Graduate School of Development Studies

A Research Paper presented by:

Joy Deinla AlcantaraPhilippines

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for obtaining the degree of

MASTERS OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Specialization:Local and Regional Development

(LRD)

Members of the examining committee:

Dr. Dr João GuimarãesDr. Erhard Berner

The Hague, The NetherlandsDecember, 2007

SUSTAINABILITY OF FOREIGN FUNDED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROJECT

The Case of Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP) in Honda Bay Puerto Princesa City

Disclaimer:

This document represents part of the author’s study programme while at the Institute of Social Studies. The views stated therein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute.

Research papers are not made available for circulation outside of the Institute.

Inquiries:

Postal address:Institute of Social StudiesP.O. Box 297762502 LT The HagueThe Netherlands

Location: Kortenaerkade 122518 AX The HagueThe Netherlands

Telephone: +31 70 426 0460

Fax: +31 70 426 0799

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my family, and the people whom I have been working with in the last 5 years.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to extend my acknowledgements to my supervisor, Dr João Guimarães for the time and effort he devoted in nurturing me to accomplish this work. To my second reader, Dr. Erhard Berner, for the valuable comments he made to make this paper more interesting. Without them, this would still be in midst of confusion.

To Miharu my discussant who also devoted her time to give comments on my paper. And to all my LRD family who continuously provided GLRD happiness even in the midst of hard work, for being always available to be disturbed when I need someone to talk to...

To all my respondents, in LGU, Barangay, from PCCED, the four cooperatives and the community, I would like to say thank you for all the support I got from you all. With especial thanks to Arnold and Doc. Ben for providing me some FRMP documents, just when I needed it most.

Most of all, I would like to acknowledge my Filipino batchmates here in ISS, for all the laughter and companionship you extended to me especially to Bing, Girlie and Derek. You did not only provide me food for the whole year of stay here in ISS but your help matters a lot in the completion of this paper. Thanks for staying awake with me…

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To my family and friends who provided morale support, and to those who in one way or another continuesly gave inspiration in times of difficulties.

And above all, to the Almighty God, for His guidance all throughout my days here at ISS.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Disclaimer: 2Inquiries: 2

1 INTRODUCTION 71.1 Background 7

1.2 Relevance and Justification of the Research 10

1. 3 Research Objectives and Research Questions 10Main Research question: 10Sub- questions: 10

1.4 Research Methodology 10Sampling and Data Gathering Methods 11

1.5 Limitation of the research 12

1.6 Outline of Discussion 13

2 CHAPTER TWO: CONCEPTS AND THEORIES 142.1 Continuity Of Development Projects: Concepts And Theories 14

Organizational Strength 15Effect of Project’s Intervention 16Collective Action 16

3 CHAPTER THREE: FISHERIES RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PROJECT: ACTORS, PROCESSES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS 193.1 Overview of the project implementation 19

Components of the Project 19

The Actors 19

Project Implementation: Processes, Approaches and Strategies 20Process and Approaches 20Income Diversification and Community Organizing 21Sanctuary Management Board 25

3.2 Project Accomplishments and Sustainability 273.2.1 Indications that their operations are continuing vis-à-vis project

approaches 31

4. CHAPTER FOUR: FACTORS INFLUENCING SUSTAINABILITY OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROJECT 324.1 IEC Dynamics 33

4.2 Integrated Coastal Resource Management Approach 33NGO participation 35LGU Participation 36

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Incentives and Collective Action 36Economic Incentive 36Social Incentive 38Political Incentive 39

4.2 Perception of sustainability 40

5 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION 44

6. REFERENCES 46

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 2.1 analytical Framework 17

Figure 2.2 Relationship among Internal Economy Components 20

Figure 2.3 Relationship among External and Organizational Component 21

Table 3.1 Coooperative/Organizational Capacity Index 26

Table 3.2 Summary of Sustained and Unsustained Accomplishments 33

Table 4.1 Analysis of the Continuing Involvement of Local Organizations 34

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

ADB – Asian Development Bank

CAO – City Agriculture Office

CASCC – Central Adventurer Savings and Credit Cooperative

CBCRM – Community Based Coastal Resource Management

CBO – Community Based Organization

CBU – Capital Build-Up

COMAT – Cooperative Management Team

CRM – Coastal Resource Management

CRMP – Coastal Resource Management Project

DAR – Department of Agrarian Reform

DENR – Department of Environment and Natural Resources

ELAC – Environmental Legal Assistance

EWCC – East West Credit Cooperative

FGD – Focus Group Discussion

FRMP – Fisheries Resource Management Project

FS – Fundacion Santiago

HOBAI- Honda Bay Boatmen Association, Inc.

ICM – Integrated Coastal Management

ICRM – Integrated Coastal Resource Management Project

JBIC – Japan Bank for International Cooperation

KCC – King’s Act Credit Cooperative

LGU – Local Government Unit

MCCC – Mt. Cleopatra Credit Cooperative

MCS – Monitoring control and surveillance

NGO- Non- Government Organization

NRM – Natural Resource Management

PCCED – Palawan Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development

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PCSD – Palawan Council for Sustainable Development

PEMS – Puntod Elis Marine Sanctuary

PEMS – Puntod Elis Marine Sanctuary Board

PMES – Pre-Membership Education Seminar

REP – Resource Enhancement Projects

SAKAHOBA- Samahan ng mga Kababaihan sa Honda Bay

SAMAHOBA – Samahan ng mga Mangingisda sa Honda Bay

SEP – Strategic Development Plan

SMB – Sanctuary Management Board

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1 INTRODUCTION

The sustainability of foreign funded project is in most cases are subject to scrutiny and criticisms. Many critics agree that foreign funded projects are not sustained after the project phased out. There are reasons for the criticisms on the contentious sustainability of foreign funded projects. The question of sustainability of foreign funded projects can be answered by investigating the external or internal factors behind the project implementation.

This research considers a case study which can provide an understanding on several factors that determine the continuing involvement of local organizations in a resource management project after funding termination. Specifically, it investigates the influence of project processes, strategies and approaches, the project actors, and incentives in the sustainability of project after its funding has ended.

1.1 Background

Philippines is an archipelago composed of 7,107 islands with a coastline of 17,460 kilometers (Mendosa 1998: 60). In 1994, “Philippines is considered as 12th largest fish producer in the world, producing 2.3 million metric tons or 2.1% of the total world catch” (Babaran 1998 48). Most of the fish catch comes from the municipal fisheries, which is fishing within the 3 kilometers from the shoreline (Ibid.). But there was a continuous decline of fish catch in the country which was attributed to the “increase of commercial vessels, increase in number of municipal fishers and increase in coverage of fishponds”(Allan T. White et al.: 1) tantamount to mangrove destruction. This led to an increase in poverty among the municipal fishermen and to the acceleration of illegal fishing activities (Ibid). Hence, coastal resource management has become essential to supervise the relevant marine activities.

Integrated Coastal Resource Management (ICRM) has been implemented in the Philippines since 1980’s (Pomeroy et al. 2005: 361). It was defined by the UNEP Joint group of Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (1996) in the paper of Christie as:

“a broad and dynamic process that…requires the active and sustained involvement of the interested public and many stakeholders with interest in how coastal resources are allocated and conflicts are mediated. The ICM process provides a means by which concerns at local, regional, and national levels are discussed and future directions are negotiated” (Christie 2005: 209; Christie et al. 2005: 469).

This definition provides the “balance of development and conservation and at the same time ensure the multi-sectoral planning and on the other hand, participation and mediation” (Ibid.).There have been more than 100 ICM projects implemented since then but its sustainability is low(Pomeroy et al. 2005: 361; A. T. White et al. 2005: 271). The government was successful in mainstreaming coastal resource management issues in the local government through the Local Government Code but this did not guarantee the sustainability of the ICM implementation (Pollnac and Pomeroy 2005: 234; Pomeroy et al. 2005: 361). This was because most of the resource management projects were “externally funded”(Christie 2005: 209) and “[t]he dependence on external financial and technical assistance creates both the potential for and the reality of unsustainability

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of ICM institutions and policies as projects are terminated and support staff and funding withdrawn”(Pollnac and Pomeroy 2005: 234; Pomeroy et al. 2005). Sustainability, after all, is “the continuation of benefits after major assistance has been completed” (AusAID 2000: 1).

Palawan is known as the “Philippine’s last frontier” (Broad and John 1993: 10) as it has the largest remaining rainforest area with abundant natural resources of both of flora and fauna; of forest and marine resources. Around 1522 species of flowering plants are said to be available in the province and 232 species of wildlife comprising 23% of the wildlife that can be found in the Philippines. Having all these abundant resources makes the province environmentally significant (PCSD 2000). “The waters of Palawan are among the most productive commercial fishing grounds in the country, contributing 60% of the total annual fish catch”(Gonzales 2003: 1). However, various factors threaten the province’ natural resource. Among these are the influx of migrants from various parts of the country and from other countries, and the increasing demand for fish and other fishery products both in local and national markets. (Galit 2001: 147). This led to the idea of “rationalizing fishing efforts, particularly in the municipal waters, and integrate fisheries management measures with land-based activities to conserve and manage the Province’s coastal resources” (Gonzales 2003: 1).

Honda Bay, the area of the case study “is one of the three bays surrounding Puerto Princesa City, the capital of Palawan Province on the northwest portion of the Philippines”1(Gonzales 2004: 305). It is composed of 18 barangays of Puerto Princesa City out of 66. “Honda Bay is one of the major fishing grounds of Puerto Princesa City [with an area of] approximately 280 sq. km.” (Ibid : 2). It has 12 islands which are easily accessible from the city and is enriched with marine ecosystem like sea grass, corals, mangroves and tidal flats (Ibid.), making it attractive for recreational swimming and island hopping. Honda Bay is thus, one of the popular tourist destinations not only in Palawan, but also in the Philippines.

