{"id":8679,"date":"2019-10-20T07:03:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T23:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=8679"},"modified":"2020-03-25T10:50:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T02:50:46","slug":"the-dangers-of-development-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/the-dangers-of-development-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dangers of Development Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This was presented by Dr. Judy Taguiwalo at the forum &#8220;UNJUST: Second Year of Detention of Development Workers Benito Quilloy and Rita Espinosa for Siding with the Poor&#8221;organized by the Assert Socio-Ecoonomic Initiatives Network<\/em> <em>(ASCENT)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mayaman ang Pilipinas pero naghihirap ang mamamayan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nPhilippines is a rich country but the people are poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given\nthis, many good people wanting to change this ironic situation become\nactivists and\/or development workers. You ask, is there a difference?\nNo and yes. There is no difference because both act to change\nsituations of injustice and inequality at the macro, meso and micro\nlevel. Both activists and development workers address poverty: at the\nimmediate level, to provide relief to people and communities such as\nassistance during disasters; and at the strategic level, addressing\nthe roots of poverty in the Philippines by presenting the historical\nand systemic causes of poverty as well as alternatives to bring about\ngenuine and sustainable development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But yes, there is a difference as activists are usually involved in consciousness raising, mobilization and organizing while development workers are usually involved in building and supporting development projects at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Who\nare the development workers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nliterature on development describes the various roles of development\nworkers. Some are technical experts with high-level expertise in a\nparticular field such as infrastructure, irrigation, water and\nsanitation, public health, food distribution and assessment, judicial\nreform. Others perform administrative functions such as preparing\nexpense reports, invoicing and paperwork of all kinds, as well as\ncoordinating and preparing activities such as field visits and\nworkshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gradireland.com\/careers-advice\/job-descriptions\/community-workercommunity-development-worker?fbclid=IwAR0Xt5l70jG23LaeA00oy1ITWgUT_ar707ynmRhnL_Mbjy0rt2UOaZSpemc\">As development workers, their work includes:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\nWorking\n\twith community groups providing a range of activities\n\t<\/li><li>\nIdentifying\n\tassets and capacities that are latent within communities\n\t<\/li><li>\nBuilding\n\tcapacity that allows the community to share knowledge and resources\n\teffectively\n\t<\/li><li>\nSetting\n\tup new services by liaison with interested groups\n\t<\/li><li>\nRecruiting\n\tand training paid and voluntary staff\n\t<\/li><li>\nAttending\n\tmeetings and presenting verbal and written reports\n\t<\/li><li>\nManaging\n\tfinance, payroll\n\t<\/li><li>\nMaking\n\tfunding applications for relevant organisations\n\t<\/li><li>\nActing\n\tas a facilitator to promote self-help in the community. \n\t\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether\nas technical experts or as administrative personnel, development\nworkers especially in the Philippines working with grassroots\norganizations need to have a deep sense of solidarity with the poor\nand a strong commitment to supporting the efforts of grassroots\ncommunities and organizations to change their situation. The emphasis\non solidarity and commitment highlights the truth that unlike\ninternational development workers or even those in the Philippines\nworking with international development agencies, grassroots\ndevelopment workers receive salaries that are not high. This is to\nensure that the bulk of development project funds go to the\ncommunities rather than to pay for overhead and personnel costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Benito\nQuilloy and Rita Espinosa are two of these committed development\nworkers and their office, Assert Socio-Economic Initiatives Network\n(ASCENT), is such a development organization in the service of\ngrassroots communities. Ben, a Sugar Technology major from UP Los\nBanos, has provided agricultural technical support to farmer\u2019s\norganizations to ensure higher productivity and environmental\nprotection. Rita has worked with progressive development\norganizations for decades ensuring efficient and people-responsive\nadministrative support for development projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In\na society which puts a premium on volunteerism, commitment and\nsolidarity with the poor, Ben and Rita would have been recognized for\ntheir service and sacrifices. But the Philippines is not such society\nand we have seen how good people, such as Ben and Rita and hundreds\nof other political prisoners, are unjustly incarcerated under the\nguise of war against insurgency \u2013 a war which has targeted unarmed\nactivists