HIGHLIGHTS OF LIFE AND CAREER
1. NAME : Nestor Maniebo Pestelos
(a) Date and Place of Birth: 14 April 1942 Nationality: Filipino ; Tiaong, Quezon Province
(b) Civil
Status: ( ) Single ( X ) Married (
) Separated ( ) Widowed
If married, name of spouse: Florencia Gilay-Pestelos
Nationality: Filipino
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Home Address: Upper Laya, Baclayon, Bohol
Telephone:
(038) 540 9327 Mobile: (0917 304 1450}
Email
Address: npestelos@gmail.com
(c) Occupation/profession:
Community
Development Specialist;
Consultant on Poverty Reduction and Local Governance
(d) Current Position:
Owner/Manager
Kahayag
Learning Site and Social Action Center
Upper
Laya, Baclayon, Bohol 6301
(e) Other positions/affiliations:
Member, Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity, Batch 1963
Member, University of the Philippines
Alumni Association (UPAA)
Member, UP Los Banos Alumni
Association – Bohol Chapter
Member, Asian Institute of
Management Alumni Association
Head,
Advocacy Ministry, Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals
(BCBP), Tagbilaran City East Chapter
Member,
Quezon Medalya ng Karangalan Foundation
Member,
Association of Filipino International Civil Servants (APICS)
Trustee,
Bohol Social Action Foundation, Inc. (BoSAFI)
2. ACADEMIC BACKAGROUND/TRAINING
PhD in Educational Management
University
of Bohol
March,
1989
Master in Management
Asian
Institute of Management
March,
1987
University of the Philippines: Degree(s)/Year(s) of Graduation
Note: Although he earned units more than the number required, he was not given the formal Bachelor’s degree due to a technicality. He was however given the Outstanding Alumnus Award for Community Service and Local Governance on 09 Oct 2015 in recognition of his services in the Philippines and 17 other countries as UNDP Chief Technical Adviser and in projects funded by international donor agencies.
On May 28, 2019, he was given a Life Membership Certificate by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association “with all rights, honors, privileges and responsibilitites appertaining thereto.”
Training Programs/Scholarships
a. Local Social Development Planning UNCRD Nagoya, Japan (1985)
b.
Evaluation of
Community-based Projects Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia Sponsored by UNICEF (1985)
c. Planning and Appraisal of Rural Development Projects University of Bradford, West
Yorkshire, England Fellowship sponsored by UNICEF (1982)
d.
Integrated Rural Development Bangladesh Academy for Rural
Development, Comilla, Bangladesh Internship sponsored by UNICEF (1981)
e. Planning and programming, management, monitoring and evaluation of child-based programme conducted by UNICEF New York and Regional (Bangkok) Staff (1979)
3. AWARDS
2021 Outstanding and Noble Award (UNO)
Awarded 20 February 2021 by Upsilon Sigma Phi, Asia’s oldest fraternity founded 1918 at the
University of the Philippines. Cited
as community development guru in the Philippines and 17
other countries mostly in the
Asia-Pacific region in his work with
UNDP, UNICEF and Habitat for
Humanity International.
2019 UPAA
Distinguished Alumnus Award in Poverty Alleviation and Human Development
Awarded 24 August 2019 for advocating community empowerment through
Non-goverment organizations in Bohol, one of which
developed the Poverty Database
Monitoring System now replicated in Asia-Pacific
region.
2017 Gawad Kadakilaan
Awarded 23 September 2017 on the occasion of the Sixth Philippine I Transform! Young Leaders Convention in Baguio City and on the 2nd year of the adoption of the United Nations global development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals
Citation reads: “In deep appreciation for the exemplary effort and noble commitment to the work of community develoment, reaching out to the poorest of the poor, creating local opportunities with their interest as the paramount concern, and for being an inspiration to the Filipino youth.”
2016 – Pride and Recognition Award
Given 20 August 2016 by Class 1958 of Quezon
Provincial High School, Lucena City
Citation reads: “For outstanding contribution and
indefatigable devotion to community service and development ...”
2016 Quezon Medalya ng Karangalan (for Public
Service – Community Development)
Awarded 19 August 2016; 138th birth anniversary, President Manuel L. Quezon
Citation reads: “Umikot ang buhay ni G. Nestor
Pestelos sa pagsulong sa kanyang adbokasya sa pagpapaunlad ng komunidad. Sa
mahigit na apatnapung taon s nasabing larangan, nakapagtrabaho siya sa ilalim
ng Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas, United Nations, mga internationasyonal na ahensya,
at mga NGOs. Naging kasangkapan ng kaniyang huwarang husay at sipag upang
mapataas ang antas ng pamumuhay ng napakaraming tao hindi lamang sa Quezon o
Pilipinas, kundi maging sa mga bansa ng Fiji, Solomon Islands, Kiribati,
Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Palau, Samoa, Marshall Islands, Maldives, Cook Islands,
Micronesia, Thailand, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Malaysia, Bhutan, Bangladesh,
India at Cambodia.
