CPRS aims to improve the livelihood of farmers

Caritas Austria Support Small Vendors

The NEWSLETTER

farm tools and 40 heads of goats to 20 families of Panaghiusa sa mga mangunguma sa Brogen (PMB) in Escalante City last No-vember 2016. Farming assistance distributed also include various seeds such as pa-lay, corn, peanut, cowpea and vegetables diversified within the respective community managed farm of POBB, PMB and Brgy. Banquerohan Farmers.

The Caritas Austria supported rehabilitation project on typhoon affected communities implement-ed by Center for People’s Re-sources and Services (CPRS) aims to improve the livelihood of farm-ers towards sustainability and resilience to disaster through the access to skills, knowledge, re-sources, tools and other assets provided including one barangay in Cadiz and two barangays in Es-calante City. The CPRS with the presence of national partner Citizens’ Disaster Response Center and Caritas Aus-tria turned over set of farm tools and water irrigation facility to Panaghiusa sa mga Obrero sa Brgy. Balintawak (POBB) in Escalante City last March 2016. POBB also received Farm cultiva-tion equipments such as sprayer, hand tractor and thresher which recently were used during rice production in community-managed farm of local affiliates Bagong-Buhay, Hda. Felomina and Adelina.

Caritas Austria staff Manfred Aichinger and Jorcy Nuñez togeth-er with CPRS and CDRC staff dis-tributed farming assistance such as farm tools, equipments such cara-bao with plow and 20 heads of goat to Brgy. Banquerohan farmers in Cadiz City last August 2016. Caritas Austria staff Jorcy Nuñez and CPRS staff distributed set of

The project ‘Rehabilitation of liveli-hoods of Haiyan Survivors’ here in Negros Occidental supported by Caritas Austria aims to the reestab-lishment of small businesses such as food and fish vending imple-mented by Center for People’s Resources and Services (CPRS) to areas including two barangays in

Bacolod and one in Cadiz City. The CPRS with the cooperation of its national partner which is the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) held fish vending kick-off for Brgy. Banago and Villa Esperan-za beneficiaries last April 5, 2016 then started the operation Continue Reading to Page 2 >>

Special points of interest:

Organic Farming Striding Onward

Seed sown by Yolanda: Enhancing

People’s Capacity to cope with disas-

ters

Caritas Austria supports small vendors

CPRS: Farming Assistance towards

sustainability and resilience

Training on Disaster Risk Reduction

Establishment of Portable Water

System

Community Cross Visit at PSK

Farming Assistance

Action Medeor Principle of Helping

People

“FARMING ASSISTANCE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE”

May 2017

Volume 1, Issue III “Typhoon Yolanda Edition”

Provision of Farm Tools and Livestocks in Cadiz City last Au-

gust 11, 2016

Carolina while cooking her spe-

cialty Bibingka

Haiyan survivors from Northern Ne-

gros including cities of Cadiz and

Escalante were among the recipi-

ents of Center for People’s Re-

sources and Services’ (CPRS) project

on rehabilitation of livelihoods sup-

ported by Caritas Austria. Our inter-

vention aims to contribute to the

rehabilitation of typhoon affected

families with access to skills,

knowledge, resources, tools and

other assets towards sustainability

and resiliency.

BOSA, DIFTS, Organic Farming Training, Organic Fertilizer Making

One of the project’s objectives is to im-

prove livelihood of farming communities

through promoting sustainable agriculture.

Basic orientation on sustainable agriculture

was conducted to introduce the need to

bring back to the natural state of soil

through diversification. The next step was

taken during the Diversified Integrated

Farming System Training simultaneously

conducted by Negros Rurban Advance-

ment Programme for Socio-Economic De-

velopment (NRAPSED). Farmers were also

taught how to make organic fertilizer after

series of theories in organic farming. Or-

ganic inputs produced contain Fish Amino

Acid (FAA), Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ),

Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ), Indigenous

Microorganism (IMO), Lactic Acid Serum

(LAS), and Oriental Herbal Nutrient (OHN)

and were applied for the benefit of ani-

mals, plants and soil.

Caristas Austria Supports Small Vendors

Organic Farming Striding Onward

“To Eat is a Necessity, But to Eat

Intelligently is an Art”

-unknown

Page 2 The NEWSLETTER

the following day. Implementations on livelihood support includes the provision of 3 units tricycle and fish vending materials distributed for daily operations of steady and ambulant fish vendors both of Bacolod and Cadiz. The establishment of Food Processing Center (FPC) with set of kitchen and food vending mate-rials provided to Brgy. Banquerohan vendors. Brgy. Banago and Villa Esperanza associations also owned community store managed by their respective Project Management Team (PMT) who undergone series of trainings such as pro-ject and financial management regarding moni-toring of financial records and bookkeeping.

