Food, shelter, work, and education are the most basic needs of human beings. Ironically, these are the same things the poor can only dream of and struggle for. It has been a daunting task to deliver these, but the present administration has taken the challenge. Focusing on a firm goal to reduce rising incidence of, and prevent the adverse effects of poverty, the Arroyo administration has forged a comprehensive development strategy converging the programs of various agencies.

In July 2002, the President presented a detailed program to combat poverty, a convergence strategy where programs of various agencies work together to address poverty in a systematic and integrated fashion. All these fall under the Arroyo government’s anti-poverty platform called “Kalahi,” an acronym for Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan.

Kalahi has been described as an expanded, accelerated and focused strategy – expanded because it provides beyond the basic services, accelerated because it “responds immediately to the most pressing problems” of poor communities, and focused because it targets the poorest sectors and communities.

Kalahi responds through immediate and medium-term interventions. The first deals with a welfare approach by responding to the immediate needs of the community. On the other hand, medium-term interventions deal with providing livelihood and employment through skills-development training, among others.

There are five elements in this strategy: asset reform, human development services, social protection, participation in governance, and security against violence. Under asset reform, the following reforms are highlighted: urban land reform and housing, agrarian reform, aquatic resources reform, ancestral domain, and microfinance.

Focusing on the perspective that poverty is a structural problem, the strategy visualizes an equitable redistribution of economic and political resources to achieve national development. The accomplishment of this ideal necessitates the harnessing of the resources and capabilities of the civil society and, most especially, the private sector.

Work in Progress
Since the First Asian Forum on Corporate Responsibility in 2002, the government, the private sector, and civil society have been more active in consolidating efforts to combat poverty.

Several members of the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) engaged in enterprise development that provide communities access to credit. Through cooperative lending, the BPI Foundation, UCPB-CIIF, Land Bank, and the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) provide financial assistance to coconut-based clients and agri-business operations.

Business organizations like the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Philippine Exporters Confederation and Jardeli Club are also actively involved in implementing programs on entrepreneurial and management skills and livelihood skills training.

Petron Foundation, through its “Tulong Aral Program,” is sending 1,000 children in Metro Manila to elementary schools. In support of the government program to provide a public school for every barangay, the Foundation also aims to build school buildings. This year, emphasis will be given to war-torn Mindanao. Petron also supports a skills training and education program benefiting out of school youth and children of public utility vehicle drivers.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer established the Newsboy Foundation in 1993 to send deserving newsboys to school. Also, the Inquirer has been continuously involved in environmental initiatives, such as the ongoing newspaper drive, which aims to address deforestation and promote solid waste management.

Besides the LCF community, other corporations have taken up the challenge to develop, implement or support initiatives addressing the Kalahi priority concerns.

Addressing the lack of appropriate housing facilities for urban poor communities, PBSP with the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, Asian Development Bank, and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council launched a post-land acquisition program to help improve the living conditions of poor families in Metro Manila. The program includes a Risk Reduction Management component for urban poor communities.

Opportunity Micro-Finance Bank (OMB), established in August 2002, is the result of the consolidation of five micro-finance non-governmental organizations and two network partners. To date, OMB has serviced over 17,000 borrowers and savers. It intends to extend its services to 250,000 poor Filipinos in the coming year and deliver lending and deposit services to one million poor Filipinos by 2006.

The private sector transcends its traditional role of generating capital and producing goods and services for consumption by continuously creating programs and projects supporting the Kalahi program. Profitability and corporate growth attains a new meaning when the business sector assumes the role of catalyst to national economic growth.