2015 Outstanding
Alumnus Award (for Community Service and Local Governance), University of the
Philippines, Los Banos
Awarded 09 October 2015 by the UPLB Alumni Association
Citation reads: “For 40 years of continuing, dedicated and outstanding track record in promoting community development and local governance, his expertise and innovative ideas in addressing urgent issues critical to sustainable community development and effective local governance that benefitted his nation and other developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region; and for his excellence and passion as advocacy leader for community development and local governance through two NGOs, the Ilaw International Center (IIC) which he helped establish and manage in Bohol in the 1980s with the country’s pioneers in community development; and the successor NGO, the Bohol Local Development Foundation, Inc. (BLDF), which he founded in 2003 to continue the role of IIC as resource institution for both local governments and community organizations in their partnership towards participatory development.”
2015 Rappler Enterprise Award
Given on 26 September 2015 during the Rappler Mover Awards Ceremony
Citation reads: “ A person who has successfully channeled passion and drive into a thriving social enterprise that uplifts and empowers a marginalized sector.”
Note: Rappler.com is a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change
2012 Most Outstanding Community Builder, 2012 Dangal ng Quezon High Award
Given October 2, 2012 during the 110th Anniversary of the Quezon Provincial High School, Lucena City
Citation reads: “For selfless dedication to local and International development over 40 years.”
2009 Habitat for Humanity International
Given on 29 April 2009
Citation reads: “For your contribution from March 2005 to April 2009 as Regional Program Manager for Habitat for Humanity’s program in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, Timor Leste and, latterly, Malaysia, as well as your expertise in developing program monitoring and evaluation and project-based finance initiatives thereby ensuring proper stewardship of the resources needed to deliver their vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to call home.”
2003 International Human Development Award,
Class 1958, Quezon Provincial High School,
Lucena City. Given 28 December 2003
2002 Outstanding Quezon National High School Alumni Award
Given on 20 Oct 2002.
Citation
reads: “ in deep appreciation of the exemplary intellectual breed, multiple
skills
and
benevolent heart devoted selflessly for the welfare of the field of endeavor
where he
has made a name for himself for the honor and glory of his beloved Alma Mater,
the Quezon National High School in particular and the global community in
general.”
4.
EMPLOYMENT (Position and name of employer):
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
November 2020 to the present
Manager, Kahayag Farm and Social Action
Center
Works with the Agricultural Traing
Instituce – Central Visasyas to convert the family-own Balay Kahayag Training
and Retreat Center as a Learning Site for Agriculture (LSA) and eventually a
Farm School in five years’ time.
August 2003 to November, 2017
Founder and President, Bohol Local
Development Foundation, Inc. (BLDF)
Provides technical assistance to
Government agencies. LGUs, donors and NGOs in the development and promotion of
a household poverty database system using a survey methodology and software for
poverty tracking and monitoring interventions and evaluating their impact to
specific households and disadvantaged groups, such as women, children,
out-of-school youth and the elderly.
February 2015 to June 2018
Columnist, Bohol Tribune
Wrote the weekly column “In This Our
Journey” as vehicle for discussing development issues and events related to
poverty reduction strengthening local governance; mobilizing citizen
participation in promoting environmental sustainability; and in seeking more
effective approaches to drug addiction. The compiled articles are now being
edited to be published as two books, Unfortunate
Choice and Eating Projects for
Breakfast.
July 2010 to July 2014
Member, Board of Directors, AlcanzConsult,
Inc. (Composed of retired UN staff)
Provided technical and management
services in planning, programme development and management in the social sector
with focus on child rights and welfare and in emergency preparedness to
government agencies, bilateral agencies, United Nations and Bretton Wood Institutions, Non-Government
Organizations and private institutions guided by corporate social
responsibility.
September 2014 to June 2015
Member of 3rd Party
Monitoring Team, Emergency Unconditional Cash Transfer for families affected by
Haiyan/Yolanda in Guian, Samar. Project under UNICEF Manila.