With the growing problem of resource depletion in the country, fishers from other provinces migrate to Honda Bay for better livelihood which leads to increased resource use conflicts and greater possibility of resource exploitation (Gonzales 2004: 1) From an estimated 12, 500 in 1980’s, the population grew to about 50,000 in year 2000 with a “growth rate of 3, 750 persons per year” ( Ibid). According to Fox (1986) and Alino (2001) there was a density of 3 fishermen per one square kilometer of fishing ground while in 2001 it has increased to 26 fishermen per square kilometer ( Ibid). With the indications that the bay became moderate to heavily fished, various agencies called for the need for resource management in the area for the sustainability of the livelihood of the people and to protect the environment.

Several resource management projects have been implemented in Honda Bay but despite all of these interventions, their impact on the community can hardly be seen, especially after the projects have phased out. This may be due to the lack of sustainability of the projects being implemented in the community. Literature shows that various factors affect the sustainability of the ICM project: “acceptance of project activities, level of participation in project design and implementation, compliance with regulations, level of economic benefits received and how equitably the economic benefits are distributed in the community”(Pollnac and Pomeroy 2005: 234). It is also said that “ICM is dependent on the trust between individual and cooperation between institutions”(Christie 2005: 221). This study will take the concept of collective action in its analysis to see how collective action

1 See map of Honda Bay at the appendices

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of various actors involved in the project implementation affects the sustainability or non-sustainability of local organizations organized under the project.

The Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP) was a government project implemented in 18 priority bays of the country. Its main aim was “to reverse the trend of fisheries resource depletion by controlling illegal and over fishing” (DA-BFAR-FRMP 2004). The implementation of this project involved various actors which included the national government through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Provincial Fisheries Offices (PFO), the Local Government of Puerto Princesa City (PPC), barangay2 and NGO. PPC’s Regional Fisheries Training Center was also involved as the disbursement office of the project implementation. The project lasted for 6 years, from 1998 – 2004, but in PPC it was extended to 2005. Two sites of FRMP were in PPC and were the pilot area for the ICRM implementation. These are the Puerto Princesa Bay and Honda Bay. This paper takes the latter as the case study where there were four credit cooperatives and three sanctuary management boards organized during the project implementation.

In the implementation of resource management projects, community-based organizations (CBO) are usually organized to ensure people’s participation. This relates to the sustainability of the project beyond the project duration. Oftentimes CBOs, which are usually cooperatives, are seen as the agents who will continue and maintain the resource management interventions that were started. The livelihood component of the project is channeled through a cooperative to provide alternative income to the community and lessen the people’s dependence on the resources. But the efficiency of a cooperative in sustaining its operation beyond the project duration is always a problem. After the completion of the project, sustainability becomes an issue. This issue is largely seen as the inability of some NGOs, in their partnership with communities, to sustain the project as sustainability is equated with the quality remaining the same or increasing (Bell & Morse 1999:11). In this way, the sustainability of the cooperatives will be measured if there was continuity in their operation and when the said operation contributed to the increase of wealth of the organization or increase in livelihood of its members.

The case under consideration is a government project which involves collective action from various actors in its implementation. It is a foreign funded project with an implementation scheme and a multi-actor framework. There were consultants for various components of the project. The above actors played different roles in project implementation; the NGO conducted the community mobilization and the income diversification component while the Local Government was responsible for the resource management interventions. Having these various roles and involving various actors in project implementation will help determine the various factors that have affected project sustainability.

Although the project aimed to address problems at the fisheries sector, its beneficiaries were not only fishermen. Multi-sectoral beneficiaries were involved as it was the pilot area for the implementation of integrated coastal resource management. Project intervention did not only focus on coastal communities as various sectors like women, fishermen, farmers and informal sector were also involved. This will provide the dynamics of different sectors and actors, their varying perceptions about project sustainability and how the pre-conceived nature of the foreign funded project contributed to the sustainability of the project.

2 Barangay is the smalles unit of government in the Philippines.

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This research shall examine factors influencing sustainability of foreign funded natural resource management projects implemented in Palawan Philippines. This study used the Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP) in Puerto Princesa City as a case study. It critically examined the pre-conceived nature of the foreign funded project and how this triggered post- project dynamics among various local actors. The research also looked at the views, beliefs and attitudes of various actors about post-project sustainability.

1.2 Relevance and Justification of the Research Several projects have been implemented already in Honda Bay but FRMP was the only project that was implemented with a complete bay coverage of 18 barangays. It also involved various actors from the different levels of government agencies, national, provincial and local. It also involved the participation of NGOs and the Community Based Organizations which are still active even after the project termination.

To date, there has been no research conducted on the sustainability of foreign funded projects in Palawan, Philippines; hence, this research will give ample information to the policy makers to review important factors when conceptualizing future development initiatives.

1. 3 Research Objectives and Research QuestionsThis study aims to know the reasons behind the continuing involvement of

local organizations beyond the project implementation that affects the sustainability or non-sustainability of the of resource management projects after the implementation is finished. Its goal is to impart knowledge on how foreign funded resource management projects continue or not continue even after the funding is terminated.

Main Research question:

What are the factors that determine the continuing involvement of local organizations in a resource management project after funding termination?

Sub- questions:

Are there local organizations still involved in the project? If so, what is their level of involvement?

How did the way the project was organized influence the involvement of local actors (organizations or individuals) in the continuation of the project after funding termination?

How do various actors perceive the long term benefits of the project? What are their views about the continuation of the project after funding termination?

1.4 Research MethodologyBoth secondary and primary data were used to gather the necessary information needed in this study. Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and semi structured interviews with the key informants from the different groups of various actors was

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used to gather the necessary information about the FRMP implementation. The different actors were: the LGU, barangay, NGO and the cooperative.

Secondary data was also used to look into the project documents. The project proposal of the FRMP was studied to see how it was organized; and the quarterly and final reports of the project was looked at to see the interventions done during the project implementation and to identify the items specified which should be sustained after the project implementation. The secondary documents also provided information on the resource intervention impacts of the project. The study also looked into the cooperatives’ documents; such as financial records, minutes and attendance of the meetings, to determine the institutional strength of the cooperative; and annual reports to validate the continuous operation of the cooperatives even after the project funding has been terminated.

Sampling and Data Gathering Methods

This study considered different sets of respondents as it tackled views from different actors who were involved in the project. The different actors are (1) the local government represented by the City Agriculture office which was the fisheries management unit of FRMP; (2) the Barangay officials who were also involved in project implementation in their respective jurisdiction; (3) the NGO which was in charge in the income diversification component of the project and who was tasked to organize the cooperatives, (4) the four cooperatives organized under the project implementation. All of these entities were considered as respondents of this study. The last entity were the (5) the community members who are actually involved as well as those who did not involved and participates during project implementation.

At the LGU level, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The respondents were the city agriculturist, the head of the fisheries section of the city agriculture office and one FRMP technician. These respondents were chosen based on their direct involvement in the project. The city agriculturist has the stake in the decision making for the project implementation while the fisheries section is in-charge of the field activities of the project implementation as well as in monitoring the project during post-termination phase.

At the barangay level, two (2) barangays out of the total (18) barangays were considered. These are Barangay Babuyan and Barangay Manalo, chosen on the basis of their involvement in the project. Barangay Babuyan has the most active Sanctuary Management Board (SMB) even after the project implementation while barangay Manalo has the inactive SMB after the project implementation. Barangay Manalo was the last barangay that was organized by the NGO because the barangay officials were not receptive to efforts of the NGO to do community organizing in its jurisdiction. Semi structured interviews were conducted with six (6) barangay officials. Interviewees were with three (3) officials who actively participated in the project and another three (3) barangay officials from the barangay who did not actively participate in the project implementation. The barangay Captain of the two barangays was interviewed and two barangay council members from each barangay were chosen depending on the availability of the person during the visit to the barangay.

Key Informant Interviews (KII) were conducted with three (3) NGO staff members who implemented the project in Honda Bay to know their level of involvement in the project and their views on the sustainability of their interventions. The research examined the strategies utilized by the NGO to

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facilitate continuous operation of the cooperatives. This included the supervisor, assistant supervisor and one community organizer. The supervisor was chosen as s/he influenced the decision making at the NGO level during the project implementation. The assistant supervisor was chosen as s/he was in charge of reporting, monitoring the day to day activities of the community organizers and networking with other actors. Lastly, the community organizer was included because s/he was involved in the ground working at the field level and was directly in touch with the cooperative with their respective activities.

The four cooperatives organized under the project were considered since there were also considerable differences in the area of operation of these cooperatives. Mt. Cleopatra Credit Cooperative is composed of members from 11 barangays while the East West Credit cooperative is composed only of 2 barangays and the barangay officials are more involved as officials of the cooperative. The King’s Act Credit Cooperative is organized with members from only one barangay and most of the members are related by blood. Lastly, the Central Adventurer’s Savings and Credit Cooperative was organized with members coming from four (4) barangays which are already at the urban area of the city. These above variations among the four cooperatives will allow substantive comparison of their perceptions on what drives them to continuously participate in the organizations even after funding had been terminated.

There were two data gathering methods used to capture the information from the cooperative. The first was the semi- structured interviews with (3) three cooperative officials. The basis of selection was the position handled and the decision making power of the officer. One other was chosen who had no decision making power but was still actively involved. These are the chairman, the manager and either the bookkeeper or the treasurer who conducts the administrative work of the cooperative.

The second data gathering method is the FGD which was conducted among the active members3 of the Central Adventurer and the Mt. Cleopatra Credit Cooperative. Since it was very hard to invite inactive members to attend the FGD, interviews were conducted with the inactive members4 of the cooperatives. Five inactive members from each cooperative were interviewed to know their reasons for getting involved in the cooperative.

The perception of those members of the community who were not involved in the project implementation or those who were not members of the cooperatives was also included in the study. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with members of the community who did not participate in the project implementation and were not members of the cooperative. Among the two sets of participants, the indigenous people in the area and the migrants in Honda Bay shall be incorporated, too. These differences shall allow the study to scrutinize this group’s attention to the sustainability of the project.

1.5 Limitation of the research This paper on the sustainability of foreign funded resource management project required an extensive discussion as it deals with the various actors in the project implementation. However, in assessing project sustainability, this study looked

3 Active members are membera who are always participating in cooperative’s activity, always attending the meetings, and pay the loan on time. 4 Inactive members are members who are not participating in the coop’s activities, no longer attending the meetings and not paying the loan.

