Palawan, the Philippines’ last ecological frontier, is a pristine island paradise in the westernmost part of the country, 375 miles off Manila. It is renowned for its rich biodiversity and stunning natural beauty. However, this fragile ecosystem faces significant threats, particularly from climate change and ecosystem degradation.
In December 2021, Typhoon Rai’s onslaught caused considerable damage to Palawan, prompting CARE Philippines and its NGO partner, ACCORD, to provide humanitarian aid in the municipalities of Dumaran and Araceli. Building community resilience requires an integrated approach that combines disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and ecosystem management and restoration. Using tools like the Climate Vulnerabilities and Capacities Analysis (CVCA) is important in assessing specific vulnerabilities and guiding effective resilience-building strategies.
The CVCA helps tailor climate resilience efforts to each community’s unique needs, ensuring that interventions are both practical and sustainable. The CVCA is designed to assess and address climate vulnerability and build resilience using participatory processes and tools for data gathering and analysis. The following tools were used to conduct the CVCA in the Philippines: hazard mapping, historical timeline, seasonal calendar, capacities and vulnerabilities, and impact chain and adaptation pathways. Below are the key findings from the CVCA conducted in the Philippines in June 2024.
This document represents a working draft that encapsulates the initial findings from the Rapid Gender Analyses (RGA) conducted in Kalinga and Negros Oriental provinces. RGA is an interactive process that incorporates more information as it becomes available. The analyses and recommendations are based on the data and observations collected during the initial phase of the study.
Currently, we are awaiting the completion of the RGA for North Cotabato and Zamboanga del Norte. The findings from these additional provinces will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the gender dynamics and disparities across the studied areas. Consequently, the final report may include significant updates and modifications to the information contained in the initial report.
This working document’s purpose is to share the preliminary results with stakeholders, enabling them to provide feedback and contribute to the ongoing analysis. We encourage all recipients to review the findings critically and offer insights that may enhance the accuracy and relevance of the final report.
Please be advised that the data presented here should not be used as a basis for decision-making until the full analysis is complete. Any use of the information in this draft should be made with the understanding that it is part of an evolving study.
We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work towards delivering a thorough and accurate gender analysis that will inform future initiatives and interventions in these provinces. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration in this important endeavor.
For any inquiries or further information regarding this document or the ongoing analysis, please do not hesitate to contact the project team.
Disaster Response, Featured Stories, Latest News & Stories, Press Release
The funding will help bring food, clean water, sanitation facilities, and protection assistance to the hardest-hit, least-served, most remote communities
Manila, Philippines, 19 August 2024 – The ACCESS consortium – made up of five international and nine local organizations implementing the ACCESS Project – has secured ₱76 million (€1.2 million) in funding from the European Union (EU) to deliver timely, appropriate, life-saving aid to communities in Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and del Sur, and Sultan Kudarat who were affected by the July 2024 flooding and landslides.
Said Ansherina Talavera, Humanitarian and Peacebuilding Coordinator of consortium lead CARE Philippines: “As humanitarian workers, we’re committed to addressing human suffering wherever it is found, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable. This funding from the European Union helps us support the hardest-hit communities, who are not only dealing with the aftermath of floods and landslides but are also facing the ongoing challenges of conflict and climate change.”
The consortium had been on the ground when floods and landslides hit the region, allowing it to immediately assess the situation, identify urgent needs, and deliver initial relief. This established presence in Mindanao and across the Philippines is made possible by the ACCESS-initiated Equitable Partnership Alliance – a non-formal network of local, national, and international non-government organizations committed to delivering quality humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding programs in the country.
The funding will help ACCESS provide food assistance, clean water, sanitation facilities, hygiene promotion, and essential services protecting the rights and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of affected families. As with all its emergency response efforts, the consortium will target the hardest hit, least served, difficult-to-reach areas, prioritizing low-income households for whom recovery may be challenging, and including older persons, pregnant and lactating women, persons with disability, female-headed households, and households from indigenous groups.