October 2013 to August 2014
Convenor, Bohol Quake Assistance Fund
Drive
in support of the Community-Based Shelter
Assistance Project (for families whose houses were totally destroyed during the
15 Oct 2013 earthquake)
An initiative of Bohol Local Development
Foundation in partnership with Miriam College, Habitat for Humanity
Philippines, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD} and Peacock
Garden Spa and Resort
January 2010 to October 2013
Project Manager, Realizing DReAMS
(Development of Resources and Access to Municipal Resources) Project. Funded by European Union (EU),
implemented in the Philippines, India, Bangladesh,and
Bhutan
in partnership with the International Council of Environmental
Initiatives
(ICLEI)
August 2009 to March, 2010
Partnership Adviser (Part-time), LGSP-LED
(Local Governance Support Programme for Local Economic Development) Bohol funded by the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA)
Provided technical advice to Local
Government Units (LGUs) and their partners in
the planning, implementation and
monitoring of activities related to
enterprise
development among disadvantaged groups in
eight municipalities in Bohol within the
context of Bohol Integrated Area
Development (BIAD)
March to
July 2009
Project
Director, Community-Managed Eco-Cultural Tourism (CoMET) Project funded by
AusAID PACAP
(Philippines-Australia Community Assistance Project)
Provided
technical advice to LGUs and their development partners in the promotion of
organic food production and community-based tourism in four target
municipalities
February
2007 – March 2009
Regional
Programme Adviser, Habitat for Humanity International
Provided
technical support to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines and other
Programme
countries in the region
Served concurrently as
Interim National Director for Habitat for Humanity Malaysia
August
2007 – December 2007
Interim National Director,
Habitat for Humanity Fiji
April,
2006 – December 2006
Interim National
Director, Habitat for Humanity Timor Leste
April 2006 – March 2007
Project Director, Strengthening Local Governance
for Sustainable Economic Growth and Effective
Service Delivery Project funded by UK Economic
Governance Facility
Provided technical advice to
inter-disciplinary teams (trainer/planner, IT specialist, institution building
specialist, monitoring and evaluation teams) in working with Local Government
Units and organized communities in ensuring sound economic governance and
effective service delivery to target households in priority communities with
insurgency problems.
15
March 2005 – 15 February 2007
Regional Programme
Manager (Southeast Asia)
Habitat for
Humanity International
Provided
supervision and technical support to the staff and volunteers of Habitat
National Organizations, as well as Habitat partner agencies primarily in the
Philippines, Timor Leste, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Note: Served in this post during post-tsunami relief
and rehabilitation operations in Bandah Aceh, Indonesia
01 July
2004 to 01 March 2005
Head, Bohol
Poverty Reduction Management Office (BPRMO)
Provincial
Government of Bohol, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines
Supervised
technical staff and field workers involved in implementing projects of the
Provincial Poverty Reduction Programme particularly those by Municipal Local
Government Units and local communities in insurgency-influenced areas.
Designed, implemented and evaluated training and capability-building activities
for government officers, local political leaders and volunteers planning and
implementing these projects.
01 April
2002 to 30 June 2004
Consultant on
Rural Development and Governance
Provincial
Planning and Development Office (PPDO),
Bohol Province
Provided technical assistance in the
formulation of a common framework for poverty reduction and sustainable
development as guide to LGUs, provincial and national government agencies,
civil society institutions and private sector entities in identifying projects
for disadvantaged communities and groups.
September
1997 to December 2001
Chief Technical Adviser
Solomon Islands
Development Administration and Participatory
Planning Programme (SIDAPP) –UNDP Fiji Islands
Provided technical assistance for the
organization, training and establishment of the Rural Development Division of
the Ministry. Supervised the field-testing of training modules to improve
capacities at provincial government levels within a decentralisation
context. Designed the training and
social preparation activities to bring about closer collaboration of LGUs and local
communities in project identification and development, as well as improve
capacities for decentralised governance.
February 1994 to June
1997
Participatory Development Specialist
Pacific Regional Integrated Atoll
Development Project
(IADP) – UNDP Fiji Islands; UNDP Maldives
Provided technical inputs for training, advocacy activities and
practical approaches to participatory planning, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation in 10 South Pacific atoll countries and the Republic of Maldives in
the Indian Ocean.
September
1989 to January 1994
Community Development Specialist/Trainer
Pacific Regional Equitable and
Sustainable Human
Development Programme (ESHDP)
– UNDP Fiji Islands; UNDP Maldives
Provided technical assistance to LGUs on
how to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate community development programmes
in the various atoll countries both in the Pacific and Indian Oceans
April
1988 to January 1989
Project Coordinator
Social Mobilisation Project for Child
Survival and Development
UNICEF Manila
Coordinated the nationwide
implementation by government agencies and NGOs of several component subprojects
(policy research and advocacy; community participation and training; public
information and media support; program monitoring and evaluation) with focus on
the country’s 8 poorest provinces.
November
1982 to March 1988
Resident Director
Ilaw International Training Center
Tagbilaran City, Bohol Province
Supervised 20 senior staff
involved in training, organising and research activities for community
development projects assisted by UNICEF, USAID, World Bank, AUSAID, UNFPA, and
other donors
May
1980 to October 1982;
Chief, Division of Planning, Research
and Communication, Project Compassion
May
1977 to April 1980
Special Assistant to the President
Project Compassion
Designed the planning, monitoring and
evaluation system, research and
communication programmes of the NGO assisted by UNICEF and USAID in support of
integrated basic services delivery to target households
December
1976 to April 1977
Planning Officer, Environmental Center of the Philippines;
Information Officer, National Green Revolution Programme
Responsible for the formulation of local action plans and public
information campaigns related to environmental conservation and protection and
backyard food production.
