Philippines: Enhancing Community Resilience

Project Overview

In the Philippines, many urban residents live in impoverished areas of major cities, struggling with tenure security and limited access to basic services. Climate change, financial shocks, land and housing rights tensions, and rapidly rising inflation have worsened these conditions. 

This project is designed as a comprehensive capacity development initiative to empower urban poor settlements. It addresses tenure security challenges and advocates for people-centred development. Key focuses include enhancing the Homeless People’s Federation's capabilities in gender mainstreaming, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (DRRM-CCA), youth inclusion, and savings management. 

Additionally, the project includes livelihood support initiatives to bolster community resilience, aiming to bring tangible improvements to the lives of urban poor communities. By developing systems that better equip the Homeless People’s Federation, with support from the Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSII), the project fosters context-specific and community-driven development. 

This project is part of the Building Resilience in Informal Settlements Programme, a partnership between Cities Alliance and Slum Dwellers International (SDI), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), to support civil society organisations working in informal settlements.

Initial Project Results: 2022-2024

Throughout the project, significant strides have been made in enhancing community resilience and capacity across various fronts. Savings and livelihood support initiatives saw the initiation of a Working Savings Policy Document following a workshop in December 2022, alongside the provision of livelihood training workshops and starter tool kits to four settlements. 

Building federation capacity and leadership were bolstered through a Community Leadership Training Seminar in Iloilo City, while gender mainstreaming efforts were advanced via two sensitivity training sessions. Infrastructure and basic services saw improvements with the implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction Management and Climate Change Adaptation workshops for Informal Settler Communities.

Institutional strengthening efforts included training communities in Community-based Monitoring and Evaluations and conducting strategic planning sessions to enhance organizational capabilities and cohesion.

 Key Achievements: 2022-2024