MODULE 8 The Role of Global and National Sectors in Terms of Community Development and Solidarity

Objective:
At the end of this module, students will be able to:

Recognize the importance of solidarity in promoting national and global community development
(e.g. poverty alleviation) (HUMSS_CSC12-IId-g-10)
a. identify the concepts of national and global sectors;

b. relate the definition of this community development and solidarity in real life experiences; and

c. recognize the contributions of national and global sectors in promoting community

development and solidarity.

The Role of National Sector in Community Development and Solidarity

There are many ways to understand and appreciate the concept of community
development and solidarity. This may vary from the members’ roles and functions in the
community. The community that you belong to have various sectors or organizations that
constitute the interconnectivity of the members in terms of their advocacy and social action.
Understanding their advocacy will give you a clear picture and a good grasp on how they take
part in societal change and solidarity in the community.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY & CITIZENZHIP

Public and Private National Sectors

Based on (Abenir and Alipao 2016), the Philippines is comprised of the public and private
sectors in terms of community development. These concepts have been explained to you on past
lessons wherein government, civil society groups and NGOs are working in partnership for
societal change in the community. Many in the Philippine development community began to
welcome NGO management of overseas development assistance, seeing NGOs as useful channels
for funneling support to needy communities.
The civil society sector has made great strides over the last 2 decades in the Philippines.
NGOs and other civil groups have increased their effectiveness through networking and coalition

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building, campaigning for policy reform, adopting good practice standards, and advancing
“sustainable development” as a uniting vision for all organizations.
The two most important civil society categories in the country are NGOs and peoples’
organizations (POs) the Filipino equivalent of what in other countries are commonly called
community-based organizations. POs are generally composed of disadvantaged individuals and
work to advance their members’ material or social well-being. POs are grassroots organizations,
and their members typically work on a voluntary basis.
There are three NGOs that are intermediaries between the State and POs. They advocate
and work for disadvantaged individuals, who are not necessarily their members. Many NGOs
work to strengthen POs by providing financing, establishing linkages, and undertaking advocacy.
In addition to engaging volunteers, NGOs employ staff members
There are several characteristics of Filipino civil society that are unique. Firstly, political
activism takes on a larger role for Filipino organizations than elsewhere. Indeed, NGOs and POs
played major roles in achieving Filipino independence from the Spanish and the Americans, and
in toppling the Marcos regime. Secondly, welfare activities emanating from the nongovernment
sector are clearly distinguished from religious or state-initiated welfare activities. Whereas the
Spanish Catholic Church once dominated charitable and philanthropic activities, Filipino civil
society has had a strong secular foundation since the American colonial administration.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY & CITIZENZHIP

Philippine CSOs secure their funding through membership dues, donations, subsidies, and
revenue from income-generated activities. Also, many NGOs depend on financing from overseas
development assistance and local and multinational companies, much of which is provided on a
project basis. This means that they are geared to appeal to funding agencies rather than their
constituencies and generates suspicion in society that NGOS are controlled by the business elite.
With overseas development assistance in decline, competition for these dwindling resources has
grown. The sector urgently needs a resource base that is more reliable, yet few organizations
provide training in resource mobilization, and NGO management.
The Philippine NGO sector features a wealth of experience and expertise. Many capable
staff of such organizations become trainers and mentors for others within the country and
internationally. Foreign NGOs and governments often send staff to the Philippines to learn about

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civil society and cooperation between the Government and NGOs. The ability of the country’s
CSOs to promote social accountability has become one of their defining features.

The context of CSO and NGO in the Philippines

• The basis for civil society in the Philippines comes from the Filipino concepts of pakikipagkapwa
(holistic interaction with others) and kapwa (shared inner self).

• Voluntary assistance or charity connotes for Filipinos an equal status between the provider of
assistance and the recipient, which is embodied in the terms damayan (assistance of peers in
periods of crisis) and pagtutulungan (mutual self-help).

• The Western notion of kawanggawa (charity) may have been introduced to the Philippines by
Catholic missionaries (ADB, 2007).

The Philippine government has published a list of official development assistance (ODA) sources
of funding for NGOs.

➢ Responsiveness— Encouraging the implementation of projects to respond to local

needs.
➢ Participation—Serving as bridges between project authorities and affected

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY & CITIZENZHIP

communities and providing structures for citizen participation.
➢ Sustainability—Nurturing continuity in project work, especially when implementing
agencies lack capacity or when staffing changes.