1964
to 1974
Editor, Monthly Bulletin, a publication for the alumni of UP Los
Banos
Teacher, Literature and Journalism, Pedro Guevarra Provincial High
School, Sta. Cruz, Laguna
Editor, Aras News, a publication of the Sanvictores Group of Companies
Editor, Farms and Gardens, a publication of the Manila Chronicle
Executive Assistant to the Editor, Farms and Forests, a
publication of the Permanent Association of Permanent Forests
Publicity Chief, RR Public Relations, Inc.
Other
Project Experiences:
Team Leader, UN Country Team for preparing the Isabel Province
Development Project in line with the UNDAF (2002,
UNDP South Pacific); Coordinator, Provincial Government Review and
Strengthening Project for Solomon Islands (1997,
ADB);
Training Manager, Local Resource Management Project (1985, USAID);
First International Course on Appropriate Community Development (1985, UNICEF);
Training Director, Central Visayas Regional Project (1984, World Bank); Team Leader, Social
Preparation Project, Urban Poor Project (1984,
UNFPA); Coordinator and Chief Trainer, Regional Programming Workshops for
Child-based Programmes (1981, UNICEF).
COUNTRIES OF WORK EXPERIENCE
Fiji, Solomon
Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Palau, Samoa, Marshall Islands, Maldives,
Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Thailand, Indonesia, Timor Leste,
Malaysia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India,
Cambodia, Philippines
KEY
CONSULTANCIES
Consultant, "Mid-term
Evaluation of AECID Regional Program to Promote Gender Equality in Political
Participation in Five countries” Funded by Agencia Española de CooperaciónInternacionalpara el Desarrollo
(AECID)with the aim of providing technical assistance to Paz y Desarrollo
(PyD).
(May – July 2013)
Consultant,
Evaluation of Presidential Awards for Child-Friendly Governance Funded by UNICEF and the Commission for the Welfare
of Children (August to September 2013)
Consultant
on Rural Development and Governance Provincial Planning and Development Office Bohol Provincial Government (01 April 02
to 01 March 04)
Project
Formulation and IRD Consultant
Isabel Province Development Project (IPDP), Solomon
Islands
UNDP Suva (Nov-Dec 02)
Consultant
on technical content and design
Experts Group Meeting on the Post-Conflict Situation
in Solomon Islands
University of Queensland, Brisbane
Australia (Oct 01)
Evaluator,
Palau National Integrated Rural Development Programme
Palau Community Action Agency
Koror, Palau (Oct 00)
Evaluator,
Vanuatu Sustainable Human Development Programme
Ministry of National Planning
Port Vila, Vanuatu (Jun 00)
Consultant
on Community Organising
4th Regional Workshop on Health Education
South Pacific
Commission
Noumea, New Caledonia (December 1990)
Consultant
on Community Development and Institution Building Training
Programme Formulation
UNDP-OPS
Integrated Atoll Development Project
Suva, Fiji (February - June 1989)
Consultant
on Philippine History and Participatory Development
International Course on Regional Planning
Sponsored by NEDA and the Human
Settlements Centre of Israel (December 1988)
UNICEF
Consultant on Social Mobilisation
Formulated the Project Plan of Action on Social
Mobilisation for the 1988-1992
Philippine Country Programme (November - December
1987)
Consultant
on Community Participation
Combined Expert Group Meeting on Social Development
Alternatives and Second
Training Seminar in Local Social Development
Planning
UNCRD Nagoya, Japan (October 1985)
Consultant
on Community Mobilisation
Central Visayas Resource Management Project
(November -
December 1984) World Bank
Consultant
on Community Participation
ASEAN Training Centre for Primary Health Care
Development
Bangkok, Thailand Assisted by WHO and
UNICEF (October 1984)
Consultant on Community
Participation
UN ACC Subcommittee on Nutrition and FAO
Conference on Nutrition and Community
Participation
Bangkok, Thailand (March 1982)
Consultant on Community Participation
Learning Exercise on Community
Participation
Sponsored by UNICEF and attended by
participants from India, Thailand, Pakistan.
