THE efforts of the groups that initiated projects to help the communities in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, under the #ForMindanao campaign, were given recognition during a summit held last Saturday, October 13, at a beach resort in Opol, Misamis Oriental.
#ForMindanao is a program of the local non-government organization Naawan Helps Inc. in partnership with the United States (US) Embassy in the Philippines that provides funding and technical support to locally-led projects that mobilize communities in Midnanao.
Through the program, the US Embassy was able to provide technical support and funding in the amount of P18.5 million to fund 31 projects in total to address immediate and medium-term needs that would help 13,500 people in Mindanao, Philip Roskamp, public affairs counselor of the US Embassy, said.
“Today, we get to showcase 14 projects from the second batch of funding that we provided for the #ForMindanao campaign. These projects have all contributed to peace, stability and access to education; try to create inclusive economic development and growth; and they provided psycho-social services to communities in Marawi, Lanao del Sur, and Lanao del Norte,” he added.
According to John Badawi, the grants manager of #ForMindanao, the program is in its second wave which focuses more in the provinces of Lanao.
“This is the second wave of the #ForMindanao. For the first wave, it was really all over Mindanao. So this is only for wave two, where we focus on Lanao, but right now in wave two we also have some projects in Zamboanga,” Badawi said.
The second wave took off in February this year.
Among the projects that were acknowledged during the summit were Peace Crop Project, which aims to promote agro-enterprise development among the youth; and Palapa sa Lumba, a livelihood project for the 30 out-of-school youth and mothers of Barangay Bacolod II, Lumba-Bayabao on how to do backyard farming of spices and how to build a business around it.
“These were all self-generated projects, like, the US Embassy didn’t say, ‘you need to do X or you need to do Y.’ But we responded to a request... I think, frankly, it was the best kind of project, where you have idea and if we could provide a little bit of means and make it happen, then it’s a pretty good partnership,” Roskamp said.
“This is only P18.5 million, there are only 31 projects, the needs are pretty profound. That’s why the partnership doesn’t end with this particular program; it’s going to continue. We’re always looking for ways to develop new partnerships,” he added.
Roskamp also mentioned that the US Embassy has expressed satisfaction and amazement, saying that it’s inspirational to see how these projects, which the embassy has helped, have become successful.
“It’s pretty inspirational to see in a moment of need, in a moment of crisis, the people stood up, and they help their communities. They don’t only help the people in Marawi, but they’re helping the people in the communities that are receiving folks from Marawi. It’s a pretty fantastic example of bravery and generosity from the people of Mindanao,” Roskamp said.
“In this event, that's not the end of our partnership with you. As the recovery efforts around Marawi continue, we stand by you and we work very closely with the Philippine Government and with the communities,” he added.