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Terms of Reference HI Philippines Livelihood Exploratory Mission September 13th version

I. Background

The Philippines is a country of diversity given its multilinguistic, multiethnic and geographically dispersed population. Located in South East Asia, population of the Philippines is estimated at 90,381 million and spread over 300,000 km2 in 7,107 islands. Today, 10% of the population works overseas. Roughly half of the country's population resides on the island of Luzon. The median age is 22.3 years and more than 25% of the population is young people aged between 10 and 24 years old. With a population growth rate that is one of the highest in Asia, Philippines will soon join the group of countries with populations greater than 100 million. One of the consequences will be an increase of the big cities population rates, including the capital, Manila which is the 11 th most populous metropolitan area in the world with 19,195,048 inhabitants. The 2 other main cities are Cebu (1,628,478) and Davao (1,590,545).

The Philippines ranked 105th / 182 for HDI in 2009, showing a slight improvement in its HDI value from three years ago. Socioeconomic development in the Philippines is uneven and poverty is characterized by wide disparities across regions and population groups. Poverty is not just a rural phenomenon. Highly inequitable income distribution, combined with low economic growth, explains the Philippines’ inability to make significant inroads into poverty reduction. The poorest provinces are concentrated in the Visayas and Mindanao, though poverty incidence is also acute in the southern regions of Luzon, especially Bicol.

The governmental statistics on disability, reports only 942,098 Persons with Disabilities (PWD) live in the Philippines, representing only 1.23% of the total population. It appears that these data are not valid due to many reasons. The consequence of these low statistic results is an ignorance of the disability issue.

The Philippines is a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The Philippines government began addressing the needs of PWD by enacting legislative measures in 1982. However, the most significant legislation for PWD was issued in 1992. The landmark piece of this legislation was the “Magna Carta for Disabled Persons” (Republic Arc 7277). The Magna Carta emphasized that full participation is a right and that PWD should enjoy equal access to training and employment, education, health and social services, built environments and public transport and other priority areas. In addition, the Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008.

Mission of Handicap International in the Philippines

The HI program in the Philippines has the following mission: To provide PWD permanent access to services which are presently non-existent or inaccessible and contribute to reducing the effects of disasters and conflicts. The following are the specific objectives of the HI program in the Philippines:

 Promote care of PWD and integration of disability issues in development policies and actions  Reinforce the capacities of local key players to improve access to services  Reinforce the capacities of the HI teams to improve the quality and sustainability of actions

1  Reduce the impact of natural disasters on vulnerable populations, particularly PWD

Intervention Strategy

Within a highly inequitable developmental context, the program strategy is centered on the poorest areas where the populations are most exposed to disabilities in public services, responses to disasters and conflicts.

Livelihoods

Legal frame Executive Order No. 417 (March 2005): to direct the implementation of the Economic Independence Program for PWD by developing and enhancing their social and vocational skills capacities, ensuring markets for their products and services, providing them with accessible work centers and ensuring continuous source of capital for livelihood programs for PWD. Several governmental departments are involved: Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Employment of PWD It is estimated by the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), that there were approximately 20.000 PWD employed in wage and self-employment in the Philippines. The public sector provides the majority of employment opportunities to PWD. But as the budget deficits increases, employees with disabilities are often the first to lose their jobs. In the Philippines there is no quota system for employment of PWD (except within governmental administration and agencies: 10%) but companies employing persons with disabilities receive a tax cut of 25% of the salary paid to the worker.

The Department of Labor and Employment has a national program that provides employment and livelihood opportunities for PWD, where skill mapping, training, wage and self employment are promoted. The DSW operates Vocational Rehabilitation Centers providing training programs and other facilities for PWD. They are often focused on particular urban areas and can be residential or not. Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Sciences and Department of Environment and Natural Resources have their own training programs for PWD.

Economic autonomy of PWD: microenterprises and microfinance institutions The latest data (2000) from the National Statistics Office (NSO) show that microenterprises represent 91% of the total number of businesses in the Philippines and are the primary sources of livelihood of 41% of Filipino households. Most of these microenterprises, however, cannot take the next step towards business expansion because of the lack of access to additional capital. Financial institutions generally view lending to microenterprises as unprofitable and risky, excepted rural banks which have an excellent geographic coverage and are geographically and culturally close to the target market.

It was only in the last 10 years that microfinance began to be considered as a potentially profitable niche market. Major Microfinance Institution (MFI) total volume of formal and semiformal microcredit is unknown, but estimations of the outstanding balance are in the range of 91-121 million Euros. The number of poor with access to microfinance is 600,000 to 1 million persons, which is a very low rate considering the total population and the percentage of persons living in poverty. However, many MFIs have recently made substantial progress in due mainly to donor-supported projects and government.