Held in Cebu and Bohol. (September 1981)
Consultant on Community
Participation
International Workshop on Rural Water
Supply and Sanitation
Sponsored by UNICEF and held in Ubol Ratchathanee,
Thailand (March 1981)
RESEARCHES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Unfortunate
Choice –
Published July 2019
Old
Warrior’s Poems and the Bohol Quake Assistance Story –
Published June 2015; Co-authored
with Milwida Reyes-Sevilla
Old Warrior and Other Poems – Published April, 2014
Eating Projects for Breakfast – To be
published
Real Virus and Other Poems – To be
published
Medium-rise buildings in urban
slums: Bringing Habitat for Humanity to the next level in the Philippines
2008:
Vol. 15 No. 1, The
Forum, Habitat for Humanity International
Strategic Planning Leads to Sound
Organizational Health: the Philippines Experience
2006 Vol. 13 No. 1, The Forum,
Habitat for Humanity International
Developing an Integrated MDG
Database in Habitat Communities
2006 Vol. 13 No. 4, The Forum, Habitat
for Humanity International
Bohol Program Framework on Poverty
Reduction
June 2003, Provincial Planning and
Development Office
Constituency Profiles and Action
Plans (Solomon Islands)
September 2001, Ministry of Provincial
Government and Rural Development
Manual on Participatory Profiling,
Planning and Project Development
December 2000, Ministry of Provincial
Government and Rural Development
Solomon Islands
Participation for Human
Development
Published as Chapter 4, Pacific Human
Development Report
July 1994
Human Security and Community
Aspirations in the Lolihor Watershed Area
UNDP/ESHDP Paper
July 1994
Practical Lessons from the
Successes and Failures of Revolving Fund Schemes
IADP Occasional Paper #11
March 1992
Community Organising in the
Context of Social Mobilisation
IADP Occasional Paper #4
January 1991
Outer Island Capability
Enhancement Process (OICEP) - An Institutional Development Strategy
for Small Islands
(Co-written with Jeff Liew)
IADP Occasional Paper #6
January 1991
Approaches to Enhancing Rural
Capability
(Written for Hubert H. Humphrey
Foundation)
UNICEF Manila; January 1989
Lessons from the Ilaw ng Buhay
(Light of Life) Movement in the Province of Bohol
University of Bohol
UNICEF Manila; June 1988
Popular Participation in Local
Social Development Planning and
Implementation
Asian Institute of Management
UNICEF Manila; May 1987
Focus on the Eskaya, a Hillyland
Tribe
Asian Institute of Management
UNICEF Manila, April 1986
NGOs as a Mechanism for Building Grassroots
Participation in Local Development: the
Ilaw Approach
UNCRD Nagoya
October 1985
Community Organising Alternatives
for Primary Health Care
ASEAN Training Centre for PHC
Development
UNICEF Bangkok, Thailand
February 1984
Reflections on Community
Participation and Project Development
Central Visayas Regional Project
World Bank; April 1983
Community Initiatives in the
Nutrition Sector
FAO Bangkok
February 1982
Community Participation in the
Context of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation
UNICEF Bangkok
December 1981
Some Problems in Strengthening
Local Structures: Lessons from the Comilla Approach
Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development
UNICEF Bangkok; March 1981
Social Preparation Strategies and
their Implications to Country Programming
UNICEF Manila February 1979
Lessons from Project Compassion:
Towards a New Approach to Community Development Project Compassion Manila
UNICEF Manila
April 1978
KEY
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
His early professional experiences, for
the period 1967 to 1989, included the following: Editor, UP Los Banos Monthly
Bulletin, the alumni paper; teacher on Journalism and Literature, Pedro
Guevarra Memorial High School, Sta. Cruz, Laguna; public relations officer for
fund-raising causes, RR Public Relations; editor, Forests and Farms,
publication of the Permanent Forests Association of the Philippines;
information officer, Sanvictores Group of Companies and concurrently Editor,
Aras News; Acting Editor, Farms and Gardens, agriculture publication of the
Manila Chronicle; and Special Assistant on Planning and Operations to Atty.
Ramon P. Binamira, considered as the country’s Father of Community Development.
Community development
In this latter position, he worked with
some of the pioneers of the country’s community development program, known as
Presidential Assistant on Community Development (PACD) of the early 1950s,
under President Ramon Magsaysay, who were by this time all retired; some of
them had been working in community development
programs in other Asian countries, such as Vietnam and Laos. They were
recruited to serve as trainers and field operations staff of Project
Compassion, a pilot project on the integration of services from private sector
entities created to complement similar government efforts, under the then First
Lady, Imelda R. Marcos, primarily with her agency, the Ministry of Human Settlements.
The initiative, carried out in several
provinces and cities, pilot-tested an approach to the delivery of services from
four non-government entities (Nutrition Center of the Philippines, Population
Center of the Philippines; Environmental Center of the Philippines; Green
Revolution or ) utilizing 20-family units trained to serve as single-delivery
system for such services under a local volunteer leader. Atty. Binamira was
appointed Executive Director of Project Compassion to oversee the
implementation of the pilot program on integrated services.
As assistant to the Executive Director, he
served concurrently as Chief, Planning and Communication Division and Head,
Operations Review Center. He coordinated the assessment of community
development approaches in the country; the analyis of lessons learned; and
formulation of a new approach to community development which came to be known
as the “Ilaw ng Buhay (Light of Life)” or the upper jaw-lower jaw or jawbone
approach which features the collaboration of local governments and organized
community groups at each step of the planning, implementation and monitoring
process.
