The Alternative Advocacy Project
Women living in rural communities in the Philippines have limited access to the means to space and limit the number of children they want to bear due to geographic, economic and cultural barriers. Studies conducted by PFPI in the Philippines coastal zone reveal levels of parity, unwanted pregnancy and unmet family planning need that far exceed national average rates and contribute to high maternal and infant mortality and food insecurity in rural coastal areas. Under the IPOPCORM project, PFPI encouraged and assisted local government units to incorporate reproductive health interventions into coastal resource management agendas to improve human-ecosystem health and food security in coastal Philippines. Over 1,090 hamlets in 33 municipalities were empowered to implement basic family planning (FP) and conservation activities that improved 88 marine protected areas and increased access to FP services by 13-fold in the project areas. Under the Alternative Advocacy Project (AAP), the IPOPCORM model is being introduced and replicated in other critical ecoregion including the Danajon Double Barrier Reef – a globally significant ecoregion that houses about one million people who depend on its fisheries and coastal habitats for sustenance and livelihood. The deadly combination of high population pressure, declining fish stock and degraded coastal habitats has brought grinding poverty and malnutrition to many villagers living in the Danajon. The AAP extends planning and technical support to policymakers that have jurisdiction over the Danajon. Key partners include the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the intra-provincial management council for the Danajon, which consists of the four governors and 19 mayors from the provinces of Cebu, Leyte, Bohol and Southern Leyte (CeLeBoSoLe). With AAP’s assistance, the CeLeBoSoLe council agreed on a plan to rehabilitate, conserve, protect and manage the Danajon Bank and deliver family planning services to people in its vicinity. (click to view the press release).
The project is designed to increase policymaker’s awareness and support for integrated population-health-environment approached in the Danajon Eco region of the Central Visayas. The AAP promotes the linkages between FP/RH and natural resource management and sustainable development.
The goal of the project is to mainstream family planning and reproductive health as a “good practice” for a coastal resources management (CRM) strategy and as a means to promote food security. The project works towards: increasing the knowledge of policymakers on population issues and their implications on environment and food security; improving knowledge and skills of national and local executives to champion and implement PHE approaches to improved food security from marine resources
To achieve results, the main strategies employed by the project are:
- Constituency building for cross sectoral approaches to fisheries/coastal management that take population dynamics into consideration.
- Capacity building of local institutions to formulate integrated Population-Environment (P-E) plan to assure food security from the sea, particularly for coastal municipalities bordering the Danajon Double Barrier Reef.
- Create opportunities for policymakers from the Danajon to visit ongoing P-E projects in the country and interview community leaders and residents about the benefits and payoffs of integrated approaches.
- Cultivate and foster understanding, skills and a rational approach to interrelated problems of over-population, poverty and environmental decline in coastal Philippines.