2 Summary HI capacities Potential Theme Identified Needs Expressed Demands and Field of Partners Expertise Executive Order No. 417 (March PWD: support for Local NGO Small activities 2005): Economic Independence financial self-sufficiency supported by were Program for PWD and access to paid Entrepreneur established in Legal obligation for services du Monde projects governmental agencies or DPO and SHG: support Micro-finance without offices: Employment of PWD at for production tools or Organizations methodology 10% Income Generating to be and without Estimate of 20,000 PWD Activities for financial identified evaluation employed with salaries or self- self-sufficiency of their Request of (Hilwaï, Livelihoods : employed, 25% exemption from members, and their own DPO and SHG Diabetes) cross cutting employer taxes on PWD’ salary financial autonomy to be looked Partial and non- activities assumed by the state. DPO and SHG: into evaluated skills Employees with disabilities are organizational support Domain to be of the teams. often the first to lose their jobs to allow them to explored A concept note The micro-finance sector is continue lobbying to for EC call beginning to be considered as authorities at 3 levels written in April potentially profitable (barangay, district and 2008. Very few persons (and even less province) PWD) have access to the micro- finance sector

II. Objectives of the consultancy

 Undertake a rapid context analysis on the livelihood, poverty reduction and disability national strategies, policies, laws and regulations  Undertake a comprehensive field study on the livelihoods situation of persons with disabilities and persons with diabetes in the targeted areas (needs and demands, main barriers and facilitators, assets framework…)  Assess current and potential strategies to improve livelihoods in a sustainable manner (including on skills development, financial services, and opportunities for self-employment and waged employment)  Explore and analyze mainstream stakeholders working on livelihoods in the targeted areas: their approaches, experience and interest in partnering with HI to make their practices inclusive  Take into consideration donor’s interests and constraints throughout the mission and for the recommendations (an analysis will be carried out in advance by the program)  Based on the findings of the desk and field research, provide operational and methodological recommendations for HI Philippines to develop livelihood projects targeting persons in disabling situations.

III. Geographical coverage

This mission will focus on the following projects and regions:

3  The UMWAD Inclusive Local Development Project in the Iloilo and Antique provinces of Panay Island, specifically on 5 local government units (LGU). These are mainly rural areas and rated as 4-5th class in the government’s wealth classification (6 being the poorest).  The Cardiovascular Disease Project (CVD) in Davao City, Mindanao. Davao (2nd most populous city after Manila, chartered city meaning with both status of municipality and province) was selected since public health is a priority of the provincial government, with reliable partners (3 levels of health services, NGOs and governments), and diabetes care under a multidisciplinary approach (PHC), which assures the success and impact of the project.

IV. Methodology

The methodology will include compilation and analysis of qualitative and quantitative information:  A desk analysis of existing documentation  Field visits and observation  Focus group discussions  Interviews with key informants  Stakeholder consultations at various levels  Analytical review of documentation and field work to provide strategic, project and methodological recommendations.

V. Expect Outputs

A final report including:  An overview of the livelihood context in the target areas / situation analysis  An analysis of the needs and demands of persons with disabilities and persons with diabetes and their representative organizations in the target areas  A detailed stakeholders mapping and analysis, including suggestions of potential implementing partners from the mainstream livelihood sector  Strategic recommendations for HI Philippines: niches where HI would have an added value in view of the current situation, needs, demands and current work of other stakeholders  Operational and methodological recommendations of HI Philippines livelihood projects  A draft concept paper and suggested logframe which will serve as a basis for the program to develop and fund livelihood projects in the near future (based on one or two priority donors requirements)  Any additional information, tools, documents, contacts used during the exploratory mission.

VI. Timeframe

The exploratory mission shall be carried out over a six-week period, mid-October to mid-November:  One week preparation of the field mission: documentation review, finalization of methodology  Five working days in Manila (to be divided between some days on arrival and some days prior to departure: briefing and debriefing with HI team, meetings with national level organizations/businesses)  One week in Davao  One week in Iloilo/Antique  One week to write final report

VII. Budget

4 Item Details Cost - Euro Consultant salary To be covered by TRD //////////// International transport 1.000 Local Transport National flights (Manila-Davao- 250 Iloilo-Manila) Housing Manila (7 nights) 280 Davao / Iloilo / Antique (14 400 nights) Daily allowance 290 Translator / assistant 0 Training materials 0 Other 0 TOTAL PROGRAM 2.220 Budget Code TC02, A51_005, FA51_012

VIII. Requirements

 Master Degree on Economics, Business Management, Poverty Reduction or Development/Social Sciences with relevant experience  Demonstrated experience in carrying out exploratory missions / feasibility studies and in successful proposal writing  Experience working on livelihoods and poverty reduction and developing countries (specific experience in rural areas and in Asian countries preferred)  Professional experience in projects or programs to improve the livelihoods of persons in situations of vulnerability; experience with persons with disabilities preferred  Good experience with participatory programming and methodologies  Excellent oral and written communication skills in English

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