PNLC’s coming to being!

            The PNLC was established at the conclusion of a South Asian conference on Food Security and Fair Trade on February 13-16, 1996 in Balay Kalinaw, UP Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. PNLC was envisioned as a mechanism to ensure that the 1996 Balay Declaration, the output of said conference, will be undertaken in the Philippines. The declaration has 11 points which initially centered on rice but has later evolved into food sufficiency and sovereignty. In terms of food, these are mainly rice, corn, vegetables, fruits, fish and meat. Issues on gender, environment protection and conservation as well as people’s participation in governance are also included in the declaration. PNLC is the Philippine counterpart of the Southeast Asian Council on Food Security and Fair Trade (SEACON) currently based in Malaysia.

 

 

PNLC’s Organizational Structure

            With the big tasks and challenges at hand, PNLC decided to regularize itself and has come up with the following structure:
  • General Assembly (GA)  -  the highest policy-making body composed of the representatives of the 12 member-organizations. It meets once a year.
  • Board of Trustees (BOT)  -  the highest policy-making body in between the Gas and is elected by the GA. The BOT elects the officers from among themselves namely, the chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary, treasurer and auditor.
  • Executive Committee  -  composed of the five elected officers plus the convenor. (Note: Two members of the EC lead two of the committees.)
  • Convenor  -  Ex-officio member of the BOT elected at-charge. He/she heads the Secretariat. Reported to the BOT and executes plans of action approved by the BOT.
  • Committees  -  are on membership, food sovereignty, anti-globalization campaign, education and training and lobby.
  • Secretariat  -  composed of the heads of the committees. The body takes charge of PNLC’s day-to-day tasks and responsibilities.

 

 

PNLC’s Objectives

1. Mainstream the rights-based approach wherein the vulnerable sectors of society are “claim-takers” of what is rightfully theirs in terms of food sovereignty and fair trade.
2. Expose the unjust agriculture-related trade policies to protect the small farmers and producers from the negative impact of trade liberalization resulting to hunger.
3. Push for the democratic participation of small farmers, women and civil society groups in policy formulation and implementation, monitoring and evaluation related to the AFTA and bilateral agreements through the creation of food security councils.
4. Test the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights.
5. Assist the communities in building their local economies through sustainable agriculture, inter-trade among small entrepreneurs and exchange of “best practices”. Promote and develop the culture of “Building Local Economies”.

 

 

PNLC’s Campaign and Lobby Work, in brief!

            Operating as a loose network during it’s early years, PNLC conducted researches on the peasant situation and various issues affecting the sector. Lately, it was involved in a study on the impact of AFTA in the ASEAN region. Based on the results of it’s studies, PNLC, together with other coalitions, has been lobbying for government policies in response to the needs and problems of the most vulnerable sectors particularly the peasants, rural women and children. Furthermore, it sits as a co-convenor of the Stop New Round! Coalition (SNR)) campaigning against the WTO’s unfair trade policies.
            Hand in hand with it’s intensive campaign at the coalition-level, PNLC’s member-organizations closely work with the peasant sector in building local economies mainly in rural communities. This includes the implementation of sustainable agriculture, setting up of demonstration farms, promoting inter-trade among small communities and among small entrepreneurs and patronizing Filipino products, increasing the families’ income, facilitating peoples participation in governance at the local and national levels and campaigning on various peasant issues and needs.

 

 

PNLC’s resource-generation

            The coalition continuously develops its capacity to generate resources for the implementation of its increasing programs and tasks while its member-organizations strive hard to generate resources for the implementation of the PNLC tasks assigned to them.

 

 

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