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into the sustainability of the local organizations organized under the project as the basis of assessing the sustainability of the project. It also looked into the reasons that drove various actors to continue their involvement even after the project termination. It looked into how collective action of various actors affects sustainability of the local organizations.

However, the author also tried to be objective in dealing with the case study despite being involved in the project implementation, both in the LGU and the NGO aspect of implementation. Hence, a possible bias might be noticed.

1.6 Outline of DiscussionThe first part of the paper consists of the introduction to give the reader an overview of the content of whole paper. The second discusses the concepts used in the analysis of the findings of the research. The third chapter presents the background of the case study and the fourth chapter discusses and analyzes the findings. The fifth chapter ties together the different issues in the preceding chapters and serves as conclusion.

2 CHAPTER TWO: CONCEPTS AND THEORIES

This chapter introduces the concepts and thoeries used in the analysis of this paper.

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2.1 Continuity of Development Projects: Concepts And TheoriesAnalyzing development project continuity encompasses concepts that indicate the areas where consistency in project’s goals are carried out. In doing so, one important concept adopted in this study is sustainability. This concept guides the discussion on whether there is advancement to a certain stage or indications that certain stage leads to the attainment of long-term goals of the project. To understand its use in analyzing project continuity, its basics concepts are being described. Sustainability is a complex term which involves social, economic, environment and participation of local actors (Becker et al. 1997). It is a holistic term that captures several factors that affects project implementation. From the point of view of donor, AUSAID defines sustainability as “the continuation of benefits after major assistance from a donor has been completed” (AusAID 2000: 4). In addition, AusAID points out that to say that a project leads to sustainability, when i) partner government and donor policies are supportive of the project and fits the requirements for the attainment of project long-term goals; ii) stakeholders, both men and women, are actively participating which means “having the opportunity to influence the direction and detail of design and implementation”; iii) project integrates with, and build on, local management structures that is “capacity of local agencies to manage (or absorb) new structures, systems, ideas and funds”(Denmark 2006).

To capture the factors that influence the continuing support of organizational members and project actors to foreign funded project, this study formulated a framework (Figure .) integrating the variables that indicates project sustainability, such as (i) organizational strength, (ii) effect of project intervention, (iii) collective action of actors and members of organization. The concepts and indicators of organizational strength, effect of project intervention, and collective action of group’s members and project’s actors, are used to measure project sustainability.

Figure 2.1. Analytical FrameworkOrganizational Strength

Organizational strength will be measured based on the strategic plans and objectives of the organization/cooperative. The presence of the written vision, mission, goals and objectives and having a development plan indicates a certain degree of organizational strength that can drive the members towards a goal.

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Organizational strength

Effect of project intervention

Collective Action

Sustainability of foreign funded project

Actors and members of organization

Project’s Processes & Strategies

Incentives

Membership of the cooperative is also one of the dimensions that affect organizational strength. This includes the number of members of the cooperatives, the number of members with pre-membership seminar and the members patronizing the cooperatives business. Members are one of the strength of the cooperative because they are the client of the organization’s business. The members are the investor of the cooperative. The more investors the bigger will be the capitalization for project’s expansion.

The presence of organizational structure is also important in organizational stability because it defines the duties and responsibilities which direct the organizational members to function. Delineation of powers is also clear which makes the operation of the cooperative systematic. Leadership capability is also needed for the officers of the cooperative for it to be efficient and to achieve its goals and objectives. This is measured by the number of the BOD, the rules formulated by the officers of the cooperative, and the trainings undergone by members.

Another strength of the organization is financial capability. It is very important for the cooperative to be financially stable so that it is not become vulnerable when external funding has stopped. A financially viable organization is continuously operating even with the absence of external funding. It is also important that the cooperative has an enterprise business management. The day to day operation of the cooperative business must be well established so that responsibility will be properly delineated. Management staff must be properly established to oversee and cooperatives business operation and at the same time they are liable to the members.

Network and alliance is also an indicator of strength of an organization. When the network of an organization is expanding it is an indication that it is developing. Networks and allies serve as support system to the organization.

The level of participation of the individual members in various activities of the cooperative is measured in terms of their attendance during meetings and other organizational activities. Their participation is also measured in terms of their contribution so that their organization is functioning and organizational objectives are met.

Attendance means the physical attendance of the individual member in meetings of the cooperative. The bases are the members’ attendance in regular meetings, general assembly and special general assemblies. Officers’ participation in the meetings is measured by their attendance to committee regular meetings as indicated in the by-laws of the cooperative. The physical attendance of the members of the cooperative is determined based on the minutes of meetings.

The nature of involvement of the cooperative members is defined as the type of their participation during cooperative meetings, projects and activities. Their nature of involvement is measured based on their responsibilities allocated to them by the cooperative as specified in the by-laws. The measurement of the nature of involvement of members is also done based on their accomplishments vis-à-vis their duties and responsibilities.

Effect of Project’s Intervention

This variable refers to the effects of the resource enhancement projects, such as the fish sanctuary, mangrove reforestation, river bank rehabilitation projects and nipa plantation, implemented within the project area. The dimension of this variable is the enhancement of the natural resource base which is gauged by the increase of

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fish catch, the increase of shells within the mangrove areas, corals regeneration and increase in marine species. Another dimension is the realization of the community of the importance of resource management. This is measured by the increasing number of fish sanctuaries in the area and the increase of use of stationary fishing gear. This means that the community involved is getting enough fish by using the active gear and other legal fishing methods.

Collective Action

The logic of collective action is most appropriate in this discussion as it deals primarily with the interest or well-being of a group. As Sandler (1992) puts it, “collective action arises when the efforts of two or more individuals are needed to accomplish an outcome” (1992: 1). To better understand how the logic of collective action provides guidance to this study so that the actions of members of the cooperative, in relation to the goal of contributing to resource management, are analyzed, I describe its basic premise and assumptions as basis for analysis.

Olson (1971:60) claims that incentive and rational behavior of individual are necessary for collective action. People are not only motivated by economic incentive but also moral and social incentives. They also “desire to win prestige, respect, friendship and other social and psychological objective” (Ibid). As Social psychologist Leon Festinger, pointed out that “ the attraction of the group members is not so much of the sheer belonging, but in attaining something by means of this membership”(Olson 1971: 6)

According to Hardin, “[c]ollective action are a by-product of selective incentives for membership”(Hardin 1982: 123). Every rational individual has its own interest in joining the organization that is defined by their own self-interest motivation depending on their perceived incentive in joining the organization. This is defined by the “[n]arrow rationality [which is] to act in self-interested way when one’s interest is at stake” (Hardin 1982: 10).

Another assumption is that “[i]f contributions to an organization are motivated by moral or political commitment to its goals, the organization’s policy positions are far more likely to be consistent with positions of contributors”(Hardin 1982: 122). This should be the case because “[m]oral motives alone do not usually seem compelling enough to bring in large percentage of those interested in organization’s goals. Anyone who belongs to an organization only or primarily out of commitment to the group’s goal of providing some collective good will quickly exit or try to change the organization if it seems not to serve its collective goal” (Ibid.).

In a more analytical way of presenting the use of collective action within the organization the theory of association of political economy is also adopted in the study. As shown in figure . it is the incentives that drive the members to collectively act as defined in the administrative structure and organizational goals (Kocke, 1990: 56). The incentives also induced the members to participate in the organization’s project and activities (Ibid).

Macro Level

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Administrative Incentive GoalsStructure System

Member Incentive Interests

Micro Level

Figure 2.2 Relationships among Internal Economy Components (Kocke, 1990)

In the analysis of collective action outlining the factors that affects the continuing participation and support of the different actors to resource management project and activities, the framework on the relationships among external and organizational components in the theory of political economy of collective action is adopted in the study. The framework clarifies how different actors relate with each other in a resource management project and why they collectively act or not towards a goal. One basic proposition of this theory, relevant to analyzing the action of members of an organization in relation to its organizational goal and the relationship of an organization to another organization, is the influence of organizational economy and organizational polity. “The organizational economy specifies how sets of incentives induce members and external constituents to contribute their time, money, and effort to the group [and] [t]he organizational polity relates the governance structure for reaching collective decisions about the allocation of resources to various group goals” (Knocke, 1990: 50).

The dynamics within and outside the organization are internally or externally affected by different factors which explains the reasons and the way the organizations relate with another organizations or the members to its organization. The organizational polity which is political in nature provides constraint for the members to continue its involvement in the organization or the association of organizations’ activities. The state policies, local regulations, and organizational internal rules and regulations are subject of this theoretical analysis. The organizational economy suggests the economic benefits, for example the monetary or material returns from participation, that members of cooperatives or the association of local organizations to coordinate group’s efforts and collectively take actions in pursuit of a collective goals.

The framework of the Political Economy theory of collective action organization on the relationships among external and organizational components (Figure 2.2) is an important guide in analyzing the relationships between and among the actors and the members of cooperative to the macro and micro level environment and constituents that affect their continuous involvement in resource management project. The framework, on one hand, clarifies that outside the organizational set-up of an organization, for example a cooperative, there are constituents that can influence the members of the organization and its organizational structure towards a certain purpose. These constituents are potential source of material, financial, moral, and policy support for the organization (McCarthy and Zald in Kocke, 1990: 52). In the study, if the analysis is for the cooperative, the constituents include the city government, barangay government, and assisting NGOs. On the other hand, the other factor that can affect the functioning and performance of the organization (cooperative) include the constituents plus the “inter-organizational relations and other macro-social conditions [f]or example, population changes, technological innovations, and

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political trends may constrain or facilitate [the cooperative’s] ability to recruit supporters, acquire useful resources, and adopt formal internal structures, [which falls under the” (Ibid).