From El Nino to floods and landslides
The massive flooding and landslides – the result of the interaction of multiple, successive weather systems, including the southwest monsoon – came just as families were recovering from the impacts of El Nino. Many had also been grappling with the protracted, decades-long conflict across Mindanao.
Urgent needs
Among affected and displaced individuals, the consortium found high levels of food insecurity; significant losses in incomes and livelihood assets; poor water supply, sanitation, and hygiene conditions; extensive damages to belongings and the loss of important civil documents; heightened risks of sexual violence and exploitation against women and children; and a need for mental health and psychosocial support.
Said Talavera, “ACCESS is focused on providing urgent aid and helping families rebuild their lives with resilience and dignity.”
ACCESS (Assisting the Most Vulnerable Communities and Schools Affected by Complex Emergencies in Accessing Quality and Timely Humanitarian and Disaster Preparedness Services) is a multi-year, multi-sectoral project funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO). The ACCESS Mindanao flood emergency response will be implemented by consortium members ACCORD, Action Against Hunger Philippines, CARE Philippines, Community Organizers Multiversity, Humanity & Inclusion Philippines, Mindanao Organization for Social and Economic Progress, and Save the Children Philippines, together with Oxfam Pilipinas and United Youth of the Philippines-Women.
Blog, Featured Stories, Latest News & Stories, Peacebuilding
For twenty years, a deep rift split this indigenous community in the Philippines. What started as a territorial dispute in 2000 evolved into an intense conflict over resources, ideologies, and leadership, eventually spiraling into violence, displacement, and the loss of many lives. It also prevented the formation of a unified council needed to secure the tribe’s land rights. With climate change and environmental degradation potentially making scarce resources even scarcer, further escalation seemed almost inevitable.
But now, two decades later, both sides are taking crucial steps toward reconciliation.
NCIP and BRIDGE Project help clear a path to peace
The Talaandig, the smallest indigenous group in the Philippines’ Caraga Region in Mindanao, is a dwindling tribe with fewer than 2,000 families. The conflict forced some to flee deep into the forests, limiting their access to education and basic services mostly available in the lowlands. Many of its youth also struggle to maintain their traditional way of life and cultural identity due to discrimination and limited opportunities for learning and livelihood.
For years, the tribe tried to settle the dispute, but insufficient resources and the periodic recurrence of violence made it challenging.
With facilitation from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and support from the European Commission-funded BRIDGE project, members of the Talaandig tribe recently gathered for a peace dialogue. The goal was to bridge the long-standing divide by openly and respectfully talking about misunderstandings and grievances, committing to preventing future conflicts, and (re)uniting in their claim over their shared ancestral domain. This included establishing clear land boundaries and facilitating the creation of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) to strengthen their legal claim.
This landmark event opened a new chapter for the tribe. “From now on, there will be no more bloodshed,” declared one tribal chieftain.
“We can’t ignore the hurt this conflict has caused our families and the damage it’s done to our relationships, but I truly believe that, by starting this dialogue today, we can begin to heal,” said another tribal leader.
The peace dialogue
While the dialogue itself took place within a day, most participants spent one day traveling to the venue and another day returning home. For some, because they lived in such remote, “last mile” areas, the journey to the venue involved two days of walking barefoot. Yet, for something that had been out of reach for two decades and for which they spent years preparing, it seemed a reasonable price to pay.
The event began with a traditional Talaandig ceremony invoking peace and unity, led by the tribe’s elders. Two datus, or tribal chieftains,from the conflicting parties presented their perspectives, detailing the origins and consequences of the territorial dispute. Elders, women, and youth from both sides shared insights and recounted their genealogy, the conflict’s history, and its impact on their community.
The group that remained in the original settlement in the lowlands spoke of their community’s milestones, including having two college graduates who are now teachers, and said they hoped these could serve as an inspiration to others and a testament to what the Talaandig can achieve given the opportunity.