The UNICEF International Board recognized
Project Compassion and the Ilaw approach as a valid application of the global
Basic Services Strategy advocated by the UN to catalyze community-local
collaboration in development work with focus on child-based services. His
proposal to establish the Ilaw International Center in Bohol as the institution
to replicate it was approved by UNICEF in 1982. Subsequently, he was appointed
as Resident Director of this independent non-government entity separate from
Project Compassion under the office of the First Lady.
The IIC staff carried out a nation-wide
fundraising campaign to pay for the construction of the IIC, while UNICEF
funded the training expenses. For almost a decade, the UNICEF-assisted facility
trained volunteers and project staff who, in turn, trained government workers,
project staff and community volunteers at village level on how to implement the
approach.
The IIC staff themselves implemented projects in specific
villages to demonstrate how to organize neighborhood associations to be
partners of local governments at municipal and village level in the planning,
implementation and monitoring of projects with focus on the welfare of children
and other disadvantaged groups. UNICEF sponsored the training of participants
not only from the Philippines but also from other countries such as Nepal,
Bhutan, Yemen, Indonesia and Pakistan.
For the period 1989 to 2017, a total of 28
years, he served in 14 countries either as technical staff or consultant in
various poverty reduction and local governance projects funded by international
organizations, such as UNDP, World Bank, UNICEF, EU, Habitat for Humanity
International, CIDA, USAID and AusAID. Soon after retirement from UNDP South
Pacific in December 2001, where he worked for 13 years in relatively
disadvantaged island or atoll countries as community development specialist and
eventually Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) in Solomon Islands, he founded Bohol
Local Development Foundation (BLDF) which conceptualized, pilot-tested and
developed several versions over a ten-year period, a pro-poor targeting tool
known as the Poverty Database Monitoring System (PDMS).
Poverty Reduction and Local Governance
With technical assistance from a British
volunteer, Tony Irving and his local IT counterparts, PDMS was pilot-tested and
used in Bohol and replicated in several municipalities and cities in the
Philippines, Timor Leste, Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, India, and Bhutan with
funding assistance by EU, UNDP, the British Embassy and Habitat for Humanity
International. PDMS was one of the tools used by the Provincial Government and
its partner organizations in helping Bohol get out of the list of the country’s
20 poorest provinces during this period.
He pioneered the application of the
Asset-Based Community Development or ABCD approach in Bohol first developed in
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and promoted its use in community
livelihood projects starting in 2007 in several municipalities in Bohol. Rather
than consider the two approaches as mutually exclusive strategies in poverty
reduction, he and BLDF promoted PDMS and ABCD as complementary methodologies in
efforts to reach disadvantaged local communities and households to identify
specific target groups and their needs and mobilize their skills and other
local assets to address constraints brought about by poverty and severe
underdevelopment.
Localizing development
In Bohol, he has been involved in more
than 15 donor-assisted projects which represent efforts to engage local
communities and households in the overall development framework of poverty
reduction and sustainable development promoted by the provincial and local
government units. Each project has evolved eventually to yield lessons in
linking entrepreneurship to community development and local capacity-building
initiatives with focus on child rights and welfare and improving collaborative
project planning and implementation processes among other disadvantaged groups,
such as out-of-school youth.
The most recent involvement of Bohol Local
Development Foundation, Inc. (BLDF) under his leadership included the
following:
-planning and implementation of the
Community-Based Shelter Assistance Project which succeeded to demonstrate how
to build 150 core transition houses to move vulnerable family members (the
elderly, women, disabled or sick family members, children) from insecure
tents, built in the aftermath of the 7.2
magnitude earthquake which hit the province on 15 October 20115, using public
contributions and the expertise of local carpenters;
-preparation and implementation of
livelihood projects under the framework of Informal Employment and Sustainable
Livelihood (IESL) which identifies local assets and skills in entrepreneural
activities;
-coalition building to generate local
resources which led eventually to the establishment of the first drug
rehabilitation center in the province in cooperation with two similar
facilities in Cebu City and Ozamis City in response to an urgent social need in
the wake of the government-led campaign against illegal drug use;
-pilot-testing in a municipality,
Baclayon, Bohol, a systematic and humane approach to the situation of
surrenderees through the Database Plus Interventions Project for Surrenderees
(DIPS); and, based on this approach,
-preparation of a project proposal voted
as choice number 1 in barangay polls conducted in May 2017 to determine which
deserves funding support as part of the I-Budget Natin Project, an initiative
under the auspices of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability-East
Asia and the Pacific (ANSA-EAP), the International Center for Innovation,
Transformation, and Excellence (INCITEGov), Making All Voices Count (MAVC) and
the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).
His project experiences have been
documented in various articles and papers in UN publications and other media
and in two books, Old Warrior and Other Poems and Old Warrior’s Poems and the
Bohol Quake Assistance Story.
