THE ARAKAN VALLEY EXPERIENCE AN INTEGRATED SECTORAL PROGRAMMING IN BUILDING RESILIENCE A CASE STUDY ON HOW ACTION AGAINST HUNGER INTERVENTIONS HELPED BARANGAY KINAWAYAN IN ARAKAN VaLLEY WORK TOWARDS RESILIENCE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RURAL RECONSTRUCTION The Arakan Valley Experience An Integrated Sectoral Programming in Building Resilience All rights reserved © 2018 Humanitarian Leadership Academy Philippines The Humanitarian Leadership Academy is a charity registered in England and Wales (1161600) and a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (9395495). Humanitarian Leadership Academy Philippines is a branch office of the Humanitarian Leadership Academy. This publication may be reproduced by any method without fee or prior permission for teaching purposes, but not for resale. For copying in any other circumstances, prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher, and a fee may be payable. Written by International Institute of Rural Reconstruction Designed by Marleena Litton Edited by Ruby Shaira Panela Images are from the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction www.humanitarianleadershipacademy.org TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Acronyms ii Introduction 1 Arakan Valley 2 Action Against Hunger Goes to Arakan Valley 6 Fighting Malnutrition 8 Improving Food Security and Livelihood (FSL) 12 Better Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) 15 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 24 Gender Mainstreaming 28 Background: The Program 28 Conceptualization 28 Implementation 31 Systems and Processes to Mainstream Sectoral Programs 32 in Municipal and Barangay Level Internal Monitoring and Evaluation 35 Evidence of good practices 37 Lessons Learned 40 Annexes 42 Annex 1. Methodology 43 Annex 2. Itinerary of data gathering activity in 46 Kidapawan City, North Cotabato Annex 3. Partnership with Key Stakeholders 47 Annex 4. List of persons/groups met 50 Annex 5. Documents reviewed 52 Annex 6. Historical timeline of Barangay Kinawayan 53 LiST OF ACRONYMS AECID Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation BAWASA Barangay Water System Association BDP Barangay Development Plans BDRRM Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management BDRRMC Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council BHC Barangay Health Center BHW Barangay Health Workers BLGU Barangay Local Government Unit BNAP Barangay Nutrition Action Plans BNC Barangay Nutrition Committee BNS Barangay Nutrition Scholar CCA Climate Change Adaptation CLUP Comprehensive Land Use Plan CMAM Community Management of Acute Malnutrition CSO Civil Society Organization CTF Communication Task Force DA Department of Agriculture DBFSDI Don Bosco Foundation for Sustainable Development Inc. DENR Department of Environment and Natural Resources DepEd Department of Education DRR Disaster Risk Reduction DSWD Department of Social Welfare and Development ECHO European Commission DG for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection FGD Focus Group Discussion FSL Food Security and Livelihoods GG Good Governance HLA Humanitarian Leadership Academy IP Indigenous People IGA Income-Generating Activities IIRR International Institute of Rural Reconstruction ii LiST OF ACRONYMS IMAM Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition INGO International Non-Government Organization ITP Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Program LGU Local Government Unit LUPA Land Utilization Program for Sustainable Livelihood of Arakenos MAO Municipal Agriculture Office MHO Municipal Health Officers MLGU Municipal Local Government Unit MDP Municipal Development Plans MDRRM Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management MDRRMC Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council MDRRMO Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office MPR Malnutrition Prevalence Rate MRF Materials Recovery Facility OTP Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Program PCVA Participatory Capacity Vulnerability Assessment PHO Provincial Health Office PLGU Provincial Local Government Unit PLW Pregnant and Lactating Women PMU Project Management Unit PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal PVO Provincial Veterinarian Office PWD Person with Disabilities RHU Rural Health Unit SAM Severely Acute Malnourished SQUEAC Semi-Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage SUBU Scale Up, Build Up Project UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene WFP World Food Programme ZOD Zero Open Defecation iii FOREWORD Documented and shared good practices on resilience building in managing and reducing disaster risks enable the humanitarian sector to build its knowledge base on humanitarian learning. These experiences have strategies that worked and lessons to impart for similar initiatives to learn from. In 2015, the Humanitarian Leadership Academy started talking with Action Against Hunger (ACF) to document their holistic approach to build the resilience of Arakan Valley. