Recommendations
The initial results of the 200-Village Project survey in five (5) countries suggest certain areas for strategic
intervention and initiatives designed to address issues at different levels and timeframes, and from different
approaches.
As stipulated in the project objectives and framework, interventions should be directed both at the
community and policy environments. Operationally, these interventions would translate to interrelated activities
that include participatory village-level planning, field projects, and policy advocacy.
Pursue Genuine Agrarian Reform.The agenda for policy advocacy is already suggested by the factors
cited above. As far as lack of access to land is concerned, policy advocacy should be directed towards the
implementation of genuine agrarian and resource reform. The insignificant contribution of government sponsored
agrarian reform to land acquisition by the households is a sad testimonial to the ineffectiveness, if not failure
of past land redistribution efforts.
This should spur the ANGOC Network to renew its efforts in advocating for
agrarian reform in the region in order to revive the agrarian reform agenda not only among governments but
especially among international development institutions dedicated to truly lifting up the living conditions
of poor people in the countryside.
Promote Sustainable Agricultural Practices.Another significant finding from the survey is that
improved agricultural productivity is key to ensuring food security. The fact that many of Asia?s poor still
practice traditional agriculture is perhaps sufficient evidence of this. The challenge to the Network, however,
is to successfully promote a form of agriculture that raises farm productivity while keeping inputs to a minimum
and to the extent possible, locally available.
With regard to farmers? lack of capacity to control the marketing of their produce, policy advocates
should urge governments or NGOs improve their share of agricultural trading and thereby mitigate the effects
of the pernicious influence of middlemen.
Community Planning and Field Project ImplementationThe baseline information gathered can best be
used in community-level planning. Getting feedback from the villages is the most basic area of intervention.
It will provide leads to higher levels and forms of initiatives, including tools and approaches.
At the same time, the process will serve at least two important purposes. One, it would validate findings
from collective and varied perspectives from different sectors in the community. These findings would in turn
facilitate a more accurate targeting of interventions. Two, the process of exchanging views and information would
eventually encourage involvement and informed participation among members of communities.
A valid appraisal of the situation in the household and village coupled with genuine community involvement
will ensure that action plans truly address the unique nature of the food security problems in each village.
Implementing field projects would directly improve conditions in the community and at the same time
establish key parameters for replication. However, the challenge is to identify distinct and innovative
interventions that will effectively reach the rural poor while complementing existing initiatives.
Taking off from the concept of food as a basic human right, projects would be designed to meet the basic
food needs of each household and therefore would be assessed according to how much they have improved the status
of household food security.
In the end, what will set this Project apart from all others is its consistent emphasis on the Asian Rural
Household as the beginning and end of all efforts to address the issues of hunger and poverty. ANGOC believes that
unless communities have a stake in this Project and are able to take control of the whole process, then this
venture will go the way of many failed interventions. In embarking on this community-based approach to addressing
hunger and poverty, ANGOC gives form?and meaning?to the vision it lives by:
?Vibrant Asian Rural Communities living in harmony with nature as stewards
of the Earth, whose members are able to realize their full human potentials,
collectively chart their path to development, provide for their present and
future needs and equitably share the fruits of their labors in community
celebrations of life.?
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Background
The Project
Status
Methodology
Conclusion
Recommendations Strategic intervention and initiatives. more...
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