BACKGROUND

The Philippine Development Assistance Programme, Inc., started as a consortium of Filipino and Canadian non-government organizations (NGOs). It was founded in 1986 as a non-stock, non-profit organization, to become an effective instrument in reducing poverty and inequity in the Philippines. PDAP prides itself in having 6 member networks with more than 300 community-based members and partner NGOs. PDAP has distinguished itself in promoting and developing rural enterprises for poverty reduction and as a tool in promoting peace in conflict-affected areas.

For over 19 years, PDAP has supported more than 500 community-based projects that provided assistance to almost two million Filipinos by providing development projects, monitoring and evaluation services to partner NGOs and Peoples' Organizations (POs). It has successfully implemented three major development programs amounting to more than Cdn$27M over three phases of funding support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

In the late 1993, PDAP's strategy for development assistance changed from project support to program approach. The change in focus resulted in the implementation of the Central Loan Fund (CLF) responding to the needs of the poor communities for credit facilities. Due to its success, the program spun off to become the Federation of Peoples Sustainable Development Cooperatives (FPSDC) composed of 21 NGOs and cooperatives as members with total assets of Php53M in 2004.

Another program was the Sustainable Agriculture Program, which was meant to play a catalytic role in transforming Philippine agriculture into one based on sustainable practices using ecologically friendly agricultural systems and technologies.

From 1997-2004, PDAP promoted sustainable integrated area development (SIAD) through its program, Promoting Participation in Sustainable Enterprises (PPSE). Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the program supported enterprise development, capacity building and advocacy within the framework of SIAD. It aimed to help raise subsistence farming and informal micro-enterprise activities into more scale-efficient and sustainable enterprises that have been proven to improve the lives of the poor in rural communities.

In partnership with community-based groups of Muslims, indigenous peoples (IPs) and Christian settlers in Southern Philippines beginning with the Program for Peace and Development in the Southern Zone of Peace and Development/SZOPAD Areas (PPDSA) in 1997 until 2000, and with the recently concluded Mindanaw Program for Peace and Development (ProPeace) from 2000 until December 2004, PDAP supported about 180 various livelihood and enterprise projects amounting to Cdn$2M. Both programs reached more than 10,000 individuals.

In 1999-2001, PDAP Philippines concluded a 3-year contract with the Department of Agrarian Reform to manage the institutional development component of the Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Program (ARISP). The component, which involved 47 NGOs, provided institutional development support to 69 Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs). The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) supported the program.

In addition, PDAP has also implemented the Mapun Relief and Rehabilitation Project, funded by Canada Fund, World Accord and the Foundation for Aid in the Philippines, Inc (FAPI) from 2003 to 2004. This was an emergency response to the plight of Filipino deportees from Malaysia. Working in partnership with the Local Government Unit of Mapun, Tawitawi, the project provided relief goods, medicines, capacity building, and provided opportunities for the deportees and marginalized people of Mapun to access livelihood activities and employment.

In response to the Pikit War (Pikit, Cotabato in Central Mindanao) of February 2003, PDAP implemented a Php2.6M short-term (June 2003-August 2003) Relief and Rehabilitation Project in Damulog, Bukidnon. It provided emergency relief to about 600 evacuee households, mostly indigenous peoples from the border barangays and towns of Cotabato and Bukidnon who fled their communities at the height of the military operations in Columbio, Cotabato on December 2002. The Philippine Government and CIDA through the Philippines-Canada Development Fund (PCDF) supported the project.

In mid-2003, JBIC which funded the Malitubog-Maridagao Irrigation Project in Central Mindanao (MMIP) has commissioned PDAP to conduct an impact assessment study of the project covering the towns of Pikit and Carmen in North Cotabato province and the towns of Pagalungan and Pagagawan in Maguindanao province. The six (6) month study, (September 2003- February 2004), was intended to (a) determine the effects of the irrigation project on local economy and peace in the region; and, (b) draw useful lessons and recommend plan of action for improvement of stage 1 covering 6,562 hectares service area and implementation of stage 2 of MMIP covering 4,278 hectares service area.

In 2004, PDAP Philippines adopted a long-term institutional direction and diversified its donor partners in pursuit of its development commitment towards poverty reduction and human security.