Macro Level Environment

Micro Level Constituents

Figure 2.3 Relationships Among External and Organisational Components (Kocke, 1990)

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Organizational Structures

Member orientations

3 CHAPTER THREE: FISHERIES RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PROJECT: ACTORS, PROCESSES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

3.1 Overview of the project implementation The Fisheries Resource Management Project (FRMP) is a national project implemented in 18 bays all over the country (Roldan and Sievert 2001: 1) Eleven out of these 18 bays were areas of the Fishery Sector Program (FSP) which was funded by ADB. “As a follow-up to FSP, FRMP was implemented in Puerto Princesa City through the Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) with the technical assistance of ADB”(PRIMEX 2004: 1). Two of the seven new bays within the project are Puerto Princesa Bay and Honda Bay which were also the pilot areas applying the Integrated Coastal Resource Management strategy (ICRM)(FRMP 2005a: 1). The projects’ primary purpose is to address the “issues on fisheries resource depletion and persistent poverty among the municipal fisherfolk.” (-PRIMEX 2006). FRMP was financed through a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Components of the ProjectTo realize the objective of reversing the fishery resource degradation, the project is implemented with three major components “i) Fisheries Resource Management, ii) Income Diversification, and iii) Institutional Strengthening” (PRIMEX 2006). These components have sub-components which were carried out by different actors in its implementation.

The Fisheries Resource Management (FRM) has the following subcomponents: The (i) Philippine Fisheries Information System (PhilFIS), (ii) Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Planning and Implementation, (iii) Fisheries Legislation and Regulation, (iv) Community-based Law Enforcement, and (v) Regional Coordination through Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance (MCS) Centers (FRMP 2005b: 2).

The income diversification component has the following sub-components: “i.) community organizing, ii.) micro-enterprise promotion and iii.) support for mariculture development” (FRMP 2005b: 4)).

And lastly the third component “[t]he Institutional Strengthening aimed at building the capacity of the Executing Agency and the implementing agencies in project implementation”(PRIMEX 2004: 1). Its sub-components are training and on-site coaching (Roldan and Sievert 2001: 1) “to various project implementers and establishment management systems at the national, regional and local levels”(PRIMEX 2004: 1).

The ActorsThe project implementation involved several actors. Its implementing agency was the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the BFAR Regional Office (FRMP 2005b: 5). To facilitate the project implementation, various levels of project

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management unit was established. At the higher level was the “Project Management Office (PMO) headed by a project director and consisted of contractual staff and seconded by BFAR employees” (Ibid). A “Project Implementing Unit (PIU) was organized at the regional level which was staffed by contractual employees and BFAR personnel who performed other regular BFAR-RO functions in addition to their FRMP tasks” (Ibid.). BFAR staff at the Provincial Fishery Office (PFO) were part of the PIU. At the municipal level, there is a Fishery Management Unit (FMU) whose duties and functions are based on the MOA the LGU has signed with BFAR.

The Regional Fisheries Training Center (RFTC) is the fund conduit of the project in Puerto Princesa City and also the training arm for beneficiaries of the project in cooperation with the PMO, City Government and the NGO.

The Local Government Units including the city government and the barangay government within the ICRM project sites were responsible for the pilot implementation of resource enhancement projects such as the riverbank rehabilitation, nipa and pandan plantation and upland reforestation and support to livelihood diversification.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the LGUs were the actors that jointly financed the Coastal Resource Management (CRM) planning and implementation and community-based law enforcement. Based on the project’s terms and conditions, the LGUs have provided their counterpart contribution in cash or in kind, including labor and services of LGU personnel.

An NGO, Fundacion Santiago, was contracted to implement the Income Diversification component, as well as the community organizing sub-component. The NGO contract was usually for a year. In the case of Honda Bay, two NGOs were hired.

Project Implementation: Processes, Approaches and Strategies

Process and Approaches

FRMP was designed in a participatory collaborative process which theoretically gives space for various actors in project implementation to have stake in the decision making and implementation. It adopted the following approaches in project implementation.

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Organization and Implementation Arrangements:

A Project Management Office (PMO) under BFAR is responsible for day-to-day Project implementation, coordination with various agencies, and li-aison with funding agencies.

A Project Implementing (PIU) established within the BFAR Regional Of-fice has field responsibilities, including the provision of training for and coaching of local government units (LGUs), headed by the Regional Dir-ector.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the BFAR-RO and parti-cipating LGUs define their working relationships and responsibilities, in-cluding the setting up, training and coaching of Fisheries Management Units (FMUs) of concerned LGUs, particularly at the municipal level.

The Project was designed to adopt the following approaches in its implementation:

(i) use of participatory methods in community organizing, fisheries resource management, and micro enterprise development;

(ii) partnership with LGUs and non-government organizations (NGOs) in organizing communities and in implementing community-based fisheries resource management and microenterprise development;

(iii) flexible implementation of activities at each Project site depending on the specific needs of coastal communities;

(iv) building of capacities of national and local government agencies, NGOs, and coastal communities in municipal fisheries resource management and coastal community development; and

(v) establishment of closer cooperation and coordination among national and local government agencies and NGOs within the context of their defined Pro-ject roles and responsibilities.

Source: 2005 FRMP Project completion report

Income Diversification and Community Organizing

The income diversification strategy aimed to “provide supplemental income [to the municipal fisherfolk] and reduce their reliance on fishing” (ADB 1997: 17). This component of the project includes the (i) formation of cooperatives to mobilize savings for the purpose of diverting the livelihood of fishers from fishing to other off-resource livelihood activities; (ii) information and education campaign aimed at increasing the awareness of the fishery resource users on the importance of resource management; and (iii) micro-enterprise promotion by providing loans to cooperative members so that they are encourage to engage in off-resource enterprises (Interview of Fundacion Santiago Team Leader).

In 2000, the first year of community mobilization was done by Ugnayan Tulong sa Pilipinas, Inc. However, due to its poor performance, its contract was not renewed and the next NGO was hired after 2 years (City Agriculture of Puerto Princesa). There was no continuity on the part of community organizing component of the project. The next NGO that was hired was the Fundacion Santiago, Inc. (FS) which was given an extension on the third year. But after the project implementation the NGO contract was terminated, and a local NGO was organized. The newly organized NGO is the Palawan Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development (PCCED) which was organized by the FS who implemented the project. PCCED continues to assist the organized coop after the project implementation.

Establishing fishermen organizations was the aim of the project’s community organizing component. However, credit cooperatives were organized instead. The membership of cooperatives is not focused on fishermen. Most of the members come from various sectors of community.

Along with the implementation of resource enhancement projects, three Sanctuary Management Boards (SMB) were organized. SMB is in-charge of the establishment and implementation of the fish sanctuaries. But after project termination only two are active now.

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The process of community organizing also affected the institutional strength of the organization. The NGO adopted a different way of implementing the community organizing component which was also approved by the PMO. It took a year before the cooperatives were organized since it adopted the savings mobilization technique. The community was first organized informally through a rapid saving mobilization technique (RSMT) to form a small savings group (SG). Small groups of 5 -20 persons in the community formed a savings cell. Post RSMT sessions were also done by the community organizers (CO) in their respective areas to facilitate the policy of the SG. This process was done to make people realize the value of savings and to also develop leadership within the organization. The process also taught the people to be self reliant. They were encouraged to save from their own money which was also used for lending within the group. In that sense, trust and confidence were also developed among the group members.

After three months, Integrated Group Consolidation Technique (IGCT) was conducted where all the SGs were gathered together to report their policies, savings and loans. This has been a quarterly activity that also developed the SGs’ leadership capability by learning from other each others experiences particularly, on policies of increasing the savings and their loan policies. As an effect, leaders built their confidence and it also encouraged members to save more. This is where the cooperative leaders and member come from.

Members with good standing members in the SG’s, based on the monitoring of the CO, were qualified to become a member of the cooperative. But being a good standing member, does not automatically guarantee their membership to the cooperative, it was an individual choice if they wanted to become a coop member. The long process of organizing made the cooperative valuable to its members and this ensures that they will save the coop as much as they can. This is true for the four cooperatives organized under the project.

“We devoted already so much time and effort to the cooperative from the savings group to the cooperative formulation and on its operation we can’t afford to just waste all our efforts. We believe that the cooperative is for our own benefit if not for now in the future we just have to be patient and work hard for the development of our coop” (Charlie Caabay, Sr., Chairman, CASCC).

The four credit cooperatives that were organized under the project showed few differences since it was organized in the same manner and underwent the same process of organizing. It also received similar leadership and organizational trainings as part of the institutional and capacity building of the cooperative. However, there are also some differences that were observed among the four coops.

“Credit cooperative is one which promote thrift among its members and created funds in order to grant loan for productive and provident purposes” (Government of the Philippines, 1990: 7).The MCCC covered 9 barangays which is somehow larger when compared to the other three. EWCC covers only 2 barangays and most of the barangay officials of the two barangays covered are officers and members of the cooperative. In case of KACC, it only covers 1 barangay and most of the members are with blood relations. And lastly, CASCC covers four barangays which is already considered urban barangays and with only few members who are engage in fisheries sector. These differences did not show any significant effect in the sustainability and non-sustainability of the coop except

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in the case of EWCC where having the barangay officials as officers made it easy for members to bring coop maters to the barangay, especially in cases of nonpayment of loan where they can immediately have the person called in the barangay hall.

Table 3.1 Cooperative/Organizational Capacity IndexCASCC KCC EWCC MCCC

I. Strategic plan

1. Written vision, mission, goals

2. Written development planII. Membership

1. No. of members 87 68 74 1122. No. of members

wit PMES 5% 20% All have PMES

30% w/ orientation

3. No. of member patronizing the coop 80% 60% 82% 90%

III. Organizational Structure

1. List of officers In-placed In-placed In-placed In-placed2. organizational

chart In-placed In-placed In-placed In-placed

IV. Leadership1. No. BOD 7 7 7 72. No. of

organizational rules formulated

Manual of operation

Manual of operation

Manual of operation

Manual of operation

3. No. of meetings (BOD) Monthly Quarterly Quarterly Montly

V. Enterprise business operation

1. In place management staff

2. Written plan for cooperative operation VI. Network and alliance building

1. No. of network of the cooperative Only to NGO Only to NGO

Connected to CAO, barangay. & NGO

Connected to CAO & NGO

2. members to other allinances None None None None

VII. Financial Stability

1. Amount of CBU P 135,375.24 (2,256.25 euro)

P 86,000(1,433 euro)

P 121, 279.38 (2,021.32 euro)

P 211,000(3, 516.66 euro)

2. Amount of savings P4,350.40(72.50 euro)

No savings No savings No savings

3. Grant from FRMP No P 100,000(1,666.66 euro)

No P150,000(2,500 euro)

4. FS Loan P449,000(7,483 euro)

P 392,400(6,540 euro)

P505,000(8,416 euro)

P 1,144,286(19,071 euro)

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The written mission, vision, goals sets the direction of the cooperatives. This was an output of one of the organizational training conducted by the NGO (FS) with the assistance of DAR trainors. It was drafted by the coop officers but ratified by the members through general assembly. Same with the development plan; it was done through training as part of the exit strategy of the NGO to the project.