Mediators also played a key role, helping pave the way for a peace agreement by using the appropriate mediation processes. Mediators included the Municipal Tribal Chieftain Datu Raul Minglana, Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of San Luis Bae Ederlina Precioso, NCIP Regional Director Ordonio P. Rocero, and NCIP Lawyer Atty. Fritzie Lynne Sumando. BRIDGE project staff, and personnel from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office, served as secretariat and witnesses to the dialogue.
The DepEd teachers also conducted a learner mapping to assess the educational needs of the community, especially in alternative learning systems.
The peace dialogue was a critical first step for the Talaandig Tribe to claim their ancestral domain. | Photo: CARE Philippines
Talaandig women’s voices
Women were instrumental in the peace process by documenting the dialogue and providing significant information to complete the tribe’s history. They also lent the discussion a nurturing and caring lens, helping participants see possible ways to heal past wounds. The event underscored the importance of inclusive participation, involving women in reconciliation and decision-making.
Resolution and future steps
To close the dialogue, the datus exchanged metal bracelets to symbolize their commitment to peace. They reached a tentative agreement on land boundaries and the establishment of the CADT, and all parties pledged to maintain the peace and prevent future conflicts. They also agreed to support each other’s aspirations for a dignified life by educating their children and ensuring equitable access to their ancestral land’s resources.
From humanitarian response to peacebuilding
The dialogue partially illustrates what working within the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus looks like, and how humanitarian and peacebuilding initiatives can build upon each other’s gains. In Mindanao, ACCORD, CARE, and partners implement two projects intentionally designed to complement each other: ACCESS, which addresses urgent humanitarian needs, and BRIDGE, which focuses on peacebuilding.
Months before the dialogue, a group from the tribe – who had been experiencing chronic violence, threats, and harassment for years – was given food, shelter, WASH (water supply, sanitation, and hygiene promotion), health, and civil registration assistance by the EU Humanitarian Aid-funded ACCESS Project. Seeing an opportunity to ask for help and give his people a better future, the group’s leader sought the project’s help in organizing a discussion with the other Talaandig groups. Through BRIDGE, the team from ACCORD supported NCIP in setting up the much-needed talk.
With the NCIP’s partnership with BRIDGE, initial aid from ACCESS, and the Talaandig Tribe’s commitment to peace, cultural preservation, and self-determination, this decades-long conflict may finally be coming to a close.
—
ACCESS is a multi-year, multi-sectoral project funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and implemented by consortium members ACCORD, Action Against Hunger Philippines, CARE Philippines, Community Organizers Multiversity, Humanity & Inclusion Philippines, and Save the Children Philippines.
The “Civil Society, Women and Youth Promoting Culture of Peace in Mindanao” (BRIDGE) Project is funded by the European Commission and implemented by ACCORD Incorporated, CARE Philippines, Community Organizers Multiversity, and Oxfam Pilipinas
This document represents a working draft that encapsulates the initial findings from the Rapid Gender Analyses (RGA) conducted in Kalinga and Negros Oriental provinces. RGA is an interactive process that incorporates more information as it becomes available. The analyses and recommendations are based on the data and observations collected during the initial phase of the study.
Currently, we are awaiting the completion of the RGA for North Cotabato and Zamboanga del Norte. The findings from these additional provinces will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the gender dynamics and disparities across the studied areas. Consequently, the final report may include significant updates and modifications to the information contained in the initial report.
This working document’s purpose is to share the preliminary results with stakeholders, enabling them to provide feedback and contribute to the ongoing analysis. We encourage all recipients to review the findings critically and offer insights that may enhance the accuracy and relevance of the final report.
Please be advised that the data presented here should not be used as a basis for decision-making until the full analysis is complete. Any use of the information in this draft should be made with the understanding that it is part of an evolving study.
