|
Family Planning Stories From the Field: Philippines
As advocates for international family planning assistance, the Global Population and Environment Program works to bring family planning stories from abroad home to our activists. It is imperative that we understand the connections between women's health and the health of the environment so that we can better advocate for the U.S. government to keep its promises to support international family planning and reproductive health programs. In the Family Planning Spotlight: Conservation International Working with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Madagascar, the Philippines and Cambodia along with local NGOs and partners, Conservation International is helping rural communities understand the relationship between having smaller, healthier families and improving the stewardship of natural resources and protecting forests that are habitat for globally significant biodiversity. Conservation International in the Philippines
 Conservation International's Philippines staff reach out to local indigenous groups in northern Philippines. Photo courtesy: CI Philippines In the northern Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor, Conservation International works to conserve biodiversity such as the endangered Philippine Eagle, the country's national bird and other endemic species like the Philippine crocodile. As part of these activities, CI has implemented an integrated health and conservation project with local communities since 2002. One of the main conservation objectives is to improve the management of the community based forest concessions in key biodiversity areas, through appropriate land use planning and zoning and capacity building of target communities and community based forest management committees. CI works with local established People's Organizations (POs), government recognized groups of indigenous people with natural resource rights in the area. In the Sierra Madre, this group is known as the Agta, a local nomadic group which sustains its living by hunting, fishing and collection of wild fruit. Historically, the Agta were the first inhabitants of the Sierra Madre jungles and the target population for the government-sponsored Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims in recognition of their ancestral rights. CI's activities with indigenous people have included training in 2003 for 47 indigenous community members along with Barangay health workers and midwives (hilots) in reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) information and service delivery. From July to Dec 2004, the local government committed to give additional support to the Barangay Health Workers, particularly in communities along the coastal areas (Valley Cove) where the indigenous Agta people live, allowing family planning services in remote areas. To find out more about population, health and the environment in the Philippines click here:
Up to Top |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
