Partners and Supporters

BALAOD – Mindanaw (BALAOD)

32-E Kalambaguha-Burgos Sts., Bgy. 15, Cagayan de Oro City 9000

BALAOD – Mindanaw (BALAOD) aims to help in the advancement of the legal justice issues of different marginalized sectors and communities in Mindanao in the context of active peoples’ participation in governance. It promotes paralegal formation and provides other legal sevices as the main strategy in advancing resource tenure, human rights and access to justice of marginalized sectors and communities in Mindanao. BALAOD is operating in Loreto, Tubajon and Libjo in the province of Dinagat Islands. Aside from paralegal formation, it also creates and strengthens fish wardens, establish marine protected areas and engages in policy advocacy.

Center for Empowerment & Resource for Development (CERD)

2/F PRRM Bldg, 56 Mother Ignacia Avenue, Quezon City

Center for Empowerment & Resource for Development (CERD) is a non-stock, non-profit development organization engaged in CB-CRM and integrated area development. It has worked in major fishing grounds such as Balayan Bay, Western Batangas, Maqueda Bay, Samar, Samar Sea, Matarinao Bay, Eastern Samar, and Hinatuan Bay, Surigao del Sur. Formed in 1978, CERD has implemented fishery resource management programs in Batangas, Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar and Surigao del Sur. CERD and its partner fisherfolk organizations have been recognized and given awards in the areas of GAWAD KALASAG for disaster risk reduction, solid waste management, fishery management, among others. CERD also represented the NGOs in the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (NFARMC) from March 2017 to September 2021 after the term of Tambuyog Development Center has ended. It is also the hub for Samar Island CSOs under the UNDP Small Grants Program (SGP) 5. It pioneered the establishment of several Women Managed Areas (WMA) in partnership with women fishers’ organizations in Hinatuan, SDS and Samar Sea. CERD is a member of regional networks such as the Southeast Asian Fisheries for Justice Network (SEAFish – Justice) and the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network International. CERD is currently operating in several coastal municipalities in Bantayan Bay, Northern Samar, Acid Gulf in Masbate and Lianga Bay in Surigao del Sur.

Haribon Foundation (Haribon)

18 Scout Gandia St., Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City

Haribon Foundation (Haribon) is an environmental organization whose programs center on biodiversity conservation, resource management and advocacy work. It has coastal resource management programs in Bohol and Bolinao, Pangasinan, as well as in Lanuza, Surigao del Sur.

Institute of Social Order (ISO)

Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Road, Quezon City

Institute of Social Order (ISO) is a social development organization that was established in 1947. As a social institution under the ambit of the Society of Jesus Philippine Province, the ISO pursues its mission of upholding human dignity by promoting faith that does justice. Since then, ISO has accumulated a rich history of advancing the rights of the poor and marginalized—the laborers, peasant, urban poor, youth, women, the informal sector, indigenous peoples, upland farmers and of late, the municipal fisherfolks.

Since 1992, the ISO has been directing its efforts to addressing the concerns of the municipal fishers who, alongside the farmers, remain the poorest of the poor in Philippine society. These efforts are operationalized through its multi-phased flagship program called the Social Transformation and Grassroots Empowerment (STAGE) Program, which aims to build the capacities of fishers’ organizations (FOs) and local government units (LGUs) in community-based coastal resources management (CBCRM) and environmental protection and governance. Today, ISO works closely with local fisherfolk organizations, LGUs, school-based organizations, national government agencies, and multi-sectoral councils that operate along four bay areas of Luzon. These include the five coastal and island municipalities of the Polillo Group of Islands located in Northern Lamon Bay in Quezon Province; Municipality of Siruma located in San Miguel Bay, Province of Camarines Sur; City of San Fernando located in San Fernando Bay in La Union Province; and the Municipality of Culion located in Coron Bay in the Province of Palawan.

Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA)

59 C. Salvador St., Varsity Hills Subdivision, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) is a national network of social development organizations. Its major programs center around agrarian reform, local governance and politics and rural development. It has around 20 member NGOs (out of 62) involved in coastal communities.

Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM)

56 Mother Ignacia, Quezon City

Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) core program for area development is Sustainable Rural District Development Program (SRDDP). SRDDP is designed to bring about eventual transfer of power to the people themselves. This process should translate in increasing capacity of communities for self-governance and management of resources and in state governance that is accountable to the citizens.

Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (SALIGAN)

Ground Floor, Hoffner Building, Loyola Heights, Social Development Complex, Quezon City, 1108 Metro Manila

Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (SALIGAN) is a legal resource NGO, which envisions a just, peaceful, compassionate and liberating society. It’s program focus on concerns of women, local governance, labor, urban poor and peasant. Under each program the institution have the following activities: Legal literacy / alternative legal education, paralegal formation, litigation support, policy work, research and publication and internship.

Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong Agham at Teknolohiya (SIKAT)

2/F Eagle Court Condominium, 26 Matalino St., Diliman, Quezon City 1100

Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong Agham at Teknolohiya (SIKAT) is a duly recognized non-profit organization. It is composed of engineers, scientist and community organizers dedicated to the task of popularizing appropriate technology (approtech) in the poverty-stricken areas in the Philippines. It believes that there is a need for an assessment of the present technology being used, and the humanization of technology to suit the needs of a developing country. SIKAT has been implementing community-based coastal resource management programs in Eastern Samar and in Siargao, Surigao del Norte.