We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work towards delivering a thorough and accurate gender analysis that will inform future initiatives and interventions in these provinces. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration in this important endeavor. For any inquiries or further information regarding this document or the ongoing analysis, please do not hesitate to contact the project team.
Blog, Featured Stories, Gender, Gender, Latest News & Stories
by Josephine C. Kusain and Mary Therese L. Norbe
Photo: Farm fields lay barren due to lack of rainfall and water in Brgy. Santor, Rizal, Kalinga. (Josephine C. Kusain)
The rapid gender analysis (RGA) conducted by CARE Philippines and its partners, Cordillera Disaster Response and Development Services (CorDIS RDS) and Citizen’s Disaster Response Center (CDRC), in response to the 2024 El Niño event in the Philippines, highlighted significant impacts on the agricultural and fishing communities in Kalinga and Negros Oriental. The drought, which affected 59 out of 82 provinces across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, led to severe agricultural losses and food shortages, disproportionately impacting men, women, girls, and boys in these regions.
In Kalinga, communities reliant on rice, corn, and vegetable farming faced immense difficulties in maintaining their fields and gardens. Similarly, in Negros Oriental, sugarcane farmers and fishing communities struggled with reduced productivity due to the harsh weather conditions. Both regions reported increased pest infestations, dried rice fields, and significant productivity reduction and crop losses, leading to severe food shortages and malnutrition, particularly among children. Women in Kalinga adjusted by waking early to work in the fields, while in Negros Oriental, coastal households altered fishing schedules to cope with the intense heat. The shortened fishing windows and fish moving deeper for cooler waters reduced catch potential, further straining coastal livelihoods and incomes.
Photo: The heat cause rice fields to crack and prevented the rice to grow in Kalinga. @CorDis RDS
Water scarcity emerged as a critical issue in both regions, with Kalinga experiencing rotational water sources and frequent interruptions, allowing households access to water for only 3 to 4 hours daily. In Negros Oriental, even coastal communities faced diminished water flow from community tanks and deep wells. The lack of water affected both household and agricultural use, exacerbating the already dire situation for the communities. Farmers in Kalinga faced high gasoline costs to operate water pumps, while those in Negros Oriental contended with reduced water availability, further complicating their agricultural activities. In both Kalinga and Negros Oriental, coping with the heat during El Niño involved seeking shade, timing water collection, and utilizing different containers for water storage.
Photo: No water flows from an open faucet in Brgy. Santor, Rizal, Kalinga @Josephine C. Kusain/CARE
Health issues were widespread, with Kalinga reporting increased cases of coughs, diarrhea, hypertension, and joint pain among adults, while children and girls faced additional challenges such as urinary tract infections and chickenpox. The elderly and persons with disabilities faced barriers in accessing healthcare, with only basic medicines available and specialized treatments limited. Despite these challenges, communities demonstrated resilience by upholding traditional practices like bayanihan, supporting each other, and arranging prayer meetings for sick elders. Both men and women turned to traditional herbal medicine for minor health issues when modern healthcare was inaccessible.
Both men and women sought alternative employment opportunities to bolster their finances, with women in Kalinga diversifying their income by selling snacks, snails, and taro or providing domestic services, while men often sought work in urban areas. Mutual support through interest-free loans among neighbors or borrowing money to meet various needs helped families navigate the crisis.
In terms of safety and protection, the Barangay Local Government Units in Kalinga implemented curfews, store closures, and a liquor ban to address alcohol-related issues. Despite these measures, an incident of rape involving minors prompted intervention from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, resulting in in-house schooling due to bullying concerns. Women also highlighted heightened online exposure due to shortened school hours. Girls indicated no specific safety concerns, relying on the Barangay Council and cultural practices rooted in ancestral lands to ensure community safety. In Negros Oriental, children avoided working in sugarcane fields due to the extreme heat.
The RGA underscored the urgent need for immediate food aid, including staples like rice and nutritional supplements, to address malnutrition and hunger. Emergency livelihood assistance and cash-for-work programs are essential to help families meet their immediate needs. Additionally, distributing hygiene kits and ensuring emergency water supplies are crucial for addressing water and sanitation challenges.
