Building the Capacity of Community Foundations
In the 1980s, the Philippines emerged from an era of martial law into a more democratic period. Foundations and NGOs grew, developing a strong niche and helping the country navigate important political transitions.
Although the country offers hope and opportunity, an enormous amount of poverty still exists. Declining economic opportunities and cutbacks in public social spending have exacerbated the situation for poor Filipinos. In 2000, more than one-third of Filipinos lived below the poverty line. The disparity between rich and poor persists and grows.
While there is a strong foundation sector at the national level, similar organizations at the community level still need assistance -- particularly given recent reductions in external funding -- in areas such as education, health and the environment. If the country is going to maintain recent socioeconomic advances, these community foundations must be nurtured so they can continue to support local development.
One of Synergos' partners in the Philippines -- the Association of Foundations (AF) -- is the largest federation of foundations and NGOs in the nation. Started in the 1970s, AF had more than 100 members from around the country by 2002.
Synergos' involvement with foundations in the Philippines is two-fold:
- To assist in the development of skills and capacities of emerging and existing community foundation leaders and support organizations
- To support AF in its efforts to strengthen its capacity as a national membership network promoting and supporting community foundations throughout the country.
Synergos and AF have been working on a joint community foundation initiative, which began with a feasibility study to assess the possibilities of increased foundation development in the Philippines.
The study examined Philippine organizations with features similar to existing community foundations in other countries. The results form the basis of a capacity building agenda for a growing number of emerging community foundations and support organizations for these foundations. "The Synergos Institute is a significant partner in supporting the Association of Foundation's thrust in building and assisting community foundations in the Philippines," explains Oman Q. Jiao, AF's Executive Director.
An example is Pondong Batangan, managed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lipa. This foundation takes small donations from local residents to help others. Simply, people donate centavos every day until they fill a tibyo (empty soda can doubling as a coin bank). The archdiocese has collected about 13 million pesos (approximately $250,000), helping thousands of poor Batanguenos to start businesses through a no-interest micro-lending program.
Synergos staff connected Pondong Batangan with AF so it could participate in the initiative and receive capacity building assistance as needed.
Bringing Bridging Leadership to the Philippines
In addition to our efforts to strengthen foundations in the Philippines, Synergos and one of our partner organizations in that country, the Asian Institute for Management (AIM), developed training methods and materials to help diverse stakeholders enter partnerships that bridge societal divides.
The result was a new learning and training initiative that enabled Filipinos to work together and overcome long-standing societal divides, especially in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, the site of years of armed conflict between the Muslim minority and Catholic majority -- Read more.