According to CPRS, Community stores were established to cope with the low fish catch dur-ing the month of July until September and to assist the senior citizens and person with disabil-ities within the community. Beneficiaries already availed their savings de-rived from their daily operation practice both in vending and community store which helped other household expenses such as food, electric-ity and education. Caritas Austria and CDRC staff also witnessed the operation of each barangay involved in vending and community store including management and recording through community visits.

Organic Farming Training last

October 2016

Held at Brgy. Banquerohan Cadiz City

During the community visit of Caritas

Austria last August 2016

Along with the objective of the Cen-

ter for People’s Resources and Ser-

vices (CPRS) to develop the capability

of vulnerable communities to face

the challenge of calamities and re-

spond to disaster situations, a Ger-

man Medical Aid Organization Action

Medeor and its back donor Aktion

Deutschland Hilft (ADH) untiringly

supported the rehabilitation project

for severely affected communities

and its 2nd phase which is on improv-

ing health care and disaster response

capacities on community level.

Activities of CHWS

Improving Health Care and Disaster Response Capacities on Community Level

along with the barangay implementations of

health and sanitation programs.

One way to enhance people’s capacity was

through establishment of Community Health

Workers (CHW) advocating the significance of

proper health care and hygiene. Five communi-

ties of Brgy. Sta. Rosa Farmers and Farm Work-

ers Association (BSRFFWA) in Murcia selected six

CHW from each haciendas namely ARB, Cuison,

Ilimnan, Perez and Ylanan were able to partici-

pate on Basic Health Orientation and seminars

on Nutrion and Proper Hygiene and Maternal

Care through the help of Negros Island Health

Integrated Program for Community Develop-

ment (NIHIPCD). Also, the training on Herbal

Making, they learned the uses and benefits of

alternative medicines made into form such as

liniment, ointment, syrup and tablet. With the

assistance of Action Medeor, each communities

were provided sets of Herbal making utensils

and Medical instruments and supplies to be

taken care of by the respective CHW. Upon com-

pletion, BSRFFWA health workers was recog-

nized by the LGU as community service provider

“Developing countries including Philippines with regular tropical storms will be greatly affected by detrimental effects. Its already more than three years since the typhoon Yolanda ravaged islands of the Philippines but the effects continuously troubled the survivors. Even before, the Filipinos already suffered hunger and illnesses which worsen as one of the strongest and disastrous tropical cyclone hit the country. Affected areas in Negros Occidental including the Municipality of Murcia was one of those declared under public storm warning signal #3 by the time of devastation. Lack of awareness on the worsening threat of climate change within vulnerable communities was one of those cited causes why they failed to respond during disaster situations.”

“We make a Living by what we

Get, but we make Life by what

we Give— Winston Churchill”

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue III “Typhoon Yolanda Edition”

Nutrition and Proper Hygiene

As part of disaster response capacities within the

community especially during El Niño phenome-

non, the potable water system in five communi-

ties of BSRFFWA was established. Water sources

present in their communities are springs, hand

pump wells and open wells which they used for

cleaning, cooking and drinking usually does not

give assurance to any free water-borne diseases.

The welfare of dwellers on the access uncontam-

inated water was greatly assured by the project

implementation which coped the need for safe,

easy to access and reliable water supply. Though

water is essential in saving lives but sometimes

is a harmful agent of illnesses and many times a

forceful element during typhoons in the form of

heavy rains, yet, water supply in these areas is

not given a solution on its safety.

Training on Disaster Risk Reduction

In the recently havoc brought by the strongest

typhoon recorded, there were 840, 557 affected

families in Region VI including Negros Occi-

dental. We also worked towards strengthening

Disaster Preparedness Committee (DPC) to point

out raising people’s awareness and capacity to

adapt worsening threat of climate change and

mitigate their vulnerability to calamities. With

the main concern on disaster response capaci-

ties on community level, several orientation and

training on disaster risk reduction were conduct-

ed. BSRFFWA participated during disaster man-

agement orientation which enable them to iden-

tify the hazards and their vulnerabilities within

their respective communities. They plotted their

community maps such spot, hazard and resource

maps used as reference for the formulation of

their disaster action plan. DPC and community

members were guided accordingly through sys-

tematization of activities before, during and

after disaster situations. They also planned their

Evacuation Continue Reading to Page 5>>

Community Cross Visit at PSK

Establishment of Portable Water System “To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the

story here.”

