CSOs lament limited consultations with affected communities and civil society organizations in Yolanda rehabilitation plans

The Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) formally submitted yesterday a list of recommendations for a more responsive Yolanda rehabilitation and recovery to the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) and other government agencies leading the program.  These recommendations resulted from the recently concluded forum entitled “Yolanda, a Year After: Clearing the Road to Rehabilitation and Recovery” held last November 3-4, 2014 at the Ateneo De Manila University in Quezon City. CODE-NGO is the country’s biggest coalition of development-oriented civil society organizations.  

Almost a year after Typhoon Yolanda wreaked havoc in the Philippines, the forum served as a consultation and discussion venue for the lessons learned by local civil society organizations (CSOs) and the public sector after the typhoon.  

These CSO recommendations are largely based on the local consultations organized by CODE-NGO member networks working in Yolanda-affected areas from the perspectives of their partner affected communities, member organizations, and other development partners.

Key to the recommendations submitted by the CSOs is to mainstream the following principles in the implementation of the government’s rehabilitation plans as laid out in the Comprehensive Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan (CRRP):

• Meaningful participation of affected communities or beneficiary groups and CSOs in the planning, budgeting and monitoring the implementation of the rehabilitation programs,  
• Transparency and clarity in the program implementation guidelines, particularly on fund status and utilization, on the processes for selecting beneficiaries, and on the standards for the package of assistance for livelihood, resettlement and social services, consistent with humanitarian principles and upholding the affected communities’ dignity and human rights,
• Contextualizing and integrating CRRP strategies with local land use, development and investment plans, and
• Prioritizing the special realities and requirements of the most vulnerable groups in the affected communities, i.e. women and children, elderly, persons with disabilities (PWDs), indigenous peoples (IPs), informal settler families (ISFs), internally displaced persons (IDPs) in conflict or insurgency areas and communities in small islands or geographically isolated and depressed areas (GIDAs).  

“We recognize that the government has invested time to conduct inter-agency assessments by clusters among government agencies and consolidating LGU plans into a comprehensive rehabilitation plan, but we hoped that it included the voices of affected communities and CSOs more,” CODE-NGO Executive Director Sixto Donato C. Macasaet said.  “We also commend the government’s efforts for transparency by posting its Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAITH) immediately after Yolanda, yet the publicized information fails to provide a good picture of the projects funded, in what areas and who benefited from these.  We expect that the plans for the Electronic Management Platform: Transparency Hub for Yolanda (EMPATHY) will respond to this,” he added. 

As a key stakeholder in the rehabilitation of Yolanda-affected communities, the local CSOs aim to contribute to the resiliency of communities by engaging them as co-owners and managers of the programs and projects laid out in the CRRP, and not just as beneficiaries and clients. 

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Download: CSO’s Initial Assessments and Recommendations on the Bohol and Yolanda Recovery and Rehabilitation Programs

Contact Person: Ivy Marian Panganiban, ACED Project Advocacy Officer

Tel. 02 9202595, Mobile. 0916-7622970, E-mail. ipanganiban@code-ngo.org