Values formation
Recognizing the vital role of values on
the part of key participants in the project planning, implementation and
monitoring process, including political and informal community leaders, target
local communities and households, he is now involved in collaboration with the
Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) in
transforming the family-owned Balay Kahayag (Light of Life) Training and
Retreat Center, into a
Learning Site for Agriculture and
Extension Service Provider (LSA-ESP) as well as a Social Action Center to reach
out to marginalized farmers and families to involve them in entrepreneural activities in ways that will will also
preserve the environment as well as reenforce social cohesiveness among those
involved in the agriculture center.
A
SUMMING UP OF HIS DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY
Dr. Nestor Maniebo Pestelos has devoted his entire life and career
to addressing poverty in ways that ensure sustainable human development and
promote social cohesion and community empowerment, as evidenced by the outputs
of plans and projects he has been involved in during the past 53 years, 1967 to
2020 of professional work in promoting community development, entrepreneurship
and effective local governance.
In all these projects, he advocated for the
use of community development approaches and tools field-tested, developed and
documented under his watch primarily with two NGOs, the Ilaw International
Center and the Bohol Local Development Foundation, Inc. during five decades of
professional development work in specific municipalities and cities in a total
of 15 countries (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Palau, Tuvalu, Marshal
Islands, Western Samoa, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bhutan, India,
Bangladesh, Philippines in the Asia Pacific region; and Maldives in the Indian
Ocean.
The key milestones in his professional work
are as follows:
The Ilaw ng Buhay (Light of Life) methodology
and approach to community development,
documented in several studies by academic institutions and international
donors and recognized globally as an
innovative application of the basic services strategy by the UNICEF Board;
Training modules and community
organizing approaches in unique geographic locations as contrasted to areas
defined by political boundaries, in the World Bank-funded Central Visayas
Regional Project;
Child-based concerns as entry points for community organizing in conflict areas, as in those remote
mountain villages under the influence and control of armed anti-government
elements in Bohol and other provinces considered as the country’s poorest in
the 1980s (Maguindanao, Negros Occidental, Ifugao, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, and
Camarines Norte . Convergence of Child-Based Services, UNICEF.
Use of local resource base for
catalyzing partnership between local government units and target
communities in joint planning and collaboration (Catanduanes, Samar, Leyte).
Local Resource Management Project funded by USAID:
Localized human development strategies and programs for remote and isolated atoll countries
with focus on livelihood and environment-friendly technologies. (Developed and
implemented in 10 South Pacific and in the Maldives; UNDP).
Integrated area development approaches for the promotion of MSMEs and Gender
Equality. (Local Governance Support Program for Local Economic Development;
LGSP-LED CIDA).
Development of a pro-poor planning tool, Poverty Database and Monitoring System
(PDMS) over a ten-year period, and its eventual integration with ecoBUDGET
in local-level planning initially in Bohol and replicated in other Asian
countries – Rajshahi, Bangladesh; Guntur, India; and Thimphu, Bhutan. An
EU-assisted project.
Promotion and application of
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) as an alternative to the
conventional deficit or problem-oriented planning approach in local-level
development. (Pilot-tested in 2007 in several municipalities in Bohol with
technical assistance from Boston Colleges).
Mobilizing Support to Address a Crisis Caused by a Magnitude 7.2
Earthquake
Less than a week
after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Bohol on 15 October 2013, he organized
the Bohol Quake Assistance Fund Drive with BLDF and its key partners Miriam
College and Peacock Garden Spa and Resort. Funds were raised from private
sector entities, individuals in the Philippines and abroad, including friends
and relatives.
He used
primarily his Facebook page to solicit donations and to report on how the funds
were used, which families were assisted and more importantly, what further
assistance was received from faith-based organizations, local government units,
and other entities to augment the donations initially received. He wrote a book
of poems, Old Warrior and Other Poems, with the proceeds earmarked to
support the community-based house build project of BLDF.
Through the BQA
Fund Drive, BLDF was able to provide construction materials to 150 families,
and out of this number, directly partnered with 138 families in the building
and repair of core houses in underserved
barangays in the municipalities of Antequera, Calape, Maribojoc and Baclayon.
In most project sites, it worked with
Oxfam and the Catholic Relief Services to provide families with proper water
and sanitation facilities. BLDF focused on families whose houses were totally
destroyed and whose vulnerable members, i.e. the elderly, women and children
and the disabled needed to be moved out from tents and other makeshift
structure.
When the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced in August 2014
that it would release funding to enable Habitat for Humanity Philippines to
build more than 6,000 permanent houses, BLDF decided to launch a new program
thrust, Informal Employment and Sustainable Livelihood (IESL) to complement the
rebuilding efforts.
As their vital
contribution to rebuilding efforts in areas devastated by natural calamities, and
to address a need to ensure job creation in a situation where economic growth
cannot create jobs to match available labor force in formal employment, BLDF
and its key partners decided to demonstrate the vital role of IESL to enable
families and communities to cope with social problems brought about by poverty,
e.g. crimes, prevalent drug addiction among the youth, homelessness, to name a
few.