With regards to the membership in a cooperative, more members is better as there will be more people who will patronize the business of the cooperative. There will also be more capital generated from each member’s pledge capital. It was observed that the number of members differs also depending on the number of barangays covered. The MCCC has the greatest number of members since they have the most number of barangays covered and the least is the KCC which covers only one barangay. But it can also be observed that difference in terms of number of members is not so big despite the number of barangay covered. It also depends on the number of savings group created and how many members were in good standing enough to be qualified for coop membership.

Pre-Membership Education Seminar (PMES) is one of the requirements to be a full fledged member of the cooperative (RA 6978 1990) that’s why coops are also required to have education committees and education funds for the purposes of PMES. The founding members of the cooperatives were said to undergo PMES conducted by the CDA officer itself since it is a requirement for registration in CDA. After the coop registration, the education committee is tasked to coordinate or conduct an orientation of PMES. The 5% in CASCC because there were 2 batches of PMES conducted after the coop registration and increase in number of members is not so big. In EWCC it was said that all have PMES which implies that the education committee is working. In the case of MCCC, they admitted that after orientation was given to the new members after the coop formation, no formal PMES was conducted.

Since the cooperatives are basically for credit, it appeared that not all the members of the cooperative are clients of the cooperative. There are a certain number of members who do not have loans from the coop. This does not mean, however, that they are not supporting the coop because according to the interview, some have just paid their loan and are awaiting the release of a pending application. According to the manager of EWCC, although a certain percentage of the coop do not have loans at present, all of the members have already availed of loans, either in micro-lending, APL or in the emergency loan. Credit cooperatives will only be successful if there are clients, so without the participation and cooperation of its members the coop business will not grow.

Organizational structure can also be seen as an indication that there is a strong leadership within the organization since these is a chain of command. It appears that all the four cooperatives have their organizational charts and lists of officers. It was also found out that regular election is conducted every year during the annual general asssembly and officers that need to be replaced even before the general assembly were also replaced. As in the case of EWCC’s General Manager where a new general manager was appointed after the resignation of the GM.It was done through the BOD resolution. This shows that the cooperatives have a functional organizational structure that is also a factor to its sustainability because there are still officers working for the cooperatives’ project.

Another dimension for the sustainability of the organization is the leadership capability. Cooperatives have seven (7) BODs and each meeting should always have a qourum of at least four (4). Initially during the first year of the cooperative

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all BODs held monthly meetings. After more than a year of business operation, however, KACC, EWCC held their meetings quarterly while CASCC & MCCC remained to hold it monthly. This is because the operation of the coop became more routinary in loan releases and collection. Also, the formulated manual of operation was implemented by the people in-charge of doing it based on the rules. But having a quarterly meeting is not good, since there’s a tendency for the cooperative to become inactive. Failure to meet in one meeting would mean that the coop will only have 1 meeting for half a year which is too long for the coop operation will not be monitored by the BOD which is essential for the check and balance.

In organization business, permanent people to do important jobs are very important since it will affect the recording of the organization and it is very essential in loan business. The four coops have the Cooperative Management Team (COMAT) which is composed of the Manager, Treasurer and bookkeeper is the active coop component in-charge of the loan processing, releases and remittances. The COMAT does the work of the cooperative operation and they are not receiving to withdraw or do other things which in line with their official function in the cooperative. These cooperatives are working on their own now.

Another strength of cooperative that is likely to success is having a sufficient funding. The four cooperatives have different sources of funds; the loan from Fundacion Santiago (FS), the CBU of the members, 1% savings of the loan which is mandatory, the 2% interest of the loan and the penalties generated from it in case of delayed payment and KACC & MCC has a donation from the FRMP project. The KACC has 100T (1,666.66 euro) and the MCCC has 150,000 (2,500 euro).All the cooperatives have coop financial control policies incorporated in their manual of operation. From the time the coop was organized, these cooperatives have already submitted three audited financial reports to the CDA from 2004. But during the time for data gathering only CASCC has submitted the requirements of the CDA. The other 3 cooperatives are still waiting for their audited financial report from an external auditor.

The level of participation of its members varies depending on the responsibility of an individual. For the officers they are always bound to attend seminars and other meetings where the coop representation is needed. The COMAT and the Credit Committee are working anytime there is a transaction whether loan processing, loan release or loan payment. During meetings they have to prepare the reports to the BOD and to the general assemble and ensure that the books of accounts are updated and complete using the double entry accounting.

Sanctuary Management Board

As mentioned earlier, 11 out of 18 bays were areas of the previous FSP program; the project was prepared by the government through the DA-BFAR. This is an indication that the project was implemented with a top down approach. But according to Jessica Munoz, FRMP project director, “the strong role of local governments play in the project is there was an agreement between the project and the LGU where the LGU provide a counterpart. This is a strategy for the LGU to be committed in the project implementation because they will value their investment”(Festin 2006).

According to Barangay Captain Ibanez of barangay Manalo proper planning of the project should be done to make the project sustainable. He said that the FRMP implementation was actually a top-down approach because there were

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already targets set by the project that needs to be delivered to the community. The consultations done were just actually for compliance of the process to make it appear as a bottom up approach. This observation is also useful since according to Christie (2005) “ICM is a dynamic process that requires adaptive planning and flexibility within institutions is one of the weakness of ICM implementation since this is not always supported when funding is tied to pre-determined deliverables” (Christie 2005: 221).

On the other hand, one approach that is said to be the key for sustainability for the project is using the bottom up approach where there is participation of the community members in conceptualization of the project. According to Pomeroy et. al., “[p]articipation in project design and implementation provides community members with a sense of ownership over the project. Since the community members helped to create the ICM project, it provides a greater probability that aspects of the projects fit the needs of community members” (2005:375) .

The creation of Babuyan Sanctuary is said to have emerged form the community. The initiative of having the sanctuary was proposed by the community to the City Agriculture Office for its realization. But the felt need of having the fish sanctuary was due to the awareness of the local community of the need of protecting the environment through the advocacy done by ELAC which was also implementing a project in the area funded by Oxfam. The FRMP facilitated the legalization of having the sanctuary but the initiative comes from the people in the barangay. and this was also strengthened by the paralegal trainings conducted by both CAO and ELAC and the deputations of fish wardens in the barangay. Fish wardens serve as the coast watch and have authority to apprehend illegal fishers which serves as guards of the sanctuary.

“Effective compliance or enforcement of laws is likely closely dependent on how laws and the law-making process are perceived. The perceived legitimacy of laws are like to affects compliance” (Christie 2005: 219).

Having these fish wardens at the barangay level, decrease the number of illegal fishing activities if not totally eradicated. Since people in the barangay knows themselves and know who is doing illegal and not. Another factor that contributes to this is the awareness of the people of the declaration of sanctuary and they are also aware of the penalties of violation of the rules set in the ordinance especially fishing inside the sanctuary area.

In case of Manalo sanctuary, at the beginning it was really controlled and there were instances that the roving team apprehended fishers encroaching in the sanctuary. After the project termination the local law enforcement in the area stopped because of financial constraint.

‘The barangay cannot sustain the release of funds to maintain the expenses incurred to maintain the sanctuary. Like the fuel for the motorboat to patrol on the area and the salary of the person in charge’ (Barangay. Capt. Ibanez).

Having sanctuaries reported already several positive reports. Like the increase in fish catch and the size of fish caught. There is a regular fish catch monitoring done in the area done by the CAO as part of their monitoring activities. Regular assessment of the sanctuaries is already part of yearly target of activities of CAO. On the other hand, ELAC even after the completion of their project has established a link with the academe, some fishery students of PSU and WPU are doing monitoring of the fish catch in the area. The results of their monitoring initiatives positively suggest that there is an increase in fish catch and increase in marine resources in the area.

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3.2 Project Accomplishments and SustainabilityBy examining the accomplishments of the project it reveals the activities that are operational after the funding. It also indicates the sustainability of project.

“Project accomplishments serve as the basis for the people to cooperate in the project implementation. There are people who have the attitude of ‘to see is to believe’ to the promising objectives of the project (Barangay Official). This attitude can be attributed to the previous projects implemented in the area but were not sustainable” (An employee of City of Agriculture).

The LGU facilitated the fishermen survey which created the fishermen data base in PPC since it was not only done in Honda Bay but for the whole city. As a result, fishermen’s identification card was issued by City of Agriculture Office (CAO) to individual fisherman for registration of fishers. This activity was done after project implementation. It indicates that even after the funding project actor such as the city government, through the CAO, is still supporting the project.

Information Education Campaign (IEC) played a big role in enabling the people to realize the importance of resource management and to generate their support to the project. A number of trainings were conducted in various resource enhancement projects such as the livelihood trainings and law enforcement trainings, which include distributions of IEC materials. Deputation of fish wardens in the barangays involving the Barangay Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Council (BFARMC) was also done to strengthen the campaign against illegal fishing activities and in support to the monitoring of sanctuaries and information and education campaign (CAO 2007: 1& 4). After the funding support of the project, the information and education campaign activities on fishery resource management is carried out by the agriculture office of the city government.

