News From The Field: Investing in Local Capacity
We believe that true sustainable international development is driven, led, and
eventually operated by our local partner communities. We are thrilled to start to see our programs and local capacity of partners in the Philippines begin to take on
this ownership.
One critical step in this direction is the creation of a truly counterpart NGO in the Philippines. We are excited to have a dynamic group of local Philippine Board Members established and our official registration paperwork is underway. We have spent hours this year facilitating visioning and planning sessions and we are excited to see the Philippines NGO help guide and advise programming, local partner development, and generate local revenue support as we continue to grow our impact and expand our programming throughout the Philippines.
Philippines Board Member Spotlight: Sir Cesar Galvey
We are especially excited to have one of our dedicated farmers and seed savers
Sir
Cesar Galvey serve on the Philippines NGO Board of Directors.
Sir Galvey is the current President of LaTop: La Trinidad Organic Farming Practitioners Association the regions largest organic farming cooperative in the Northern Philippines. Prior to becoming a full time organic farmer and advocate, Sir Galvey served 15 years as a Barangay Official in La Trinidad, Benguet honing in on his community development skills and learning how to interface effectively with a variety of government offices to provide social good services to communities. His advocacy and desire to become an organic farmer began when he saw the adverse health effects that the chemical laced cut flower industry had on himself, his family, and his neighbors. He has been practicing organic farming since 2005 on his 1,000 sq meter farm in Shilan, La Trinidad, Benguet that is a certified organic farm and ATI-CAR learning site farm.
In 2016 Cesar joined the Friends of ENCA Farm Seed Savers group and began to produce his own organic seeds. Through this work he has been inspired to share his new found seed saving knowledge with a wider community of farmers in the Philippines. He is excited to serve on the Philippines Board and continue to advocate for organic farmers and food security throughout the Philippines.
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