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A Briefer on ODA Watch
Through the ODA, billions and billions of pesos have been poured
into our country over the past five decades supposedly for the
country's development. Paradoxically though, poverty remains a
stark reality among our people as seen in their day-to-day lives
and as expressed in glaring data. To cite a few, according to
the Social Weather Stations (SWS), 14.5 million of our people
are hungry while almost 4 million are jobless and around 8
million are searching for additional jobs (National Statistics
Office, Labor Force Survey). In the countryside, thousands of
peasants continue to be landless and/or without agricultural
support despite the 18-year implementation of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Moved by the above reality, five NGOs which have been working
among the rural poor for years came together to form the ODA
Watch in 2002. These NGOs are Alternate Forum for Research in
Mindanao (AFRIM), Kasanyangan-Mindanao Foundation, Inc.,
Management and Organizational Development for Empowerment
(MODE), Philippine Network of Rural Development Institutes (PhilNet)
and Centro Saka, Inc. Right from its inception, the consortium
expressed its mandate through its three main tasks namely;
monitoring and research, legislative and executive advocacy and
networking towards building effective institutions.
Among other tasks, ODA Watch conducted a series of forums and
workshops among civil society organizations whose tasks include
the ODA issue. Hand in hand with this, the consortium also
conducted a research in the implementation of five big ODA-funded
rural projects in various parts of the country. From the results
of this research, a book titled: "Engaging Official Development
Assistance: Lessons in Civil Society Participation" was
published in 2005. As expressed in its title, the book focused
on the lessons and learnings gathered by NGOs and people's
organizations (POs) in their engagement with ODA-funded
projects. The focus stems from the fact that a firm stepping
stone for NGOs and POs to intervene and concretely influence ODA
policies can best be derived from their direct involvement in
ODA-funded projects.
More recently, ODA Watch has developed into a network of almost
20 organizations and coalitions. Although loose in nature, the
network aims to develop an encompassing ODA advocacy while
retaining each organization's particular advocacy. From among
the members of the network, clusters on related issues and
themes will be formed and they will plan their corresponding
activities. The efforts of the clusters will be coordinated by a
Coordinating Group and secretariat composed of the original
members of ODA-Watch and other active members. With a bigger
formation, the network will have a stronger voice in influencing
ODA to make it truly responsive to the concrete needs of our
people and for the country's overall development - a qualitative
change which will have to be concretely translated in our
people's day-to-day lives.
What We Stand
For
While the Philippines has been a recipient of Official
Development Assistance (ODA) for decades, the country remains
underdeveloped and its people have remained poor due to flawed
development models and policies, and weak institutions.
Genuine development is derived from building self-reliance on
our own resources and capacities. Genuine development considers
the following aspects:
We believe that ODA should be responsive to the needs of a
country and its people towards genuine development.
Who We Are
We are a group of development oriented Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs) who advocates that ODA should serve genuine
development.
We are here to engage governments (host and donor) in ODA
policy, priority, design, and process.
We build the broadest unity among CSOs in promoting ODA that
serves the people and social accountability in the conduct of
ODA programs/projects.
Our Vision
A world free from want and fear, where peoples and nations
respect each other as equals; and, where solidarity and
cooperation result in mutual benefit.
Our
Mission
To influence the realization of reforms in ODA institutions,
policies and practices towards addressing inequitable relations
between and among development stakeholders.
Our Goals
To create social pressure in promoting ODA that serves the
people and social accountability in the conduct of ODA programs
& projects.
To engage governments in ODA policy, priority, design and
process to serve genuine development, especially in rural areas.
To build ODA Watch as an effective & efficient advocacy network.
Our Tasks
Monitoring and Research
-
conduct different kinds of researches;
including action research to deepen the understanding on ODA as
development tool and how it is implemented in the country
-
disseminate researches and other information
to different ODA stakeholders through seminars, workshops and
public forums
-
conduct of action researches on different
issues that affect ODA policy implementations
Legislative and Executive Advocacy
-
dialogues, negotiations and consultations
with government and funding agencies for policy formulation and
reforms
-
advocacy in the different executive bodies
that are mainly in charge of ODA policy formulation and policy
implementation
Networking towards Building Effective Institutions
-
generate broad unity among Civil Society
Organizations
-
establishing linkages with the business
sector
-
public information dissemination on how
different ODA institutions are performing
Activities:
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