Life Springs in Remote Samar Barrio through
Self-Help
A
remote barrio in Samar has benefited from a research conducted by an NGO
and the resulting intervention based on a survey of the villagers’
economic needs and demands.
BY JAZMIN A. JERUSALEM
Contributed to Bulatlat
Barangay Yabon, a poor farming community
in the hinterlands of Hinabangan, Western Samar, in central Philippines
attests to the poor state of most barrios in the region. Basic social
services are nil. Most villagers are poor who make a living from farming,
with vegetables as their main crop.
Yabon further is hardly accessible to
transportation. One has to hike through mountain trails and abandoned
logging roads to get to the barrio. It is about a 2 ˝ hour hike (9 kms)
from the town proper of Hinabangan.
In 2001, the non-government organization
(NGO) Samar Rural Assistance Program (SRAP), conducted a baseline data
survey in Yabon. The high poverty indicators in the survey showed the
urgent need for economic support services. Based on the findings, a series
of community consultations were launched to finalize SRAP’s development
intervention in the area.
SRAP was established in 1986 through the
assistance of the Manila-based Appropriate Technology Center for Rural
Development (ATCRD). Its program services focus on cooperative development
and appropriate technology with the end goal of improving food security
for the rural poor. So far, SRAP has extended economic support services
and livelihood assistance to at least 67 communities in 17 municipalities
in the three Samar
provinces.
Self-help initiatives
Despite the seemingly desperate situation
of the poor farmers in Yabon, self-help initiatives have been done since
the setting up of a community organization. These simple self-help efforts
have evolved into organizing a cooperative store to supply cheap basic
goods to the members, and eventually to the other villagers.
Formed in 2004, the cooperative store now
has 37 members. Prices of products are increased by only 3 percent
compared to the individually-owned ones who jack up their prices as much
as 40 percent. Members benefit from the cheaper prices and individual
shares from the cooperatives profit.
All residents of Yabon are allowed to
become members if they are willing to abide by the policies of the
cooperative and responsibilities of individual members. Recruitment was
doubled toward the second year of the cooperative store’s existence. In
fact, some storeowners joined in.
SRAP Executive Director Engr. Wilfredo
Parrilla said, “Building on traditional forms is SRAP’s approach to
cooperative formation. Through the cooperatives, the barrio folk are able
to pool knowledge and resources to address their common problems. The
cooperatives serve as structured and functional local support systems to
enhance community solidarity and self reliance, thus a venue for
developing farmer leaders.”
According to Dovie Parrilla, an active
leader of the cooperative and a barangay councilor, “The cooperative store
has helped us in giving an immediate solution to our short-term economic
needs. Before the cooperative store, our lives were at the mercy of the
usurers who exploited us to the last peso. Now my fellow villagers have
our cooperatives which are for us poor people. It is a reliable weapon
against those opportunist traders.”
She added, “Although obviously limited in
their capacity to resist broader forms of exploitation, the cooperatives
provide social and political space to address specific problems and draw
up coordinated strategies in a way never experienced through government
efforts or other groups organized by politicians.”
Cooperatives are
vital links to achieving food security for a large number of the poorest
sections in society. With the advancement of the cooperative movement in
the rural barrios, meaningful economic development may yet be achieved.
Bulatlat
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