Several resource enhancement projects (REP) have been implemented by the project in Honda Bay (HB). Three (3) fish sanctuaries were established from 2000 – 2003 in barangays Manalo, Binduyan, and Babuyan. After the project was terminated there are additional four sanctuaries established in Honda Bay (CAO 2007: 2). This implies that after project termination the support from project actor is still continuing. The Sanctuary Management Boards with support from the city government are the ones managing the marine sanctuaries after the project termination. The continuity of marine sanctuary operation is the result of the advocacy on resource management that leads to the realization of the importance of resource management (Barangay Captain Casinas). The continuity of marine sanctuary is indicated by the restocking of troches shell5 done in Barangays Binduyan and Manalo by the members of Sanctuary Management Boards (City Agriculture Office).

Other resource enhancement projects that have been implemented during the project duration are the 12 hectares nipa plantation project in Barangay. Bacungan, 12 hectares mangrove plantation in Barangay San Jose and 10 hectares in Barangay Babuyan Mangrove nursery was also established in Barangay San Jose to address the problem of scarcity of mangrove propagules and seedlings. All these

5 Trochus shell or topshell is an endangered shell species which is economically significant because its sheel is used for high quality bottons, jewelries, etc that result to its massive extraction.

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REPs need to be sustained in order to achieve the long term goal of the project. Establishing these REPs takes time before the beneficiaries feel the project’s impact. The failure to sustain the REPs beyond the project termination means that the project did not create any difference from the previous situation of the resources. The maintenance and monitoring of the city agriculture office of the nipa and mangrove plantation however is an indication that the project’s goals are being pursued.

Since the project dwell on its integrated approach, it recognized the idea that everything is interrelated and that the activities in upland areas affect the coastal environment. So managing the coastal resources should include the upland area. Hence, FRMP has reforested 255 hectares of degraded forest. The project has also established forest tree nursery in support of the upland reforestation project of the city government which is also supported by the people through the Pista y and Kagueban6. The maintenance of the reforested area as well as the nursery is done by the city environment and natural resources office after project termination.

The income diversification was contracted out to NGO as part of the package in the Project implementation. This component was carried out by the contracted NGO through cooperative7 formation. There were four credit cooperatives organized in Honda Bay. These are the Central Adventurer’s Savings and Credit Cooperative (CASCC), King’s Act Credit Cooperative (KACC), East West Credit Cooperative (EWCC) and the Mt. Cleopatra Credit Cooperative (MCCC). The cooperatives formed are doing savings mobilization and provision of loans to members who have off-resource livelihood enterprise even after the Project has ended. The existence of the cooperatives indicates that there is continuity after the project implementation.

The livelihood projects that were established within the project term, with the assistance of the city agriculture office, include the seaweeds culture of Pandan Multi Purpose cooperative in Barangay Tagburos. The existing fishermen’s organizations that were tapped for the project have engaged in Fresh fish buying in Barangay Binduyan; Milkfish culture in Pen in Barangay Concepcion; Milk fish fry gathering in Barangay San Rafael; and fish pen culture in Barangay Concepcion. Among the projects mentioned, the seaweeds culture is the most successful and still expanding beyond the project term.

3.2.1 Indications that their operations are continuing vis-à-vis project approaches

Sustainability of the local organization organized will mean that there is sustainability of the project since it means there are still people continuing the initiative of the project that was started. What are the statuses of the local organization which are subject of this study now?

6 Pista y and Kagueban is the local term for the Feast of the Forest is a yearly activity to rehabilitate the catchment area of the city celebrated and participated by numerous people of the city rom vaious sectors. This is also one of the touristic events in the city and oftentimes participated by various visitors from national governent. 7 Cooperative Code of the Philippines (R.A. 6938) define cooperative as ‘a duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end, making equitable contributions to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principles’.

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The way the cooperatives were organized gives no much difference among them. Since the same trainings and processes was conducted to them during the project implementation. The main cooperation is micro lending to its members and as of now the micro lending operation of the cooperative is still continuing although more focus on collection since a lot of its loans are already overdue. But this gives more work to facilitate the collection for the next amortization of their loan to Fundacion Santiago (FS). In the case of CASCC, general assembly was already held and financial report of the coop was already reported to the members. The three other coops were on the process of doing their financial statement to submit the report to the CDA. This is also very important since failure to submit the annual report to the CDA is an indication that the coop is already inactive and the CDA can declare that it was dissolved. In this case, the cooperatives were active and indication that they were still continuing operation.

The expansion of operation of an organization always means that the organization is still active. The Babuyan SMB is operating not just for the protection of the cooperative but through the support of ELAC they also have a small micro lending project which is also from external funding. Aside from that they are already catering tourist in to come and visit their sanctuary.

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Table 3.2 Summary of sustained and unsustained project accomplishments

Project Component

Accomplishment Reasons for sustainability /non sustainability

Sustained Not SustainedFisheries

Resource Management

2 sanctuaries estab-lished in Barangay. Binduyan & Babuyan

Babuyan Sanctuary – community initiated project. Support of barangay. Present of NGO (ELAC) who is assisting the SMB even after project termination. Presence of paralegal Monitoring of CAO

1 sanctuary in Barangay. Manalo

lack of support of the barangay council

Nipa Pandan Plantation

Continuous monitoring of CAO. People’s awareness of REP’s Pilot project for ICRM

Mangove Nursery Under the supervision of the City Environment & Natural Resources Initiative supported by the LGU

Mangrove plantation Monitoring of LGU People’s awareness of the importance of resource management

IEC Collective effort of the actors Conduct of trainings and study trips to nearby counties.

Fishermen data base NGO support to the initiativesIncome

diversification 4 credit cooperatives

organized Saving group mobilization as the strategy of coop formation. Perception of incentives: Economic, social & political Continuous support of the NGO Integration of the NGO staff as management staff of the coop Coop indebted to the NGO Cooperative officers willing working as volunteers for the cooperative

Seaweeds culture Seaweeds culture training Institutional strength of the cooperative

Milk fish culture in pen Fresh fish buying Milk fish fry gathering

Organizational weakness

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4. CHAPTER FOUR: FACTORS INFLUENCING SUSTAINABILITY OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROJECT

The continuing involvement of actors and local organizations is very important consideration in the sustainability of coastal resource management project. The project is sustainable if the goals beyond the project implementation are achieved. In resource management project it takes years before the desired supply of resources (e.g. regeneration of fishery resources and restoration of corals and mangrove forest) is met. In this sense, if there is no continuity of support by the actors and local organizations to the project, sustainability will not be realized. This chapter presents the various factors that affect the continuing support of local organizations and various actors that lead to the sustainability of project.

Table 4.1 Analysis of the continuing involvement of local organisations Approaches

/Strategies / ProcessesAccomplishment / Influence

Organizational Level

Resource Management

a. IEC and Paralegal - Trainings, deputization of fish wardens,

BFARMC law enforcement trainings and deputization

Basic ecology trainings conductedTraining modules distributed Copies of Fishery laws distributedIncrease awareness on resource management

b. ICRM : REP establishment - trainings , consultation meetings, management plan formulation, muti-sectoral representation

SMB organized 3 sanctuaries established1 mangrove nursery established22 has mangrove plantation 12 has nipa pandan plantation 6 barangays with river bank rehabilitation project Benefits generated are directly affecting their livelihood

c. Community organizing – formation of savings groups, capability & leadership trainings, livelihood trainings, integration of COs to coops, grant of loan to the coops, formulation of local NGO to continue monitor the coop.

4 credit cooperatives organized and operational after the project has ended

Two Sanctuary Management Boards has continued its operation after the project

Incentives and Collective Action

Incentives drive the members to continue to support its organization.

People’s perception of sustainability

The perceptions of organisational members and project actors affect the way they participate in the organizational activities and support the resource management project

4.1 IEC Dynamics As discussed in Chapter 3, IEC is one of the strategies to increase the awareness of the community on coastal resource management. This is also incorporated in several project components implemented by various actors. Distribution of IEC materials like t-shirts, work book to the children in school, film showing during special events both in barangays and national events like month of the ocean. This made people realized the importance of coastal resources and the need for its conservation. The level of people’s awareness on resource enhancement determines their involvement in the project and support. Although there are people in the community who are not directly involved in the project implementation, they still support it e.g. the shell gatherers who do not cut the mangroves planted when they are doing shell gathering and fishermen do not encroach the sanctuary even without the guard. IEC plays an important in the project implementation making the people aware of the importance of resource management. Although mere knowledge is not enough but when this knowledge is back-up by laws then people’s participation is generated.

The deputation of the BFARMC chairman in the barangay as a paralegal officer gave ‘teeth’ to the fishery law enforcement in the barangay where local people become law enforcers. The establishment of sanctuary in the barangay is very important because the fish warden in the community ensures the enforcement of the ordinance. These fish wardens are deputized by the mayor to apprehend law violators. Hand held radios are also provided to them so that reporting of illegal activities to the higher authorities is more efficient. This exercise helps in the sustainability of the project since a law without a mechanism for implementation is useless.

“The trainings that were given to us are really very important like the paralegal trainings. Without it, a lot of illegal activities would have not stop by now. It gives us knowledge and capacity to apprehend. You cannot just do it without such knowledge and authority or else you will be the one charge in court.”(Jed Danao, Paralegal, Boat man of Babuyan SMB)

Deputized fish wardens are usually the people in the community that exercise certain level of authority. This can be either the formal or informal leaders in the community. Formal leaders are those that do not holds a position in the community like barangay officials, leaders of various organizations while the informal leaders are those who are not holding any position in the community but is respected by the people. This leads to the enforcement of the laws at the barangay level because of the certain degree of authority of the fish wardens as mandated by law. This leads to the sustainability of an REP because oftentimes the deputized fish wardens are those holding position in the barangay like Barangay Council member and the BFARMC chairman who has the duty to lead the resource management in the barangay even without the deputation. Even after the project has ended, barangay officials have to continue their support to resource management activities because of the constraint of Local Government Code and Fishery Code of the Philippines.

