Private groups gather to discuss new ways to aid typhoon victims

CEBU, Philippines - Four months after super typhoon Yolanda hit  the Visayas, private organizations which have been active in relief efforts gathered yesterday to think of sustainable ways to further help survivors get back on their feet.

Over 100 organizations participated in the very first social enterprises conference held in Cebu City. The event discussed ways on how to help the typhoon victims considering that dole-out would not be enough.

With this, the Reconstruction Initiative through Social Enterprise was organized that aimed “to support the development of a vibrant social enterprise sector to work on recovery and rehabilitation focused on farmers, laborers, fishers, indigenous people, the entrepreneurial poor, persons with disabilities and the women and children of these marginalized groups.”

RISE supports the Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda, which is the post-disaster strategic plan of the national government.

The Social Enterprise Rehabilitation Visioning and Engagement conference was conducted from March 13 to 14.

During the event, social enterprise institutions and government agency representatives discussed ways to empower the survivors of the calamity.

Among the participating groups included the Oxfam International, Peace and Equity Foundation and Foundation for Sustainable Society Inc., Philippine Business for Social Progress, among others.

Marie Lisa Dacanay, president of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia, told the media that participants pledged support for the campaign of the network.

“Oxfam still has much of their $50 million intact, and they’re very much open to funding livelihood initiatives, but they’re focused on Leyte, Samar and northern Cebu,” Dacanay said.

FSSI, for its part, has P100 million as well intended for grants and loans in the Philippines but Dacanay clarified that this will not only be for Yolanda survivors.

Dacanay defined social entrepreneurship as “like NGOs because they have a very clear social mission of helping the poor, empowering the poor and getting the poor out of poverty but also like businesses in the sense that they create wealth, they’re not dependent on grants but at the same time,” she explained.

This approach aspires to distribute the wealth of the nation to make sure that the poor benefit from the improvement of the economy.

“The economy is growing but the poor are getting poorer. So what we want to do is help create wealth but also ensure that this is also properly distributed,” she added. —/ATO (FREEMAN)