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two parties to capture the ACF experience. The academy and ACF then worked with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) to document the experience. A lot of work went into this publication. Project documents were reviewed, meetings and focus group discussions were held, key informant interviews were conducted, and participatory tools were used to gather data, which were then triangulated amongst the stakeholders. This publication looks into the various aspects of ACF’s project in Arakan including planning, project Implementation and internal evaluation and learning system. Cross-cutting themes were also considered such as gender, good governance, environment and the cornerstone of the work of ACF on disaster risk reduction and management. The academy is proud to bring forth another exemplary holistic approach in DRRM through the work of ACF in Arakan Valley. We hope that the experience of Arakan Valley motivates and inspires as it offers critical learning elements for donors, agencies and organizations, implementers, local governments and communities. We thank everyone who has been part of this publication and the Arakan Valley experience for their efforts and contribution in helping expand the knowledge base on building resilience. Diosdado Waña Center Director Humanitarian Leadership Academy iii INTRODUCTION Action Against Hunger was established in the Philippines in early 2000. With the support of its donor partners, it implements various programs and projects in the country. The cornerstone of its efforts is to support families in providing children with the essential elements of good nutrition. It practices a holistic and integrated approach to tackling undernutrition and has four sectoral programs, namely: 1 2 nutrition, which aims to prevent, water, sanitation and hygiene detect, and treat malnutrition, (WASH), which guarantees access particularly in young children and to clean drinking water and good pregnant and lactating women sanitary conditions 3 food security and livelihood (FSL), which aims to boost agricultural and/or economic activity in order to provide populations with sufficient access to food; and 4 good governance and advocacy, which pursues institutional and policy changes that help create a world without hunger. 1 Action Against Hunger considers these visited Barangay Kinawayan to gather sectoral programs as non-negotiable data. But during the time of the field building blocks in community resilience. visit, the village was difficult to reach Facilitating the delivery of these in due to heavy rains, bad road conditions, communities enables access to basic and strong river currents. To ensure the services and rights, which are the security of the team, the field immersion foundations of safety, social protection, was limited, thus shortening the time for and resilience. data gathering. To document and share the successes of its integrated-approach work, Action Arakan Valley Against Hunger partnered with the Humanitarian Leadership Academy (also About three hours away from Davao known as the Academy)—an institution City is a backdoor to the Mindanao which aims to empower people around Cordilleras, the town of Arakan Valley, the world to prepare for and respond North Cotabato. Home to the Manobos, to a crisis. The Academy commissioned Arakan is known for its hilly slopes and this case study to the International emerald grasslands, and the steep but Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), majestic multi-tiered falls, the Matigol an organization working with the rural Falls. poor in developing countries. IIRR has over 40 years of experience in designing, At the heart of Arakan is the remote planning, implementing, monitoring, village of Kinawayan, some ten kilometers and evaluating education, training, and from the town center where a boy named capacity development programs in Asia, Mark Real Jay “Emman” Luwas lives. Africa and Latin America. It has expertise Some years ago, everybody in his village in packaging experiential learning was worried about his health. through its “writeshop” process. IIRR and HLA, together with Action Against “We thought he was going to die,” Hunger, finalized the framework for this says his Day Care teacher Mary Jane study on Action Against Hunger’s project Alegarbes. The boy’s neighbors share in Barangay Kinawayan, a village in the the same thoughts. “He was so thin. He municipality of Arakan Valley, North was skin and bones,” neighbor Mary Joy Cotabato in Mindanao. A team from IIRR Magbanua said. 2 Emman suffered from Severely Acute Malnutrition (SAM), like many of the children in Arakan Valley. This town had the highest malnutrition prevalence