4.2 Integrated Coastal Resource Management Approach As mentioned in chapter 3 the benefits of Resource Enhancement Projects (REPs) can be realized several years after the project implementation. With this, sanctuary management boards (SMBs) are organized to continue the management of REPs. The composition of SMB is multi sectoral coming from BFRAMC, Barangay Council, PO members, women, youth sector and etc. (Delia Matinez, Head Fishery

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Section, CAO). From the two SMBs organized, only one has continued its operation. This is because the operational SMB has been formed through the initiative of members themselves to support the marine sanctuary project under the ICRM. They also have eco-tourism project which provide monetary incentives for the members to continue the management of marine sanctuary. The non-operational SMB was because the formation came from the initiative of ICRM personnel in which the management imposed by the project is not appropriate for the organization’s members to cooperate. The members themselves are not collectively working for the continuity of marine sanctuary because the organizational structure that devises incentives is not addressing the concerns of members.

The management board which is directly linked to the BFARMC is the problem because the BFARMC chairman does not want to take the responsibilities over the sanctuary operation but he is always willing to receive his incentive from the barangay. (Manalo Barangay Captain)

In this sense, to some extent the project approach has something to do with the continuity of members support to its organizations.

The organization of cooperatives is geared towards savings mobilization and provision of loan for livelihood development that encourage resource user’s dependent to engage in off-resource income generating enterprises. This approach has led the members of the cooperative to continue its support to the organization however it is confined to the activities of cooperatives. There is no direct involvement of coop members in resource management activities.

Aside from having the savings groups that created cooperative leaders, it has also developed plan that guide the coop to its operation after the Project support has ended (Philip Tupas, Manager, MCCC).

“Passing through the process of savings group has an impact in the sustainability of the coop after project implementation since at that early stage members were already trained how to save and enter into credit transactions. In addition, members were given orientation of the cooperative through PMES” (Rodrigo Valdestamon, Chairman MCCC).

In this case, the incentive provided by the organization of cooperative is clearly the reason for its members continued support. Though the coop activities are not directly linked to resource management, the engagement of its members in off-resource livelihood projects is a way that contributes to sustaining the initiative of project after it has been terminated. The formation of cooperatives as a support mechanism to resource management is considered an important factor that influences the sustainability of project.

In addition to the community organizing strategy, another strategy that was adopted by the NGO was the integration of the NGO staff to the management staff of the cooperatives. In MCCC the manager and the treasurer were the Community Organizers (COs) and in the case of EWCC and KACC the managers of the cooperatives. This integration boasts their confidence that the operation was in the right direction. In terms of leadership capability, leaders became confident in accepting their duties and responsibilities because of the trainings given by the NGO during the project implementation. It means that they believe in the capability and pureness of intention of the project and the person who persuaded

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them to join. It also means that they have strong hope that the cooperative won’t just be a short-term project since being a member of the cooperative the community organizer has a stake in the cooperative.

“Almost majority of the members of the PCCED are managers and treasurers of the cooperatives, which means that even if there is no funding coming from outside to support the cooperative it is our conviction to help the cooperative because we are already officers and members of it” (Chairman PCCED)

NGO participation

The continuing NGO intervention (i.e. monitoring and technical support) to the cooperative even after the project termination is also one of the reasons of its continued operation. After the project, a local NGO, the Palawan Center for Cooperative and Enterprise Development (PCCED) was organized by the same NGO workers with the assistance of its mother NGO, the Fundacion Santiago (FS) to continue its operation in Palawan after its contract. The commitment of the NGO to development work is a big factor for the sustainability of the organized local organizations. This means that if the NGO’s commitment to development is just based on the contract to implement the project the local organization is most likely to be project based. In the case of FRMP, the FS invest more than the project was asking because they established long term livelihood support through Agricultural Production Loan (APL) which is the cassava production. The APL loan was granted to both MCCC and the EWCC which has the total amount of four hundred four thousand pesos (P404, 000.00). This was based on the suitability of the area of operation of the cooperative to agricultural production hence, agricultural loan is extended to its members. Aside form the APL the NGO also released capital for micro lending with the total amount of two million five hundred thirty-eight thousand eight hundred pesos (P 2,534,800.00) to the four (4) cooperatives as their initial capital payable within one year. This money was also the main reason why a local NGO was organized to continue its intervention to the cooperative. .This is seen as helpful to the cooperative in continuing its operation because the financial and technical support extended by FS was not interrupted and were renewed thus the cooperative has a revolving fund to continue its operation.

“The NGO intervention is still there. Until now nothing has changed, and since they are already members and officers of our coop were working together as a cooperative but we are bound to fulfill the NGO schedule of loan amortization”(Chairman, MCCC).

“The role of the PCCED now is to help the cooperatives become self-reliant for them to stand on their own before we totally disintegrate from them. You will rarely see an organization organized under a project and was left behind after the project implementation to be successful”.(FS – Project Supervisor/ Chairman, PCCED)

“Without the loans I think the coop will not operate because it’s registered as a credit cooperative and they cannot do any business aside from lending, and having the capital from FS is the primary reason of its continued operation” (FS- Assistant Project Supervisor/ Executive Director, PCCED).

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LGU Participation

After the termination of the FRMP implementation, the LGU continued the FRMP activities as their mandate and it is already included in the work plan at the fishery sector. The FRMP experience in Honda Bay and Puerto Princesa Bay was even replicated in two other bays of the city where they are already doing the CRM implementation.

The continued monitoring of the LGU on the established resource enhancement project leads to the sustainability of the resource interventions because it is boasting their morale. According to Delia Martinez, (CAO- Fisheries Section Head) they see to it that every month they visit them and the extension workers monitor what they are doing and identify the problems that needs to be addressed for if not, they think that they were already left behind

Incentives and Collective ActionIncentive refers to the benefits the actors and individuals get from their involvement in the project. It also means the motivation which encourages them to be involved in the project. This shall be divided into three categories the economic, social and political incentives.

Economic Incentive

Economic incentives refer to the financial benefits derived by the person through their participation in the project, thus serving as a motivation to participate. This include opportunities for income, which means by joining the cooperative they have access to a loan and have been able to get an alternative source of income, such as being able to establish one’s own small business from the small capital accessed from the coop. Marketing opportunities for product means that there are more possibilities for markets for their products through the networks they established and the social relations from the fellow members of the cooperative. Services for their small business, i.e. customers are also an important aspect of the economic incentives.

Individual keep involved in collective organization on the basis of their rational choice (Hardin 1982). Olson theorized that ‘rational self-interested’ individual participate in collective not just to foster the goal of the organization but their separate individual incentive (Olson 1971: 2). In case of the cooperatives, their perception of economic benefit pushes members to continue their participation to the cooperative not just for the achievement of cooperative’s goal but most of all to foster their own economic interest. Access to loan is the main purpose and the main motivation of the cooperative members in joining the cooperative in order to get small capital for business which is usually for “sari-sari store8.” There were also some who invest it in other businesses like fish buying and some used it to repair their fishing boat or sometimes additional money to buy an engine for their motorboat which is used for fishing and the source of family’s income. Although there are several reasons for the continuous operation of the cooperative even after project termination, economic benefit comes first and the reason why members continuously support the cooperative even after the project termination.

8 Sari-sari store – is a convenient store which is selling goods in retail mostly of the basic needs including cigarettes and liqour.

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‘To avail loan to be able to have an alternative livelihood that will add to the income of the family, like in my case I bought a pig’ (MCCC Member).

I joined the cooperative because they said that it will provide loan to its members in a very low interest of 2% since we used to avail loan from five-six (5/6). Another thing is because the loan payment is not weekly like the other micro finance institutions so it does not put too much pressure on us. (CASCC Member)

The effort of the cooperative officials who have been volunteering their services to the cooperative for more than 2 years is another factor that keeps the members continues participation to the cooperative. They are not receiving salaries or monetary incentive for their services because the cooperative is not yet earning that much and they prefer to keep the resources for miscellaneous expenses. Their motivation comes from the thought that when they are economically in need, they can automatically get relief from the cooperative. And they are optimistic that in case the cooperative gets better, the benefits they envisioned would not only be for them but also for their children since cooperative share is transferable to heirs. Although there is no money involve in rendering their services, the ultimate reason still remains economic benefit that keeps them involved in the collective action.

“Personally, I’m not getting any benefit from the cooperative; sometimes I even use my own money for the transportation cost. But we started this cooperative and I really would like this to succeed because I know this can help a lot of our members if not now later. So, even if it means an additional work for me as a midwife, I will do my best just to keep it going. Sayang kasi!” (Treasurer, CASCC).

“I have been a member of the cooperative before I became a member of Mt. Cleopatra. And I 100% believe that the cooperative is the key in developing the capacity of the people in the community and improving their living conditions. Because no bank will trust the small farmer in extending a loan for capital, but if they joined together by forming a cooperative, the banks give them loans”. (Chairman, MCCC)

“I think the primary reason why the cooperative is continuing its operation after the project termination is that the livelihood project (which started from the FRMP implementation) has micro-lending and cassava production project”. (Manager, EWCC)

At the barangay level, economic benefit is also perceived as the constituents are getting income through the project. Like in mangrove planting, there was a payment that some members of the community benefited. And most of all the long term economic benefit that is perceived that motivate their continuous involvement in the resource management project is the long term benefit that the fishermen will get if resource regeneration occurred. Like the sanctuaries, fishermen were getting higher income because of the increase in fish catch.

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On the part of the LGU getting involved in collective action with various actors in the project implementation also entails economic benefit. First, LGU generated funding for its development plan, and secondly, it also provided income generation of the fishermen. Income for the project beneficiaries also mean income to the LGU since they can fishermen can already pay taxes by paying permits of their boat registration and some small business licenses. Another benefit they said that it decreases envelops given to the mayor since people are already ashamed going to the mayor to ask for help when they are already given a livelihood project in the community (City Agriculture Office).

Social Incentive

Social incentives refer to the social relationships derived by the members from their involvement in the cooperative. Various incentives that can be generated from social incentives include primarily the recognition from other people. This is a form of self gratification when people get the opportunity to go out of their house and are able to participate in community activities that give individuals the opportunity to be recognized by other people.

