To balance the negative impression which may have been created by my previous post, I will now deal with the good points of working with external donors.
First, during the Martial Law regime in the 70s, it was the donors and the projects they assisted which carried the banner for democracy and reforms. Community meetings were banned; in fact, a group of three gathering for a meeting or informal chat was considered illegal. This martial decree was generally observed throughout the country. Everyone was afraid to be arrested and thrown in jail without warrant of arrest
UNICEF was unfazed. It encouraged the LGUs and NGOs in its various projects to organize planning meetings using its mandated child focus to local development. The donor demonstrated that the child-based concerns were beyond politics, that whatever the political situation, the plans and programs for children should continue. Later, UNICEF was blamed for the leak to the media of a photo of a malnourished child during the famine in Negros that the dictatorship would like to hide. Nothing came out of it because nobody could prove it was the donor who instigated the bad publicity.
During the martial law years, UNICEF was operating globally under its development thrust labelled as basic services strategy, which emphasized the importance of popular participation in child-based development. Although I was in some sort of rehabilitation program on account of my involvement in anti-Marcos protest, UNICEF dealt with me while I was assigned with restricted movement at the Green Revolution office at the Nayong Pilipino. In more than one occasion, the donor recommended to the Government that I should be sent on study tour abroad as part of my task in looking into the participatory aspect of UNICEF-supported programs. The Government did not approve the recommendation for fear that I would not return and worst, I might make some noise about the martial law regime.
Finally, when I was allowed to live outside the confines of the Green Revolution, UNICEF provided me grants to pursue further studies at the University of Bradford in England and the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development. UNICEF supported the piloting and eventual replication of the Ilaw ng Buhay (Light of Life) Program as an innovative approach to community development.
While our group of community development workers raised funds for the physical infrastructure, UNICEF provided logistic and funding support to curriculum building and the piloting of innovative training approaches at the Ilaw International Center (IIC) established in barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City in 1983. The IIC, on account of its "Ilaw ng Buhay" approach to development, which featured partnership between local government and organized communities, was able to implement replication of the approach not only in some provinces in the Philippines, but also in other countries by training participants from Yemen and Indonesia.
Our involvement in UNICEF-assisted programs during the martial law regime brought us in close contact with other donors supporting programs advocating participatory strategies at a time when they were not encouraged by the Government. We can credit donors for their support to people-based development during the repressive regime in the Philippines.
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First, during the Martial Law regime in the 70s, it was the donors and the projects they assisted which carried the banner for democracy and reforms. Community meetings were banned; in fact, a group of three gathering for a meeting or informal chat was considered illegal. This martial decree was generally observed throughout the country. Everyone was afraid to be arrested and thrown in jail without warrant of arrest
UNICEF was unfazed. It encouraged the LGUs and NGOs in its various projects to organize planning meetings using its mandated child focus to local development. The donor demonstrated that the child-based concerns were beyond politics, that whatever the political situation, the plans and programs for children should continue. Later, UNICEF was blamed for the leak to the media of a photo of a malnourished child during the famine in Negros that the dictatorship would like to hide. Nothing came out of it because nobody could prove it was the donor who instigated the bad publicity.
During the martial law years, UNICEF was operating globally under its development thrust labelled as basic services strategy, which emphasized the importance of popular participation in child-based development. Although I was in some sort of rehabilitation program on account of my involvement in anti-Marcos protest, UNICEF dealt with me while I was assigned with restricted movement at the Green Revolution office at the Nayong Pilipino. In more than one occasion, the donor recommended to the Government that I should be sent on study tour abroad as part of my task in looking into the participatory aspect of UNICEF-supported programs. The Government did not approve the recommendation for fear that I would not return and worst, I might make some noise about the martial law regime.
Finally, when I was allowed to live outside the confines of the Green Revolution, UNICEF provided me grants to pursue further studies at the University of Bradford in England and the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development. UNICEF supported the piloting and eventual replication of the Ilaw ng Buhay (Light of Life) Program as an innovative approach to community development.
While our group of community development workers raised funds for the physical infrastructure, UNICEF provided logistic and funding support to curriculum building and the piloting of innovative training approaches at the Ilaw International Center (IIC) established in barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City in 1983. The IIC, on account of its "Ilaw ng Buhay" approach to development, which featured partnership between local government and organized communities, was able to implement replication of the approach not only in some provinces in the Philippines, but also in other countries by training participants from Yemen and Indonesia.
Our involvement in UNICEF-assisted programs during the martial law regime brought us in close contact with other donors supporting programs advocating participatory strategies at a time when they were not encouraged by the Government. We can credit donors for their support to people-based development during the repressive regime in the Philippines.
More next post
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