Evaluation of Community-Based Coastal Resource Management (CBCRM) and Small Fishers’ Rights to Livelihood Project in Philippines
Executive Summary
Oxfam GB Programme Evaluation
June 2007
Commissioned by: Oxfam GB
Evaluators: Flora Ninfa Santos Leocadio, Esperenza A. Santos, Andresito Reynaldo A. Gonzales
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Background
There has been growing recognition of the rapid degradation of coastal resources in the Philippines and its dire economic implications. Numerous projects and interventions, mostly donor-funded, have been implemented to identify effective strategies to address resource use issues. Such strategies are slowly being integrated into a sustainable coastal resource management (CRM) system that is gaining wider application nationwide.
Key and integral to any development effort is community participation. In the Philippines, the involvement of the community has especially proven to be an imperative in CRM. The evolution of CRM in the Philippines into a multi- sectoral effort has greatly improved implementation and success rates, but community-based approaches remain a key ingredient in many CRM endeavors.
The Community-based Coastal Resource Management (CBCRM) and Small Fishers’ Rights to Livelihood Project (“CBCRM Project” or “Project”) is generally aimed at protecting the gains achieved in CBCRM and sustaining the work for the promotion of the rights of women and men small fishers to their livelihoods. It is co-financed by Oxfam Great Britain (OGB) and Oxfam NOVIB (NOVIB) under the May 2004 - April 2007 strategic plan of OGB’s Philippine Country Programme. This strategic plan has adopted the sustainable livelihoods (SL) framework, which links rights-based interventions and vulnerability reduction to improve incomes of beneficiaries from their livelihoods.
The Project aims to strengthen community-based management capacity through the direct engagement of NGO/PO groups in the implementation of various strategic activities and advocacy work. In addition, it is anchored on the SL approach introduced as a new concept in OGB’s 2004-2007 strategic plan.
The general objective is poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods for poor coastal fishing communities in the Philippines. Specifically, the Project aims to: Objective 1. Support coastal resource management in 150 fishing communities; Objective 2. Strengthen sustainable livelihoods by establishing income-generating activities and enterprises and promoting marketing linkages; Objective 3. Promote municipal fishing in 150 coastal communities; Objective 4. Promote greater accountability of the state and pro-poor policies; Objective 5. Promote gender equity.
Project Partners include seven (7) NGO Partners (CBCRM-RC, NFR, TDC, ELAC, SIKAT, Developers Foundation, LAFCCOD), a federation of fishers’ organizations (KM), a Batangas-based municipal federation of POs (SAMMACA), and a local fisherfolk organization (DBREMO).
Developers Foundation, SAMMACA, LAFCCOD, DBREMO, ELAC, and SIKAT work at the local level in the provinces of Aklan, Batangas, Lanao del Sur, Misamis Occidental, Palawan and Zambales, respectively. At the national level, the responsible Partners are TDC, NFR, and KM. The NGO Partners were directly responsible for Project implementation in their respective areas.
As well as funding, OGB-Philippines provided technical assistance and oversight to ensure that the Partner activities were in line with the Project’s objectives, and the grant was properly utilized.
The basic approach was community-based management, which by its nature and objectives allowed the Partners a high degree of flexibility in developing and applying strategies and approaches, according to the perceived needs of the communities they serve.
2. About this Project Evaluation
This evaluation covers the Project implementation period from May 2004 to December 2006, including the original two-year term of the CBCRM Project (1 May 2004 – 30 April 2006) and part of the extension phase until 31 December 2006. It aims to provide an objective validation/affirmation of Project outcomes as reported by the Project and its Partners, a qualitative assessment of Project accomplishments against intended outcomes, and insights and lessons that will enhance and reinforce OGB’s country strategic plan.
3. Key Findings
The flexibility and diversity with which the CBCRM and Small Fishers’ Rights to Livelihood Project was conceived and implemented posed myriad challenges and opportunities for its Partner NGOs and POs. The disadvantages and shortcomings of such an approach (lack of over-all cohesiveness, differing frameworks and paradigms, weakly enforced performance standards) though, were outweighed by the following achievements of the Project and its Partners: