Our work in the Philippines

Until East Timor’s independence in 2002, the Philippines had been Asia’s only Catholic-majority country. It is the fifth poorest nation in Southeast Asia and the nation facing world’s highest level of risk for disasters. Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada has been involved in development work in the Philippines for over 40 years.

Our involvement in the Philippines began with our membership in the Asia Partnership for Human Development (APHD). Founded in 1973, the APHD comprised 23 Catholic development organizations from Asia, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand that pooled resources to support development programs in Southeast Asia. With the lifting of martial law and the downfall of the Marcos regime, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada began developing direct partnerships to provide solidarity support to Philippine organizations.

Our programming focused on:

• The management and control of natural resources, land reform and mining
  
  
• Resistance to land grabbing
  
  
• Ecological justice and climate change adaption from a social justice perspective
  
  
• Conflict resolution and peacebuilding through dialogue between peoples
  
  

More recently, working with four Francesco Consortium  partners, we supported the survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) by establishing the Pope Francis Village Owners Association. This initiative resulted in the creation of an entirely new village and the development of a resilient, self-reliant and organized community. This process was the subject of the award-winning documentary, After the Storm: Building the Pope Francis Village.   

Since 1970, Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada has worked with a partner that uses community organizing to create popular, democratic, and non-violent mass organizations across the country. These organizations empower impoverished people to develop, lobby for, and implement strategies to reclaim their rights and to improve their lot through, for example, advocacy and action on access to land, amending legislation, appropriate relocations and improving people’s quality of life.

This partner helps impoverished communities assess their situation, craft their own solutions and act to improve their lives and those of their neighbours. It equips people to live together in peace, to assist and learn from one another and to develop local solutions to their problems. These can include disaster preparedness measures, urban agriculture, water access and management, microfinance, alternative strategies, preventing evictions, and the provision of professional support, often pro bono, to assist people with these processes. Such organizing helps communities become more confident and capable as they grow from grassroots organizations with as few as 100 members to larger-scale associations and federations. Over the years, this process has produced leaders who are respected by government and civil society alike for their understanding of issues and their capacity to represent their people’s views.