Page 4 The NEWSLETTER

coop center with health clinic which was

functional for more than eight years and

services being recognized within barangay.

In line with improving health care and or-

ganizational strengthening, the cross visit

activity hosted by NIHIPCD was successfully

executed. The aim of such event was to

integrate skills and experiences of

BSRFFWA and Paghidaet sa Kalambuan

(PSK) in Toboso being amongst the people’s

organization facing similar challenges on

land struggle. CPRS and its networks, Panay

Center for Disaster Response (PCDR) and

Southern Tagalog People’s Response Cen-

ter (STPRC) have observed PSK’s health

practices such as acupressure, acupuncture

and herbal making. PSK was known to have

an established organizational structure and

with operational committees including

health. PSK community noted its history on

land struggle as a victory started through

“bayanihan” or collective cultivation of

limited extent of community-managed

farm until now that they already extended

into more than a hundred of members.

They have functional health workers which

cater scheduled consultation on taking vital

signs and diagnosing based on symptomatic

approach. They already established their

Disaster Management Orientation held at

Hda. ARB last September 30, 2016

Cross Visit Activity last August 26-27, 2016

During the Blessing of Water Tank in

Hda . Perez, Brgy. Santa Rosa, Murcia

Rurban Advancement Programme in Socio-

Economic Development (NRAPSED) conducted

the Record keeping session on seedbanking and

nursery management which was attended by

representatives from five communities of

BSRFFWA. They also acquired vermiculture

chamber for the production of organic fertilizer.

Another way to promote sustainable agriculture

is through cost-efficient and environment friend-

ly farming system.

Typhoon Yolanda as we can recall ranked No.1

among the top 10 worst typhoons in terms of

damages. Agricultural commodities such as rice,

corn, cassava and banana were among crops

reported most damaged. Brgy. Sta. Rosa farmers

and farm workers suffered from such losses

which worsen their hunger. Through the helping

hands of Action Medeor, the CPRS was able to

implement food-for-work program to help them

recover. They also extended support to liveli-

hood assistance through the provision of farm

implements such carabaos with plows and vari-

ous seeds as vegetables, peanut, corn and palay.

A substantial aid sustained the productivity of

their community managed farm. BSRFFWA pri-

marily used harvested crops for consumption

and income generation for household and edu-

cation expenses. Through collective cultivation

they were able to expand with herbal garden

and plant nursery. The CPRS’ network Negros

Farming Assistance

Each community were given a unit of mega-

phone to be used as a tool of warning before

any threat of hazard hit the area. They already

learned basic Rescue and First Aid on burns, cuts

and wounds through the help of Amity Volun-

teer Fire Brigade. Through these disaster re-

sponse skills imposed, they were expected to

practice necessary precautions and act attentive-

ly as a community during emergency situations,

both natural or manmade calamities.

Training on Disaster Risk Reduction

“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the

story here.”

Page 5 Volume 1, Issue III “Typhoon Yolanda Edition”

Herbal Garden in Hda. Perez,

Brgy. Sta Rosa Murcia

Basic Health Orientation Last April 13,

2016 held at Brgy. Sta Rosa Brgy Hall

Disaster Preparedness Training on

Brgy. Sta. Rosa DPC held at Twin River

Resort, Last November 25, 2016

During the site visit of Action Medeor

(Vermi Culture)

Provision of Carabao with Plough and

Seeds last June 7, 2016

Panaghiusa sa Obreros sa Brgy. Balintawak

(POBB) also practiced organic farming

initiated at the extent of 350 square meter

of rice field. They harvested 112 kilograms

from an organic farm sustained with IMO

every 15 days. Hda. Felomina beneficiaries

collectively managed their rice field where

they produced a total of 82 sacks of palay

from more than a hectare last January 2017.

Harvested rice and other crops were divid-

potato with the participation of youth,

women and senior citizen from land prepa-

ed among 29 members through imposed

farm system. They already planted various

vegetables in their established organic

garden as preparation for incoming dry

season. They planned to sustain their

demonstration farm with organic inputs

including fermented solutions and vermi-

compost. Other local affiliates of POBB like

Hda. Adelina also diversified their farm

with corn, rice and root crops such sweet

_____________________________________________

ration to cultivation and harvest. Last De-

cember 2016 they harvested a total of 8

sacks which contain 40 kilos of sweet pota-

to they sold at PhP 30.00 per kilo. Farmers

of Brgy. Malasibog in Escalante also start-

ed the production of organic fertilizers

which they initially used on their individual

farms and also as preparation for their

community managed farm cultivation.

