AIDF at the International Federation of Red Registration for the Forum is at Food Security: Asia 2013” will take place at Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Richard www.aphousingforum.org. To get more UNESCAP, Bangkok, Thailand, on 26-27 Northcote, Bayer MaterialScience Head information, donate or volunteer, visit November 2013. For information about of Communications for Public Affairs and www.habitat.org/asiapacific or follow them at attending, speaking or sponsoring the event, Sustainability; and Efren Peñaflorida, 2009 www.facebook.com/habitat. ■ please visit www.aidforumonline.org. ■ CNN Hero of the Year awardee.

from page 1

Training series for NGOs engaged in USAID programmes “By the end of each course, participants will be able to assess their organisation’s policies in relation to USAID award administration requirements, better understand USAID’s structure and how to build cooperative and beneficial relationships; prepare their organisation to achieve successful audits and prevent disallowances; maintain appropriate report-keeping and documentation; and improve their organisation’s business model,” said Jeffery Bell, Claro KC vice-president and senior trainer.

Claro KC was incorporated in January this year, as a response to the challenges that international organisations face to reach their goals in implementing foreign assistance programmes in the developing world; and in understanding the unique and varying needs of international donors. Claro KC’s approach is designed to be engaging to adult participants, ensuring that a variety of learning needs are successfully structured and relevant to their and their organisations’ needs.

“Using a training model that adapts to working with governments, NGOs and the private sector, we foster a learning environment and the interactions needed for a great organisation: participation, the value of local practice, originality, open interaction, sharing, selfdiscovery, self-determination and purpose,” Bell added.

For the series of Grant and Cooperative Agreement Course for USAID NGOs, the training modules are tailored to be USAIDfocused. Apart from the courses in Asia taking place this year, other courses for North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa scheduled between September 2013 and December 2014 are listed on their website at www.clarokc.net. ■

CA L E NDA R O F E VE NTS

15 - 19 September 2013 Grant and Cooperative Agreement Course for USAID NGOs

4 - 5 September 2013 Singapore Compact CSR

Singapore, Raffles City Convention Centre

Bangladesh Dhaka

19 - 20 September 2013

UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2013

9 - 12 September 2013 Green Leaders Australia Sydney

66th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Southeast Asia India New Delhi

Asean Summit (23rd) Brunei Darussalam

15 - 18 October 2013

Thailand Arnoma Hotel Bangkok

The International Fundraising Congress The Netherlands Noordwijkerhout

5 - 7 November 2013 Sustainable Development Implementation Forum

23 - 24 September 2013

Korea Incheon

Asian Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility Indonesia

2013 ECHO Asia Agriculture and Community Development Conference Thailand The Empress Hotel, Chiang Mai

14 - 15 November 2013

Procurement Planning & Execution: USAID Grants & Cooperative Agreements

USA Grand Hyatt, New York

1 - 5 October 2013 11 - 13 September 2013

10 - 11 October 2013

18 - 20 November 2013

The Summit on the Global Agenda United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi

20 - 21 November 2013 CSR Live Week

7 - 9 November 2013

India WTC, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai

Global Social Business Summit 2013 Malaysia

20 - 21 November 2013

11 - 13 November 2013

USAID Rules & Regulations: Grants & Cooperative Agreements

NGO Asia Expo India Delhi, NCR

Thailand Bangkok

11 - 15 November 2013 17 - 18 September 2013 CSR Asia Summit 2013 Thailand Bangkok

2 - 4 October 2013

26 - 27 November 2013

Asia Pacific Housing Forum

Grant and Cooperative Agreement Course for USAID NGOs

Philippines Manila

Philippines Manila

Thailand Arnoma Hotel Bangkok

AIDF Asia- Pacific Conference

For further information and more events, visit www.asianngo.org 14

www.asianngo.org

T O O LA S CARNODS SR EASSO I AU R C E S from page 7

The business of inclusive growth

AVA I L A B L E G R A N T S Strengthening Administrative Capacity of the Georgia Revenue Service

Call for Expression of Interest: Organic Agriculture Cluster Development

Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development Actions

Call for Expression of Interest for Innovations for Women's Empowerment

Institutional Capacity in Transition to Electronic Monitoring System

Implementation and Monitoring of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

District Road Rehabilitation Project

Small Municipalities Water Project Donor: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Donor: EuropeAid Country: Georgia Grant Value: EUR1.3 M Area(s) of Interest: Financing Sector (Individual Consultant) Application Deadline: 14 October 2013

Inclusive growth is aimed at cascading the economic progress not only among the middle class; but more importantly, for the ‘base of pyramid’, like local farmers and rural producers of goods, to benefit from the boom in the region.