Photo: The rice grains are completely dried and will not mature because of the drought in Kalinga. @CorDis RDS
Reiza S. Dejito, CARE Philippines Country Director, emphasized the importance of coordinated efforts of the government, non-government organizations, and international agencies to address this crisis. “We need to increase the coping capacities of these communities by providing immediate life-saving relief and implementing long-term sustainable recovery plans to mitigate the impact of future climatic events.”
CARE Philippines, with its extensive experience in emergency response and long-term recovery efforts, advocates for a comprehensive approach to resilience-building. This includes livelihood diversification, skills training, sustainable agriculture practices, improved water infrastructure and sanitation facilities, and strengthened community health services to handle critical health issues.
The aGAP (Asenso sa Good Agricultural Package) is a social enterprise model that offers a range of solutions for smallholder farmers. The model seeks to connect businesses and combine services for the supply of agricultural resources such as seed, fertilizer, farm tools and equipment, while providing education, financial connection, and market facilitation at the local level.
Featured Stories, Gender, Latest News & Stories, Press Release, Uncategorized
Agusan del Sur and Norte, March 2024 — The BRIDGE Project capped off the month of March—National Women’s Month—with workshops to help educators integrate peace education and peace-promoting values in their learning curriculum, conducted in collaboration with Common Reference Educators Workshop (CREW) and the Department of Education.
Held on March 21, 2024, in Agusan del Sur and on March 22, 2024, in Agusan del Norte, the activities gathered a total of 103 primary and secondary school teachers, teaching personnel, and administrators.
Not just about conflict
A key takeaway is that peace “is not just talking about conflict or the absence of war,” as one female educator and workshop participant describes it. “It also talks about gender, the environment, health, and values. Peace is about accepting our diversities,” she says.
Photo: ACCORD
The role of women educators
The BRIDGE Project believes that women educators and women’s civil society organizations (CSOs), along with youth CSOs and national government agencies like the Department of Education, play important roles in peace education and can lead the process of promoting a culture of peace. This entails enabling the meaningful participation of women and girls in peace education activities in school, which must be designed to empower them.
Gender and peace also need to be contextualized in learning tools, especially those highlighting indigenous communities’ peace-promoting practices.
Photo: ACCORD
Advocates of peace
“As duty bearers, we have the responsibility to nurture young people, our students,” says a participant.
Another one echoes this sentiment, saying, “We teachers are advocates of peace. We need to cultivate empathy in our students. [Because] most of the learners are very vulnerable and prone to negative coping mechanisms, we should be there to support [them].”
Addressing educators’ challenges
The workshops were designed to address four specific issues that educators typically face when trying to mainstream peace education:
Messaging: how to discuss the subjects of peace, rights, and citizenship in a comprehensive and comprehensible way
Adaptability: how to introduce these topics into the present curriculum of all levels in a non-ladderized, flexible platform
Acceptability: how to integrate these into a framework or one common reference that various audiences will find helpful and fair
Sustainability: how to sustain peace, rights, and citizenship education
It covered these in three sessions, including one on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and another on peace and diversity.
Photo: ACCORD
A holistic approach to peace education
Apart from being informative and engaging, participants appreciated the breadth of the workshop topics. Says one participant, “At first, I thought we would be talking about the social injustices. But our discussion went beyond that. [We talked about how] health issues, persons with disabilities, cultural diversities, and environmental concerns are part of peace. Peace Education is a holistic approach. This training [can guide us on] the topics we can use in our lessons.”
Investing in women
In succeeding activities, BRIDGE will further highlight how gender is an important component of peace education, and how empowering women is central to promoting a culture of peace.
As the 2024 International Women’s Day theme reiterates, “If we invest in women, we accelerate progress.”
