Norma Silad tending to her vegetables.

Mid-morning, Norma Silad, an elderly woman living in one of the most conflict-affected villages in Maguindanao del Sur province gently sprinkles water on the snow cabbage and tomato plants that she and her other women friends have been planting on recycled mineral gallons hung on bamboo stilts.

Just the other day, she and her family, friends, and entire neighborhood left in a hurry as their market place burned down. Groups of armed men were in a firefight, which trigerred the market fire. “I just came to our garden to water our vegetables. Before mid-afternoon, I go back to the evacuation area,” Norma says.

Norma lives in Datu Saudi Ampatuan municipality, where hundreds of families have been experiencing repeated displacements caused by fighting between warring clans.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) in 2018 paved the way to the enactment of the Bangsamoro Organic Law that set up that Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and ended the hostilities between Muslim separatists and the Philippine government. However, violent clan wars still rage on, and remaining smaller groups of separatists that refused the peace agreement still operate in some areas and cause armed clashes with government troops.

A study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2016 revealed that 14 of the 19 municipalities in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces are prone to floods. These flood-prone areas experience increasing flood levels. Heavy erosion and siltation in the Mindanao River Basin, the accumulation of the water hyacinth in the Rio Grande de Mindanao, average 1 degrees Celsius increase from 2020 to 2.1 degrees Celsius in 2050 and the increasing rainfall amount all contribute to the worsening floods.

With a 38 percent poverty incidence (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2021), poor families will have more difficulty coping with the effects of continued armed fighting and climate change.

“The increasing flood levels also displaces us,” Myrah Sahid, a female youth member of a local social enterprise shares. Myrah’s family was displaced in 2008 during the armed clashes between Philippine troops and the Muslim separatists. Myrah’s father was abducted and found dead during those times. Since 2008, her family have not been able to return to their home because the flood levels have increased and become more frequent.

Building resilient livelihoods
The project, “Resilient Livelihoods Development (RLD) for women and youth Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maguindanao province” is providing a series of hands-on holistic Training of Trainers (TOT) on efficient, low-cost gardening and farming techniques, and local food processing, alongside technical assistance in organizational development, communication and marketing.

The project implementation is being managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) and made possible through the generous support of the Australian Government.

This project will help our displaced families recover faster,” Guindulungan municipality’s Mayor Midpantao M. Midtimbang, Jr. says. “Even when most of the women stay at home, they can find creative ways to provide nutritious food for their family while also being given the opportunity to find sustainable ways to earn income,” Mayor Midtimbang explains that the municipality is frequently affected by armed conflicts and rising floods, causing multiple displacements.

Empowering women with resilient livelihoods is especially important for the Gender and Development (GAD) goals of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government (MILG), says the ministry GAD focal system representative Marline Pasil. “When women are able to generate their incomes, they become more confident and vocal in participating in important decisions regarding community empowerment,” Marline explains. Mainstreaming resilient livelihoods for women among local government units is very much a priority in the GAD programs of MILG.

RLD is attuned to what the IDP women and youth think are best ways to build resilient livelihoods for themselves and their communities. Letting them lead while providing the most strategic technical, capacity-building and other forms of support help them reach their goals.

Abigail May Garcia, Food Technologist Consultant of FAO teaches the discipline of food safety and shell life packaging techniques. “We have to ensure high standards so the community-based organizations that will be formed can be ready even for accreditation later on,” she explains.

Finding certainty in uncertain times
Through the project, women and youth IDPs’ livelihood resilience will be self-made and their community organization organically built. After each skills training, women and youth leaders can share their learnings and acquired skills to their peers in IDP communities.

Azmah K. Esmail, a 20-year-old female youth leader in Talitay municipality, says that she is looking forward to forming a resilient source of income for the community-based organization they are forming. They are using locally grown crops that they were used to only selling as raw. She says they are more confident in producing local food products that are in-demand such as banana chips, various condiments and sweet delicacies.

“We thank the Government of Australia for helping young people like us. Through this project, we learn that even in uncertain times, we can still use our skills to find ways to help earn for the family and be able to continue our studies,” Azmah says.

“In building resilience, community women are key partners because we believe they demonstrate the most resilient traits whenever there are displacements. Through this project, everyday is truly women’s day in every IDP community,” FAO RLD Team Leader Marlon Viejo says.

MAFAR has been providing logistics and coordination support in all project areas. It will be providing seeds, gardening tools, additional food processing equipment and follow-through skills training so the women and youth can sustain and grow their community-based cooperatives.

“Knowing the importance of good relations with local governments, we make sure the local chief executives are fully engaged by our officers on the ground. There is no competition but only mutual support in building agriculture-based livelihoods, and community women are at the center of all this,” Diana Manalasal, MAFAR GAD Focal Point System secretary, states.
Noemi Barretto, Agri-Business Support and Marketing Specialist of FAO, shares that the project is keen on providing community-based organizations with practical hands-on knowledge and skills in product enhancement such as packaging and labeling, financial literacy including basic bookkeeping, and marketing. “With an entrepreneurial mindset, they will gain capabilities to become agripreneurs and entrepreneurs,” Noemi explains.

Ultimately, the project relies on the strengths and innovative potentials of local people in building resilient livelihoods. The resilience experts are the women and youth members of the community-based organizations. “We are optimistic for the beneficial results of this project,” Marlon concludes.