Two years since it was founded, the Zero Extreme Poverty (ZEP) 2030 Movement is faced with the challenge of reaching its original target of helping uplift 1 million families from extreme poverty by 2030. To date, it has mapped 16,000 families and has a presence in 70 municipalities, far from its target of covering 350 municipalities with 10 years left.

Last August, the movement’s lead convenors and key local partners went into a retreat to reflect and re-strategize, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Accelerator Lab initiative. CODE-NGO and member networks Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), Association of Foundations (AF) and Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resource in Rural Areas (PHILDHRRA) actively participated in this retreat. A key insight from the workshop: localization is key. Implementation challenges will be addressed if the implementers themselves are leading the conversations. The group agreed to explore the following localization opportunities: 1) going all-in local – putting the local implementers in the driver’s seat of our conversations, 2) Facilitating self-organized collaboration – rather than a hub-and-spoke or too centralized convenings that requires a great deal of commitment, 3) empowering local variation – more than standards and frameworks and 4) making space for exploration and renewal – finding venues to explore emerging challenges.

After the Accelerator Lab retreat, the ZEP 2030 lead convenors met to affirm support for these locally-led approaches. Among the highlights of activities reported for the period are (1) the formation of the ZEP2030 Cebu convergence, with Central Visayas Network of NGOs (CENVISNET) as local convenor and (2) Shelter Cluster lead Philippine Partnership of Support Service Agencies (PHILSSA) joining the movement’s Lead Convenors.