Photo: ACCORDPhoto: ACCORDPhoto: ACCORD
The “Civil Society, Women and Youth Promoting Culture of Peace in Mindanao” (BRIDGE) Project is funded by the European Commission and implemented by ACCORD Incorporated, CARE Philippines, Community Organizers Multiversity, and Oxfam Pilipinas.
In a northern Philippine province, a woman and her community’s story of coming together and rebuilding safer houses
When Super Typhoon Egay (international name: Doksuri) struck the Philippines in July 2023, its rapid intensification took many by surprise. It dumped more than a month’s worth of rain in two days, damaged some 56,000 houses, and affected three million people.
Miriam Bisares, 31, lost her home and almost all possessions. She lives with her husband and three children in a barangay (village) by a river in Abra, one of the worst-hit provinces. Running to safety that day was not easy. Her two older kids, ages 14 and 12, were ill with chicken pox and had to be carried. The flood submerged the paths to higher ground, so they had to cut a way through a thick tangle of grass and shrubs.
Today, her community remembers it as a difficult time, but alongside memories of the trials are ones of coming together and rebuilding. And despite the challenges, women like Miriam demonstrated capable leadership, playing a crucial part in helping her community learn how to become more resilient by building safer homes, with support from the European Union Humanitarian Aid and the ACCESS Project.
In the 14 years Miriam’s family had lived in Barangay Sao-atan in Bangued, Abra Province, they hadn’t experienced flooding as destructive as Super Typhoon Egay.
Their old shack—made of light materials and located a few meters away from the edge of a river cliff—was swept away completely.
Recovery was hard. She occasionally finds work in sales as a “push girl” and “promodiser;” her husband is a merchandiser at a food manufacturing company but is not yet a regular employee.
That Barangay Sao-atan lies next to a river is both a blessing and a burden: on the one hand, residents get to plant crops on its fertile banks; on the other, it makes the village flood-prone.
The river also serves as a source of water for household use. During the rainy season, however, the water becomes murky and unusable. During dry spells, the river contracts, and residents have to climb down and up the steep river cliff while balancing one or two buckets.
At around 10 A.M., the water rose quickly. Amidst heavy rain and howling winds, Miriam’s family left their house and sought temporary shelter in this hut, which sits on slightly higher ground, further away from the river.
By 6 P.M., the water was at their feet again. With a big knife, they slashed a path through the bushes to escape.
Months after the typhoon, damaged plastic “durabox” cabinets, scrubbed clean of mud and left to dry out in the sun, still litter the village.
Miriam’s family lost almost everything. Fortunately, her eldest had the presence of mind to save important documents, such as birth certificates, and even her parents’ high school diplomas.
When the floodwaters receded, cleanup—a collective community endeavor—commenced. Miriam and her family stayed with a relative for one month. Thanks to another relative, who owned an unproductive lot in an elevated part of the village and who let Miriam and other neighbors rebuild their houses on it, those affected by the flood were able to start anew in a safer location.
Through the ACCESS Project, Miriam and other residents severely affected by the typhoon received shelter assistance through repair kits and training sessions on how to build back safer. The project encouraged the community to work together to rebuild each other’s homes.
It also formed a shelter roving team, a group of community members that ensured houses were repaired or rebuilt properly. As part of the team, Miriam became well-versed in Building Back Safer (BBS) principles. She can explain why having strong bracing, interlocking joints, anchored posts, and other BBS techniques are key to building safer homes.
Miriam and her family moved into their new house a month before Christmas.
“Malaki ang pagbabago. Safe at komportable kami dito. Hindi na kami nangangamba na maaabutan ng tubig kung sakaling may bagyo (It’s a huge difference. We’re safe and comfortable here. We don’t worry about the water reaching us in the event of a typhoon).”
– Miriam (Bangued, Abra)
The project also provided water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance by building a water system and holding hygiene promotion activities. There are shaded benches near the water system where women sometimes congregate, working on chores together, or just staying for a chat.