(Image from the ADB’s 2011 CLICK photo competition)

companies, is key to the success of these insurance business models. Remittance centres like Western Union encompass traditional and non-traditional financial institutions, with business models that reduce remittance costs and offer additional services to the BoP tapping into the $20-billion [remittance] market in the country.

With regard to the energy sector, 25% of the population has no access to energy in the household—constituting a potentially huge market for energy suppliers from the private sector complementing the government’s electrification plans. Developing mini-grids is a promising approach to electrification; and in addition to providing reliable power 24/7 and thereby enabling economic development on their sites, pioneering distribution systems like the PowerSource Group’s “Qualified Third Party” actively fosters community development, supporting entrepreneurs in setting up small businesses.

The National Competitiveness Council under Bill Luz is working to address those issues.

Companies deal with those issues all the time and have found ways to operate in this environment—but would certainly welcome a positive change. One way to address the issue is partner with the government as the PPP between Q.C. and Phinma has shown. The partnership and the resulting lower permitting cost led to an estimated 10% reduction in the price of the houses and a speedy construction process. But there are other challenges: like the development of profitable business models with social impact, which needs to be addressed; and internal pressures of ROI requirements for projects as inclusive businesses need time to grow.

You mentioned the potential of IB to achieve inclusive growth and cited some of promising examples. What needs to be done for IB to truly fulfil its promise?

An enabling ecosystem is requisite to the development and growth of IB companies measured by their commercial and social Finally, the health sector (in the study) impact. In order to achieve a conducive comprises pharmaceuticals, pharmacies and inclusive business ecosystem, four paradigm medical services. In addition to the generic shifts need to be addressed: First, companies pharmacies, inclusive health care services could must view societal problems as business be observed in the specialised health care sector opportunities; and should achieve growth like vaccination and maternal health. Family by integrating the low-income population in Vaccine Specialty Clinics (FVSC), for example, their core business activities. Second, company are located in 41 rural hospitals nationwide. foundations spend money on their own They provide non-mandatory vaccine services company IB efforts to leverage company assets like rabies vaccine to the rural clients, which and significantly increase measureable impact is 70% more affordable than in public clinics and ensure sustainability through profitable while at the same time a profitable proposition or cost saving IB business models. Third, the for the company. legislature must include IB in their inclusive growth agenda, in order for the economic Given the protectionist legal system of the environment to be conducive to create jobs Philippines (read: regulatory environment), and enhance access to income and goods and a fairly young culture of IB and a massive services at the BoP by allocating budget, align perception of the lack of a sense of accountability expenditures with IB activities and establish and transparency in doing business, how do targets and measurements. Finally, NGOs need you think the current bureaucracy impedes the to view their role as part of an IB eco-system working environment for the initiation and/ and develop the capacity to function in this or growth of inclusive business companies? role. They must be partners on the ground How would you encourage companies to brave interacting as needed between corporations and through bureaucratic hurdles? the BoP. When such paradigm shifts happen, Poor regulatory environment impedes the I am certain, IB will play its pivotal role in growth of all companies, not only IB companies. achieving inclusive growth. ■

Donor: EuropeAid Country: Lebanon Grant Value: EUR300,000 Area(s) of Interest: Civil Society (Individual Consultant) Application Deadline: 18 October 2013

Donor: EuropeAid Country: Turkey Grant Value: EUR1.8 M Area(s) of Interest: Technology (Individual Consultant) Application Deadline: 21 October 2013

Donor: EuropeAid Country: Timor-Leste Grant Value: (not indicated) Area(s) of Interest: Infrastructure (Works and Service) Application Deadline: 4 December 2013

Donor: UNDP Country: Turkey Grant Value: (not indicated) Area(s) of Interest: Agriculture (Individual Consultants) Application Deadline: 31 December 2013

Donor: UNDP Country: Turkey Grant Value: (not indicated) Area(s) of Interest: Women (Individual Consultant Application Deadline: 31 December 2013

Donor: UNDO Country: Turkey Grant Value: (not indicated) Area(s) of Interest: Inclusive Growth/PWD (Individual Consultant) Application Deadline: 31 December 2013

Country: Armenia Grant Value: EUR20 M Area(s) of Interest: Infrastructure (Works and Services) Application Deadline: 10 July 2014

For further information and more grants, visit www.asianngo.org

Original content series for NGOs AsianNGO, the region’s first dedicated media for the non-profit sector, is branching out into new areas with its AsianNGO Original Content Series. This series of products constitute a range of essential NGO knowhow guides, a collection of AsianNGO quickreference info cards and NGO info-videos—all useful data in small, user-friendly formats.

