ZEP2030 5th General Assembly

The Zero Extreme Poverty Philippines 2030 held its 5th General Assembly on November 26, 2020 with the theme, “Strengthening Local MultiStakeholder Collaboration Towards COVID-19 Recovery”. Given the health safety concerns and community quarantine, the ZEP2030 coalition conducted its first virtual assembly via the Zoom platform with a special live streaming on Facebook*. In total, the General Assembly was attended by 187 individuals from 102 organizations in Zoom and reached 50 viewers on Facebook. Albeit virtually, members and partners successfully came together to take stock of the coalition’s effort in its battle against COVID-19, and learned from shared experiences and strategies particularly on collaboration and collective impact.

The assembly welcomed key figures from various sectors as speakers**. This allowed for a more in-depth discussion and analysis on the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent community quarantines on the economy and the overall poverty situation in the Philippines.

Dr. Celia Reyes, President of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, served as the resource speaker of the event. She presented crucial economic trends before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. She calls attention to the number of cumulative COVID-19 cases (416,852 as of November 21, 2020) in the Philippines, having the second highest number of cases in Southeast Asia. While the imposition of the community quarantine is to uphold safety protocols, Dr. Reyes points out the 11.5 percent decrease in the GDP growth rate in the third quarter, and the rapid increase of unemployment rates throughout the country. This only suggests the increase of poverty incidence and magnitude among the population. In response to this, the government implemented various emergency measures during the ECQ to aid the families. This includes financial assistance, emergency employment program, food relief operations, and transportation services for the frontliners. This relatively helps alleviate the rate of poverty in the country by around four percent.

Following Dr. Reyes’ presentation were reflections from Mr. Austere Panadero of the Zuellig Family Foundation, Mr. Lito Tayag of Accenture, and Governor Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands. They talked about providing livelihood as one vital support to move towards recovery. They also emphasized the importance of supporting local communities, focusing on mental welfare, organizing and engaging in risk management, and planning with multi-sectoral partners.

In a second panel discussion, Mr. Bernardino Sayo of the Union of Local Government Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) and Mayor Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco of Zamboanga City shared insights on how CSOs and the private sector can complement local government initiatives to support affected communities. They underlined the need to co-create, coown, and collaborate in devising solutions by having a common understanding of the problem. This can be achieved through proper research and documentation, and simultaneously educating others to promote coherence and learn from best practices.

Mr. Francis Capistrano from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines presented the results of the Tawid COVID Pulse PH survey as well as the #TawidCOVID Innovation Challenge, both initiated by UNDP. In the TawidCOVID challenge, organizations and individuals were asked to pitch scalable grassroots solutions for sustainable livelihood, resource mobilization, and social accountability in the new normal. As of press time, UNDP has received 31 applications***.

Moving forward, the ZEP2030 movement recognizes the need to re-strategize its approaches. In these times of restricted mobility, there is a need to migrate to online tools and platforms in order to efficiently collaborate with local convenors and partners, and to effectively strengthen local convergences. Br. Armin Luistro FSC, CoChair of ZEP2030, closed the assembly by reiterating the need to learn from the experiences of others, to continuously share resources and opportunities, and to rely on evidence-based information when planning. He states, “We will survive not only if we take care of ourselves, but when we also take care of others.”

*To watch the recorded webinar, visit fb.com/ZeroExtremePoverty2030

**To download the copies of the presentations, visit zep2030.wixsite.com/ generalassembly2020

***To stay tuned for the announcement of winners of the #TawidCOVID Innovation Challenge, visit fb.com/UNDP.PH