Another is they gained respect from other people is a positive factor which a person gets from her involvement in various activities of the project. It is also an opportunity for people to meet other people, not only within the community but also from other collaborative institutions that give them links to other agencies. Connectedness or loss of isolation refers to people physically being more mobile, and that they able to go out of their cocoon. Prior to the project, they used to be isolated in their respective homes yet and now they are able to participate in other social functions. As Olson mentioned in his book the Logic of Collective Action, “[e]conomic incentive are not the only incentives [perceived by the people but] sometimes [participation is also] motivated by a desire to win prestige, respect, friendship and other social and psychological objectives”(Olson 1971: 60).

“I knew more people in the community now not only from Barangay Tagburos but from other neighboring barangays”.(Credit Committee, CASCC)

“At least now, I am doing something else not just a plain housewife, I can go out of the house from time to time.” (Bookkeeper CASCC)

Another social incentive perceived by the cooperative members is the opportunities for learning (e.g. attending leadership capability seminars and livelihood trainings). The perception of this benefit makes an individual interested to participate in collective action for achieving the cooperatives goals and objectives. As the different cooperative members expressed:

“The different training we undergo during the cooperative formulation which I cannot remember the titles now, really help a lot. Because if not because of that, what do I know about cooperative? How can I handle the position of the manager? Before I was really hesitant and afraid to handle position but I didn’t know that I can do it”(Manager, CASCC).

“It really helps a lot because if not because of that what do I know about bookkeeping? I just learned it from the trainings we attended” (Treasurer/Bookkeeper, KCC).

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“Trainings that were given to us by the NGO help a lot especially here in Puerto Princesa because there are a lot of registered cooperatives but few succeed because of lack of trainings and technical know-how on cooperative operations. Like me I have been a member of the cooperative for 13 years but if not for the DAR and FS who conducted trainings to us, I didn’t understand it well how cooperative works and its importance” (Chairman, MCCC).

In case of the barangay, the social benefit they gain from participation in the project was also the opportunity of the people in the community to be trained. And both barangay and LGU gained social incentive by being known to the barangay and they established a direct link to the community which means bringing the government nearer to the people.

With regards to the NGO, it also established linkage to the people in the community. And to the NGO employees, it also becomes and opportunity for learning from the various livelihood trainings conducted and most of all they gained respect, recognition and connected to the people in the community. As one community organize commented:

“Being a community organizer developed my self confidence. Before I cannot speak in front of people but now I can lead various meetings in the barangay, I also experienced to be a resource speaker and most of all anywhere I go, people call me Ma’am” (FS-CO, Manager EWCC).

Political Incentive

Political incentive is used as a social capital for elections by building reputation and becoming known to the people. Government officials are aware of this incentive from their involvement in the project. Since the people are looking for accomplishments of barangay officials for them to be re-elected.

“Yes, there is political incentive, getting involved in the project you come to know people from government offices and next time you need something from that office I can call someone to help me” ( Kgd. Elena Revillas, Barangay Manalo).

“People are now looking for accomplishment of the elected officials, and being involve special project implementation will make you remembered every time they see the accomplishments of the project. But it’s a two way process like the success of the project will be associated to you but if it fails it will also be associated to you” (Kgd. Henry Bacani, Barangay Babuyan).

4.2 Perception of sustainability Several answers were generated when coop members were asked about their perception of a foreign funded project. These are “bongga”9, well organized, well provided, impact can be felt in the community, “hindi ningas cogon”10 and lastly, it 9 Bongga- filipino word for grandiose.10 Hindi ningas cogon – means not “ningas cogon” which is a filipino trait characterized by instantaneous and initial interest in things which wane as fast, just like the fire in a burning leaf of the cogon grass which easily flicker out.

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is time bounded and when the project ends its over. The answers all described a foreign funded project on how it is being implemented and what happened after its project termination. However, I am interested in knowing on how various actors in this project perceived project sustainability that affects the continued support of various actors to the project even after project termination.

The LGU perceived that, project sustainability is very important for two reasons: it sees the continuity of the benefits to the community as very important and it doesn’t want to waste the money it had invested in the project. These are the reasons why the LGU continued on supporting the community because other actors like the NGO are contract based and will not be there for a long period of time to ensure the continuity of the project. It is not only their awareness of the importance of project sustainability that leads the continuing support of the LGU to the project even after project termination but also the awareness of their mandate to pursue development. Sustainability also mean economic incentive to the staff since it means continuous employment and it is an incentive to them to be working with the community even after the project implementation.

“It is the responsibility of the LGU to continue the project after its project implementation as part of our mandate to protect the natural resources. Sustainability is always the role of the LGU because who will continue the initiative that was started by the NGO after they phase out? We cannot allow the effort and the investment into the project to just turn to nothing. After all, this is also part of our commitment to improve the quality of life of the people”. (City Agriculturist)

“Sustainability is very important because we don’t want government investment to be nothing. We feel responsible to provide the continued benefits of the people to the in the community of the sustainable use of natural resources, increase of income through increase fish catch, and lastly we want to sustain and increase the education of the people towards environmental protection and resource management”. (Head Fishery Section, CAO)

“Sustainability of the project is very important first for the sustainability of the natural resources which is very important to us and second sustainability also mean the continuous employment of those employed for the FRMP implementation”(City Agriculture FRMP Staff)

For the NGO, the long term benefit of the project is very important because it envisioned the development that the project could bring in the community. This can only be achieved if there is a specific objective for the implementers to implement what was planned and there must be a viable operational fund to carry on all the activities that must be done for the accomplishment of the project.

“According to Mr. Matillano, plan alone without the support of fund especially to support the livelihood activities and the trainings that was conducted to the community will be useless. The project that was implemented must have a continued benefit to the project beneficiaries because it reflects the credibility of the NGO who implemented the project. If after the project, no impact in the community is left like for example the

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organizations organized dissolves, it reflects the performance of the NGO”. (FS Community Organizer)

For the Barangay, sustainability is important because it is always the aspiration of every barangay official to do something beneficial to the constituents (stress political motive). But sustainability varies depending on how the project is planned and managed, - whether the plan was a top-down or bottom-up approach. The project is most likely to be sustainable if it is from the community level (bottom-up approach) because it reflects the needs of the community and equal benefits is more likely among the project actors. Also, to ensure sustainability at this level, support and commitment from the barangay is needed. Attaining sustainability in the barangay should also mean continuous economic benefit to the project recipient so that people in the community will continuously support it. Projects are said to be an answer to an existing problem and needs to be sustained in order to address the perceived problem in the community which will only happen if there is continuous support of the barangay council.

For the cooperative, the long term benefit is very important for its members to

compensate the efforts in carrying out its operation. It is also important because it serves as a buffer of the members in times of difficulties especially, during financial difficulty. Interestingly, even if there is no support from the project and no loan will be extended, they will strive hard to keep the coop in operation using its own fund from the Capital Build-Up (CBU) of the members. The perception of the long term economic benefit of the cooperative members makes the coop practical to be sustained. And this can happen if there is an increase in the assets of the cooperative which will only happen if the cooperative members are satisfied with the services offered by the coop.

Sustainability is very important because that is always the aspiration of every official to be able to implement worthwhile to the people in the community. Sustainability also depends on how the project was planned and managed.

(Barangay. Captain Ibanez, Barangay. Manalo)

Every project implemented should be sustainable because if not it will be a failure. And for a project to be sustainable, people in the community should be benefiting from it especially in terms of economic benefit bacause without it peole are most like to support it and continue the good things that was already started by the project. (Barangay. Captain Casenas, Barangay. Babuyan)

Sustainability of the projects implemented in the barangay is very important since I believe that our barangay will not be a recipient of that project if we don’t need it. Meaning to say, there is a problem that needs to be addressed and it will only be solved if there is project sustainability. (Emily Eleazar, Barangay. Council Member, Barangay. Manalo)

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“Sustainability, there should be an increase in assets of the cooperative. If there is P1000 it should increase or double after sometime and never decrease, because if it is not increasing sustainability will not be attained coz there will be no progress and services of the coop will not improve” (Barangay. Kgd. Ronilo Camacho, Chairman, EWCC).

“I joined the cooperative because I was thinking that I will have a long term job” (Philip Tupas, Manager MCCC)

“There will be cooperative sustainability if there is a continuous operation of the coop which also means that the members are sastisfied by the services offered by the cooperative because if not they will not continue to patronize the cooperative and worst they will withdraw their membership” (Treasurer, CASCC).

In the community, there is no difference between perception of indigenous people and migrants on sustainability. Both perceived sustainability as important. Most of the migrants are fishermen who came from other regions where the fisheries are no longer productive and therefore they want to sustain the resources available so as not to be like the provinces where they came from where coastal resources are depleted. The indigenous people are those that are native in Palawan views sustainability as important so as to maintain the source of livelihood of the people.

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5 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION

This study revealed that projects were sustained after the funding termination. As was seen in the FRMP case, there are four reasons for the continuous support of various actors to the project operation.

First, the strategies and approaches adopted such as the IEC, ICRM process and community organizing has played a big role in the project’s sustainability. It was seen that people’s realization of the importance of resource management kept them involved either directly or indirectly. Directly for those who are involved in the implemention and indirectly for the community members who observed the fishery laws and cooperated in the implementation of the resource enhancement projects (REPS). Also, the strategy of deputization of paralegal officer strengthens the implementation of the REPs since law enforcement is ensured. Moreover, the multi-sectoral approach of the ICRM implementation had resulted to the awareness not only of the targeted beneficiaries but also of the whole community.

Second, the community organizing strategy is also a factor that affects the sustainability of organizations. Savings group mobilization developed the people’s character towards loan and savings that led to the appreciation of the importance of the credit cooperative by its members. This realization had led to the voluntarism among the officers of the cooperative which continued the operation. It is also important to note, however, that leadership and organizational trainings given by the NGOs as well as the integration of Cos in the managerial staff have played a big role in the cooperative’s institutionalization.

Third, the LGU and barangay support even after project termination was seen as crucial. A major reason for their continued involvement is their mandate as public servants.

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Lastly, incentives played an important role in the sustainability of the project. Economic, social and political incentives influenced the participation of individuals and actors in the collective action towards project sustainability.

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7. ANNEX

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