Thus under his
leadership, BLDF shifted its program focus from implementing a community-based
shelter assistance project to the
promotion of informal employment and sustainable livelihood among the youth,
particularly those who are out of school or those in Alternative Learning
Systems (ALS). It has partnered with ALS and a private sector entity, Duce Air
Conditioning, in implementing projects such as the Mountain Bikes Cultural Tour
and the Youth Skills Training projects.
Youth Drug
Rehabilitation Assistance Program
In less than a
year of implementing projects for the out-of-school youth, the BLDF President
became convinced that the organization could not ignore the drug abuse problem
which is causing deaths and injuries to a growing number of people in Bohol. If
not addressed effectively, the drug menace would negate the gains made in
previous decades of painstaking development work in the province.
Since early 2014, Bohol province has become a major transshipment
point, as well as primary destination in
the Central Visayas Region for illegal drugs. As a result, drug pushers and
their victims have increased quite significantly during the period.
Drug-related killings and other heinous crimes, such as rape (in
one case, a mother was raped by her own son who is a drug addict); physical
assault, theft and robbery have become common reading fare in local
papers. Since 2014, based on the latest
count, more than 100 drug pushers have
been shot dead or wounded in broad daylight, in busy streets of Tagbilaran City
and in the towns, in a province which used to have a reputation as being
crime-free and among the country’s most peaceful places.
Official figures show 70% of crimes committed in the province are
drug-related. Alcoholism and
drug-induced mental health cases are getting to be rampant mostly among the
youth. Most families with members
affected with substance abuse and other addictions cannot afford the high costs
of treatment, transportation and other associated costs in drug rehabilitation
facilities in Cebu, Manila, Cavite, Davao and other cities in Mindanao.
If they remain untreated, this increasing number of individuals
with drug and other forms of addiction will lead to more crimes in the future.
As early as November, 2014, Dr. Pestelos led a team to conduct
consultations, as well as actual visits to six (6) rehabilitation centers in
the Visayas and Mindanao, where drug abuse victims from Bohol go for treatment.
The study team saw the need to establish in Bohol a rehabilitation center which
would combine community-based approaches with cost-effective clinical methods
and a humanitarian and eclectic strategy to deal with hundreds of drug users
who now inhabit practically all the barangays in the province.
He negotiated successfully with two of the drug rehabilitation
centers the team visited, the Family and Recovery Management (FARM) center in
Minglanilla, Cebu and the It Works Chemical Dependency Center in Ozamiz City,
that they agreed to combine technical and funding resources to operate Bohol’s
first drug rehabilitation center.
Known as the FARM It Works Balay Kahayag (FITWBK) Chemical
Dependency Treatment Center, it is located at the sprawling BK training
facility consisting of a multi-purpose hall good for 100 participants; a
dormitory for 38 occupants; a function
room; a kitchen; and a two-storey staff house.It started operating in early
November with six (6) clients, employees of a company who tested positive for drug during required
routine tests. In only four months after its opening, the number of clients
increased to 23, with requests for admission more than what it could handle.
Dr. Pestelos and his NGO teamed up with the Diocese of Tagbilaran
to raise funds to enable drug dependents from indigent families to have access
to the services of the first drug rehabilitation center in the province. After
18 months of operation, the center was able to treat more than 30 clients,
mostly from poor families. It ceased operations because the Center could not be
given permanent license since it was made of relatively light and indigenous
materials.
Livelihood
Assistance to Out-of-School Youth
Since Novermber, 2017, BLDF resumed its old advocacy to support
out-of-school youth with provision of livelihood skills and funding assistance.
Plans are being prepared to enable Balay Kahayag to serve both as a training
and meditation center dedicated to imparting both skills and values to
economically disadvantaged families with focus on women and the youth.
Since Novermber, 2017, BLDF resumed its old advocacy to support
out-of-school youth with provision of livelihood skills and funding assistance.
Plans were prepared to enable Balay Kahayag to serve both as a training and
meditation center dedicated to imparting both skills and values to economically
disadvantaged families with focus on women and the youth.
Kahayag
Learning Site for Agriculture and Social Action Center
On November 11, 2020, the Central Visayas Regional Office of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) signed a
Memorandum of Agreement with the Pestelos family to help convert Balay Kahayag
as a Learning Site for Agriculture and Social Action Center focused on the
promotion of agroforestry and entrepreneurship among disadvantaged groups and
communities.
The Center will mobilize out-of-school youth to engage in beekeeping
and agroforestry practices aimed to ensure food production in ways that conserve
and enhance environmental resources. In promoting entrepreneurship among the
youth, the Kahayag Learning Site and Social Action Center will build on the
initiative at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to encourage and support
unemployed youth to engage in vegetable gardening and and small-scale farming
to ensure their survival during and after this pandemic.
Indee a new phase has begun in this development journey. ###
CERTIFIED
TRUE AND CORRECT:
NESTOR
MANIEBO PESTELOS
Barangay
Laya, Baclayon, Bohol