and development workers who are mostly poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\nhas always been danger in being a development worker espousing a\nprogressive stand on the roots of underdevelopment and criticizing\nthe development aggression perpetuated by multilateral agencies,\nmining and other corporations, and government agencies. But the\ndanger has intensified since Rodrigo Duterte came into office. From\nhis so-called war against drugs \u2013 which has turned out to be a war\nagainst the poor and a war exploited by military and police\npersonnel, including Albayalde\u2019s ninjas, to enrich themselves \u2013the\nwar has expanded to include activists, development workers,\nprofessionals such as lawyers and medical doctors and teachers, and\neven government officials such as Bernardo &#8220;Toto\u201d Patigas a\nsitting city councilor of Escalante.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nlatest news is that the Philippines is now the most dangerous country\nfor environmentalists. <em>The\nGuardian<\/em> reported:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p> \u201cThe Philippines has replaced Brazil as the most murderous country in the world for people defending their land and environment, according to research that puts a spotlight on the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.<\/p><p>For the first time since the annual toll began in 2012, Brazil did not top the list. The number of defenders murdered in South America\u2019s biggest nation fell in 2018 by almost two-thirds, from 57 to 20. This was partly due to an overall decline in homicide rates across the country, but also came ahead of a transition of power and rising international attention.<\/p><p>In the Philippines, 30 defenders were killed last year, following 48 in 2017, which was the highest ever recorded in an Asian country. A third of the deaths were on the island of Mindanao, which is at the centre of the Duterte administration\u2019s plans to allocate 1.6 million hectares of land to industrial plantations. Half of the deaths in the Philippines were related to agribusiness.\u201d <\/p><p>The imprisonment of Duterte\u2019s critics and the killings of environmentalists are part of the overall intensified human rights violation in the country.<\/p><cite><a href=\"https:\/\/l.facebook.com\/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2019%2Fjul%2F30%2Fphilippines-deadliest-country-defenders-environment-global-witness%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR34XduWY3aqUOJdwdfU3k3_kaN9ki_CwyOBIBbydGiUbpRshlyB_CVsum0&amp;h=AT3moaHERWvmssFpsgJFR7fNnVGIhzTJVKzdtlUqxKZnkDZ_Mp56B6D3l6kA5sJhKdrE6aktzniUoawBB21-t4qnLY-zICTbqCSagGX_935-sZZ6STgNfKs1P-Rs491iaT2Y_IgNuAc8Iy47hF8p2tPROh3tnqaRcjrY6p1jjQ\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/jul\/30\/philippines-deadliest-country-defenders-environment-global-witness?fbclid=IwAR34XduWY3aqUOJdwdfU3k3_kaN9ki_CwyOBIBbydGiUbpRshlyB_CVsum0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/jul\/30\/philippines-deadliest-country-defenders-environment-global-witness?fbclid=IwAR34XduWY3aqUOJdwdfU3k3_kaN9ki_CwyOBIBbydGiUbpRshlyB_CVsum0\">The Guardia<\/a><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2019\/jul\/30\/philippines-deadliest-country-defenders-environment-global-witness?fbclid=IwAR34XduWY3aqUOJdwdfU3k3_kaN9ki_CwyOBIBbydGiUbpRshlyB_CVsum0\">n:Philippines is deadliest country for defenders of environment <\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ben\nand Rita have been in prison for two years today. Their imprisonment\non trumped-up charges, as is the case of the over 500 political\nprisoners in the country, is obviously unjust. Ben and Rita have\nspent practically their whole life serving the rural poor and\npursuing a development vision that addresses the root cause of\npoverty. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our\ngathering this afternoon is to reiterate the injustice being\nperpetrated on them. This gathering is also a salute to their\ndedication, empathy and solidarity with our people. We demand Ben and\nRita\u2019s freedom as soon as possible through the dropping of charges\nwhich are patently false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Palayain\nsi Ben at Rita! Palayain ang lahat ng bilanggong pulitikal!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DR. JUDY TAGUIWALO<\/p>\n<p>Whether as technical experts or as administrative personnel, development workers especially in the Philippines working with grassroots organizations need to have a deep sense of solidarity with the poor and a strong commitment to supporting the efforts of grassroots communities and organizations to change their situation.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":8681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-nosidebarbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048,3],"tags":[2087,1228,374,221],"class_list":["post-8679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banner","category-features","tag-development-work","tag-development-workers","tag-dr-judy-taguiwalo","tag-ibon-board-of-trustees","wpautop"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-24 16:16:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8679"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9273,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions\/9273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}