Tambuyog Development Center (TDC)

23-A Marunong St., Diliman, Qiezon City

Tambuyog Development Center (TDC) is a non-stock, non-profit institution, which provides services to the fisherfolk sector and is actively involved in environmental issues. It has programs and projects in research, training, communications, and organizing and socioeconomic work.

Tambuyog is currently implementing CBCRM in different forms and stages with its partner coastal communities and local governments. Tambuyog in partnership with the fisherfolk communities and the local governments, is engaging the government towards reaping the economic benefits of community-based resource management in Visayan Sea in Bantayan Island, Tayabas Bay in Quezon Province and Tanon Strait in Bantayan Island, Southern Cebu and Negros Occidental Provinces.

In Bantayan Island in Northern Cebu, Tambuyog partnered with the fisherfolk communities and the local government units towards building the resiliency of the marginalized and vulnerable fisherfolks and their coastal communities through timely, relevant and localized knowledge building and utilization. This is being done through the introduction of climate responsive diversified livelihoods and community social enterprises, increasing the capacity of the resource management bodies and the policies and mechanisms, strengthening of fisherfolk organizations and community-based disaster and risk reduction management bodies.

At the national level, Tambuyog was the immediate NGO Representative in the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (NFARMC), bringing as agenda the Philippine fisherfolk sector’s vision of building a sustainable and inclusive national fisheries industry for the Philippines.

Tambuyog also engages the National Agriculture and Fisheries Council (NAFC) where it is a member to ensure that the fishery sector industry would not be left in the fringes of the National programs and support. Both – the NFARMC and NAFC – are venue for the claim-making and advocacies of the Philippine marginal fisherfolk sector.

In the international/regional level, Tambuyog spearheaded and still a vital member of the Southeast Asian Fisheries for Justice Network (SEAFish – Justice), a network of ASEAN NGOs, Fisherfolk Formations and Civil Societies pushing for CBCRM.

Tambuyog was also bestowed the ASEAN Leadership Award on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last July 5, 2013.

Zoological Society of London – Philippines

Iloilo Head Office, 43-E Burgos Street, Brgy. Magdalo, La Paz, 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines

Founded in 1826, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international science, conservation and education charity dedicated to promoting and achieving the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. ZSL’s work is diverse: the Society runs two zoos (at London and Whipsnade), which are visited by 1.5 million people annually; carries out scientific research relevant to the conservation of animals and their habitats in the Institute of Zoology; and delivers practical conservation action for some of the world’s most threatened species.

ZSL’s Conservation Programmes Department is actively involved in field conservation in over 50 countries worldwide. It aims to build capacity and influence policy, to bring direct and sustainable conservation benefits to wild animals and their habitats in the context of communities. ZSL’s Marine and Freshwater Programme has extensive global experience of improving/securing marine biodiversity and livelihoods through community-based management of marine protected areas (MPAs), mangrove protection and rehabilitation. This is achieved through working with communities, government, private sector and other stakeholders to identify threats, design locally relevant management plans, increase implementation capacity, and improve livelihoods, with outcomes underpinned by sound science.

The key beneficiaries ZSL work include local communities through improved livelihoods and management of/access to their natural resources; conservation professionals through increased educational opportunities, technological exchange, improved equipment and financial resources; and animals and their habitats, due to a reduction in the impacts of damaging threats/activities.

Officially called ZSL-Community-based Mangroves Rehabilitation Project, Philippines, Inc., the Zoological Society of London – Philippines Country Office was registered under Philippines laws on 9 December 2010 as local branch of ZSL in-country. ZSL-Philippines is now considered the national authority on mangrove conservation, having implemented in-situ rehabilitation projects; developed science-based mangrove planting protocols and methods; research and knowledge dissemination on mangrove reversion of abandoned, unproductive and unutilized fishponds; and national level policy advocacy on fishpond reversion and restoration of coastal greenbelts. In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, ZSL’s expertise on mangrove restoration has been sought by all sectors in the country- government, private and civil society/NGOs. The merger in 2013 with its long-time partner, Project Seahorse Foundation for Marine Conservation, reinforces ZSL’s extensive work and experience on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Philippines, especially in Danajon Bank, a globally significant and nationally-declared marine key biodiversity area double-barrier reef. ZSL-Philippines also implements a novel conservation-linked sustainable enterprise with Interface Ltd., known as Net-Works (www.net-works.com). In this project, coastal women and fishers gain income and clean the environment by collecting discarded fishing nets that are recycled into nylon carpet tiles sold globally.

John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI)

2/F Benigno Mayo Hall, Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, 1108 Quezon City

John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (JJCICSI)’s work is strategically focused on empowering local actors as a core component of its research and advocacy involvement. The Institute has also ventured into developing projects that benefit the urban and rural poor, women, and children. At the same time, the Institute is engaged in mentoring, training, and providing consulting services, as well as the production of manuals, templates, and other tools to attain its goals of poverty alleviation and integral human development. Unifying and animating all these are the Institute’s initiatives in disseminating Catholic Social Teaching and collaborating with the local church in its mission of promoting “the faith that does justice.”

Tanggol Kalikasan (Defense of Nature, TK)

M-02 CRM III Bldg., 106 Kamias Road, Quezon City

Tanggol Kalikasan (Defense of Nature, TK) is a non-stock, non-profit, public interest environmental law office in the Philippines. It has operated as such since 1987, initially as a legal defense arm of Haribon Foundation until it registered as a separate entity in 2001. TK works with national and international partners and networks and has its national coordinating office in Quezon City. It also maintains fully-staffed area office in Lucena City (Southern Luzon Office).