“Sabi ng mga matatanda, himala daw na may tubig na kami dito. Dati na kasing problema yan (The elders say it’s a miracle we now have water here. That was always a problem),” says Miriam.
These days, Miriam and her husband are focused on taking care of the children. He cooks for them before leaving for work; she walks them to and from school.
Asked what aspirations she has for the family, she says, “Pangarap ko na mapatapos silang tatlo sa pag-aaral para maganda ang kinabukasan nila (I hope we can support the three of them so they can finish school and have a better future.”
ACCESS gave shelter assistance to some 1,650 individuals and repaired 530 houses across the provinces of Abra and Cagayan. The project is funded by the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations and implemented by ACCORD Inc., Action Against Hunger Philippines, Humanity and Inclusion Philippines, Community Organizers Multiversity, and CARE Philippines.
Blog, Gender, Gender, Healthy Mothers & Children, Other Topic, Uncategorized
Written by: Juin Ancha(CARE Philippines)
November 14 — World Diabetes Day. Various health organizations and groups all over the country urge the Filipino community to take active measures to prevent this life-threatening illness. However, simple lifestyle and dietary changes may not be enough to comprehensively address diabetes, especially within the context of vulnerable populations. Pervasive gender norms and roles are also factors that influence the health and well-being outcomes of Filipino women and men. As we commemorate World Diabetes Day, we encourage the public to use an intersectional lens to understand diabetes.
Diabetes at a glance
Diabetes is a worldwide epidemic, and the Philippines is not exempt. According to the International Diabetes Federation, of the 64 million adults in the country, 4 million have diabetes. However, even with these high numbers, there could be more undocumented cases, specifically in low-income, rural, and armed-conflict-affected areas. Lack of health facilities in far-flung communities, lack of access to diabetes information, and lack of access to basic services continue to be major factors that prevent people, including the elderly, children, women, and men, from seeking timely health check-ups and routine monitoring. Socioeconomic constraints do not help either, and only contribute to a general reluctance among poor families to seek medical intervention.
Early detection of diabetes is hard when you are poor and internally displaced. In Lanao del Sur, many people did not know that they were diabetic until they saw CARE Philippines NCD-LOVE. NCD-LOVE was a three-year pilot project designed to introduce innovative approaches to address health issues, specifically non-communicable diseases, diabetes included. From providing technical assistance and capacity buildings to partner government stakeholders, augmenting NCD service delivery in project sites, and ensuring its sustainability through transition plans, the NCD-LOVE indeed provided strong advocacy on health and well-being. In 2023 alone, the project reached 15 municipalities in Lanao del Sur and served 7,031 patients, of which 67% were women.
Using intersectionality as lens to understanding diabetes
Lived experiences of diabetes can be best understood through an intersectional lens that considers the social identities of ordinary Filipinos. Due to deep-seated culture and gender norms, various gender biases have affected not only our behavior towards health but also our understanding of health. According to the World Health Organization, the majority of studies on NCD, diabetes included, have been undertaken on men, and women have been less diagnosed at early stages. As a result, even health interventions have placed women at the periphery of diabetes attention.
“No words could express how CARE helped us and made us happy, especially here in our community,” – shared Alma (not her real name), 58 years old, a woman with diabetes from Boganga Transitory site. That is why the NCD-LOVE project purposefully targeted not only low-income households in conflict-afflicted areas but, more importantly, women.
“We deeply appreciate the invaluable support from CARE and Abbott, which has been instrumental in propelling this NCD-LOVE program forward. Our steadfast commitment to prioritizing health and well-being remains resolute. As we look ahead, our focus remains steadfast on ensuring the sustainability of our NCD-LOVE program, guaranteeing that the progress achieved endures for the long term,” stated IPHO II.
Unlocking one of the key solutions, applying intersectionality in analyzing diabetes, opens discussions beyond the medical model of this life-threatening, non-communicable disease.
The NCD-LOVE project was funded by Abbott and the Abbott Fund.