“Working towards community development, Action Medeor’s principle of helping people to help

themselves conflated with the CPRS’ advocacy on enhancing people’s capacity to cope with disasters.

The goal is not only to respond to the needs of disaster risk reduction, health and livelihood assistance

but also organizational strengthening for sustainable progress throughout communities. They were

taught Financial management and trained how to be good leaders. Project interventions were not

successfully implemented if not with the help of people’s organization present in BSRFFWA community.

Every farmer and farm worker’s struggle slightly diminished by the strength they hold. As we worked

with them, they repeatedly expressed gratitude for the moral, health and livelihood support they

received along the way from their recovery until rehabilitation from the devastation. Watching sown

seeds growing in a well-cultivated land bearing abundant harvest can warm every farmer’s heart to

pursue an ample and productive living. Those farmers were the seeds, we development workers dreamt

to watch over growing and extending help to others in need inside and outside the community.”

Panaghiusa sa Obreros sa Brgy. Balintawak (POBB)

“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the

story here.”

Page 6 The NEWSLETTER

Harvest of Palay last January, 2017

Action Medeor’s principle of helping people

Sharing of Harvested Palay through

work points

The increased number of diversi-

fied crops grown was expected

to serve for additional source of

food and income of farmers in-

volved in the production. Farm-

ers divided their gains based on

the imposed work-points from

the period of cultivation until har-

vest. Their knowledge and skills

on farming increased their par-

ticipation on community farm

management. They finally real-

ized the importance of organic

farming not only on human health

but also in soil rehabilitation for

environmental care.

===================================

Realization on the Importance of Organic Farming

Brgy. Banquerohan farmers also have un-

dergone series of trainings on diversifica-

tion and organic farming where they

learned on organic fertilizer making. Farm-

ing beneficiaries started their cultivation

on 1.3- hectare community managed farm

last September 2016 planted with corn and

peanut. Their first harvest last January 2017

gained 6, 455 pcs of corn with chemical

inputs and 3, 500 pcs. grown organic from

0.30 hectare of land. The next month, they

harvested peanuts where they earned al-

most 12 sacks.

Brgy. Banquerohan Farmers

“ The health of soil, plant

animal and man is one and

indivisible— Albert Howard”

Page 7 Volume 1, Issue III “Typhoon Yolanda Edition”

During the Harvest of Peanut last

February 2017 at Brgy. Banquerohan

Cadiz City

During the Harvest of Corn last

January 2017 at Brgy. Banquerohan

Cadiz City

Hda. Adelina Sweet Potato Harvest with the

participation of youth

Indigenous Micro Organism making at

Brgy. Banquerohan Cadiz City

A beneficiary child join the harvest of

Peanut in Brgy. Banquerohan, Cadiz City

C e n t e r F o r P e o p l e ’ s R e s o u r c e s a n d S e r v i c e s , I n c .

MISSION

Lay the foundation for the capability building of

communities to respond effectively in times of

calamities through adaptation and mitigation

measures that will minimize if not totally avoid

their vulnerabilities to calamities.

Editorial Staff

Ms. Angeles Altamarino

Ms. Rogina Quilop

Mr. Manuel B. Felipe

Mrs. Susie Tapi-on

Publication Lay-out and Design

Dionelyn Prajes

Jenith Barros

Kenan Quilop

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Rev. Fr. Joebel Mangubat — Chairman

Dr. Nelson Dela Fuente — Vice Chairman

Ms. Angeles Altamarino — Secretary

Ms. Clarizza S. Dagatan— Treasurer

Mr. Manuel Felipe — Member

Address : No. 16, San Juan St., Prk. Tambi-Palad,

Brgy. 10 Bacolod City,

Negros Occidental, Philippines

Telephone: (034) 709- 1126

Email: cprs2003@yahoo.com.ph

Website/blog : www.cprsngoweb.wordpress.com

VISION

CPRS envision itself as a catalyst for change and

among the prime movers on the advancement

of the care of Mother Earth and balance ecology

now increasingly threatened by global warming

and climate change.

GOALS

Develop to capacity of CPRS to efficiently and effec-

tively assist the communities to prepare and act de-

cisively during disaster situations and in the timely

provision of relief and rehabilitation assistance to

calamity victims.

Motivate the people to act in the protection, rehabil-

itation and conversation of the environment as a de-

cisive factor in addressing the catastrophic threats

to humanity of the intensifying global warming and

climate change whose destructions are increasingly

becoming to day-to-day phenomenon world-wide.

Establish a broad front of environmentalist with a

concerted program of action being implemented in

the care of Mother Earth and in confronting the dev-

astations posed by global warming and climate

change.