Some of the CSO/NGOs in the Philippines

• Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya)- founded in

1987, Pamalakaya is a nationwide federation of fisherfolk organizations with total
individual membership of 80,000. It is composed of fishermen and women in coastal and
inland waters and workers in commercial fishing and aquaculture. The federation helps
members to build local organization to undertake cooperative endeavors; educates on

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MODULE 8 The Role of Global and National Sectors in Terms of Community Development and Solidarity

issues and concerns affecting fisherfolks; spearheads campaigns to advance the

socioeconomic and political aspirations of fisherfolk; conducts research; and organizes
symposia, fora, and dialogues.
• Peasant Movement of the Philippines – Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) KMP
is a nationwide federation of Philippine organizations of landless peasants, small farmers,
farm workers, subsistence fisherfolk, peasant women, and rural youth. Its organizations
claim a total membership 800,000 rural people. It is the nation’s largest farmers’
organization and embraces its militant reputation. KMP has 55 provincial and six regional
chapters nationwide. KMP organizes farmers, files court cases, carries out lobby work,
and conducts strikes and protest actions. It calls for land reform while opposing foreign
investment in the agrarian sector, charter change, free trade in agricultural products, and
higher commodity prices for farmers.

• Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) PBSP is a private and nonprofit foundation
dedicated to promoting business sector commitment to social development. Organized
in 1970 by 50 of the country’s prominent business leaders, it has since grown to become
the nation’s largest business-led social development foundation. Since its establishment,
PBSP has grown to about 217 members, worked with some 3,000 partner organizations,

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY & CITIZENZHIP

and provided more than 4.8 billion pesos in financial assistance, which has supported
more than 4,900 projects that benefited close to 2.8 million poor households. PBSP is
Southeast Asia’s first nonprofit consortium of companies advocating for corporate social
responsibility.

• Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) PRRM’s mission is to enhance the

capacity of rural communities in the planning, advocacy, and implementation of
sustainable development through an integrated program of education, livelihood, health,
habitat, environment, and self-governance. PRRM has 17 accredited chapters in 14
provinces and three cities of Metro Manila.

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MODULE 8 The Role of Global and National Sectors in Terms of Community Development and Solidarity

The Role of Global Sector in Community Development and Solidarity

Global Sector is an organization with a larger scope, or presence that contributes meaningful
advocacies in community development and solidarity. Also, it focuses on the norms, rules, and
institutions that shape relations between states and contacts across state borders, and how they
affect people’s lives in the international context.
Benefits of International Organization (IO)

• International organizations can provide smaller states an opportunity for stronger

economic power.
• International organizations can benefit the larger states because it shows others that they
are willing to not always get their way on issues and it allows them to work with others.
• This can also help build relationships with larger states in which some believe can prevent
war between one another.
• IOs also give states an opportunity to be efficient and that is why states join them.
• IOs provides opportunity for secured worldwide trade.

Limitations of International Organization

• Cultural differences: diversity of every country in terms of norms, values, and beliefs.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY & CITIZENZHIP

• Monitoring multiple countries: It is very important and at the same time very difficult to
closely analyze all the economic and other dynamic situations all over the world.
• Resistance from the domestic organizations: The domestic organizations may not be in
favor of centralization of power.

Types of International Organization

• Inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) - it is an IGO is an organization composed
primarily of sovereign states (member states), or of other intergovernmental organizations. IGOs
are established by treaty or other agreement that acts as a charter (grant of authority/rights)
creating the group.
Example: United Nations, World Bank, European Union

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• International non-governmental organizations (NGOs) - it is an international non-

governmental organization (INGO) has the same mission as a non-governmental organization
(NGO), but it is international in scope and has outposts around the world to deal with specific
issues in many countries. Some INGOs are operational wherein the primary purpose is to foster
the community-based organizations within each country via different projects and operations
and some are advocacy-based in which the primary purpose is to influence the policy- making of
different countries’ governments regarding certain issues or promote the awareness of a certain
issue.
Example: Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Worldwide Fund for Nature
• Multinational corporation (MNC) or Multinational enterprise - is an organization that
owns or controls production of goods or services in one or more countries other than their home
country. It can also be referred as an international corporation, a "transnational corporation", or
a stateless corporation.
Example: Coca-Cola, Philip Morris's Marlboro brand, Pepsi, Pampers, Nescafe, and
Gillette
Role of International Organization
• The objective of international organization is to study, collect and propagate
information, setting up of laws that are internationally accepted.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, SOLIDARITY & CITIZENZHIP

• The international organizations also help in cooperation between different countries by
setting up negotiation deals between them.

• An important role in the recent times, is lending out technical cooperation to the
member countries.

• Negotiating and setting up multilateral agreements: Amongst all the roles and activities
of the international organizations, the most important is negotiating and setting up multilateral
agreements.

• The multilateral agreements that are settled by the international organizations occur in
sections like environment protection, development trade, crime human rights, etc.