The new series of in-house produced products aims to provide NGO professionals with easily applicable tools.

efficient way and building a useful network.

It will also offer NGOs a range of subjects, from information on funding opportunities and utilising social media for not-for-profit organisations. The two other products, the info cards and the info-videos, will offer NGOs fast but useful overview of NGO-related data and advice from experienced professionals.

Where information is abundant and distinguishing what is relevant has become a time-consuming task, these new products “With the increasing growth and development offer bite-size but relevant information, of the NGO market in Asia there has never readily applicable in the daily governance of been a greater need for resources dedicated to NGOs. Although the guides are produced the unique needs of the region’s most senior in-house, AsianNGO also offers partners the development and non-profit professionals,” opportunity for co-operation through content says Robert Ferguson, AsianNGO’s partnerships or logistical support. development director.

The original content series will be officially The preview to the first of a series is the ‘5 launched and commence in print and online Essential Business Tools for NGOs’, which in November 2013, in time for the 10th offers NGO professionals a handy reference anniversary celebration of ASSIST Asia, guide for NGO management, working in an publisher of AsianNGO. ■ www.asianngo.org

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ETURE C O U NFTERAYT U FR EA

Magsaysay Foundation honours Asian women in development

ADB, FAO call for closing of gender gap to secure food future

This year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awardees include Afghanistan’s first and only female governor and a humanitarian worker from Burma’s Kachin minority.

The prestigious Magsaysay Awards, honouring individuals and organisations that display greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in Asia and often regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize, announced their awardees in July.

Habiba Sarabi, governor of the Afghan Bamyan province, was lauded for her work in building a functional provincial government despite political adversities and pervasive cultural discrimination; grounded in her abiding commitment to peace and development in Afghanistan.

Lahpai Seng Raw, former director of one of Myanmar’s longest-running NGOs, received praise for her inspiring leadership to empower damaged communities and strengthen local NGOs, in the midst of deep ethnic divide and prolonged armed conflict; while also An employee of Bangkok-based East-West Seeds Company (left), shows the harvest of one of their partner farms in promoting a non-violent culture of participation and Cambodia that especially employ women farmers. (Image from East-West Seeds Company) dialogue as the foundation for Burma’s peaceful future.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Adriano, Practice Leader for Agriculture, Food Other awardees are Ernesto Domingo, Filipino medical the Food and Agriculture Organization of Security & Rural Development in the Regional researcher and successful advocate for neo-natal hepatitis the United Nations (FAO) have reported that and Sustainable Development Department vaccination; Indonesian Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi for women to reach their full potential as at the ADB. Closing the gender gaps such as (Corruption Eradication Commission), awarded for farmers and food production workers in the improving women’s access to rural resources, their fierce campaign against corruption in Indonesia; Asia-Pacific region, there must be reforms in services and labour market opportunities, could Lahpai Seng Raw (top photo) of Myanmar, and Shakti Samuha (Power Group) from Nepal, the region’s labour and land ownership laws. increase domestic agricultural output by 2.5% and Habiba Sarabi (above) of Afghanistan, recognised for their work with human trafficking Gender Equality and Food Security--Women’s to 4%; and mean up to 100 million fewer are the two women from development survivors and abused women and children.

Empowerment as Tool Against Hunger, people living in hunger. honoured at the awarding ceremonies of the published in July, cites persistent gender Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Asia’s answer to the Nobel Peace Prize. (Images from The Manila-based Roman Magsaysay Award inequalities in the region that limit women’s The report recommendations to policy-makers the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation) Foundation was founded in 1957, in memory of the opportunities to contribute more effectively to the tackling of laws and regulations that third Philippine president. Awardees receive a certificate, the agriculture sector, rural development, food discriminate against women particularly in land a medallion and a cash prize. The awardees were hosted and recognised in an awarding gala at the and nutrition security. ownership; initiating programmes that boost Cultural Centre of the Philippines last 31 August. gender equality in agriculture in the labour “This in turn undermines the region’s goal market; and developing food security strategies “This year’s awardees are three remarkable individuals and two amazing organizations, all deeply of long-term food security. Removing the to improve women’s access to childcare, farmer involved in creating sustainable solutions to seemingly intransigent social problems in their barriers women face in their roles as food support mechanisms, credit and agriculture respective societies—problems that are most damaging to the lives of those trapped in poverty or producers, farm workers, and primary caregivers services. (ADB) ■ ignorance.” says RMAF President Carmencita Abella. (AFP, Rappler) is achievable and inexpensive,” says Lourdes

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