The following are studies done by TAO-Pilipinas staff:

Living With Water: Formal Models of Settlements in the Vietnam Mekong Delta

by Arlene Christy D. Lusterio, Executive Director, TAO-Pilipinas

The study looks at sustainable settlements development in river basin and coastal environments. It examines three rural settlements in the Vietnam Mekong Delta: one in the Mekong River basin affected by periodic inundation; and two in the coastal area bordering the South China Sea affected by coastal erosion, storms, and salinity intrusion.

Settlements development in the Delta is anchored on the following policies: to live with and control water; increase agricultural productivity; and alleviate poverty. In line with the above policies, the selected settlements have implemented four main measures: water control system and disaster considerations in planning; compensation and rehabilitation measures for the affected households; poverty reduction; and environmental protection. Environmental protection is mainly focused on the protection of human life, crops and property but misses out on the protection of the natural environment on which the overall survival of the Delta is hinged.

This study was completed through a Research Fellowship given by the Asian Scholarship Foundation. Email the author to request for a copy.

Enhancing the Role of Technical Assistance NGOs in Housing the Poor: A Case Study of TAO-Pilipinas, Inc.

by Faith Varona, Program Coordinator for Research and Publications

The past decades have shown the increasing role of civil society in filling the housing and basic services gap in the Philippines. Technical assistance (TA) NGOs are a recent phenomenon in development work. This study aimed to: identify, understand, and analyze the roles as well as potentials and limitations that TA-NGOs play in facilitating access to housing by the poor in general, by looking at the experience of TAO-Pilipinas in particular; assess the institutional framework affecting the relationships among various actors involved in housing particularly the NGOs, and examine how these actors interact to address the housing needs of the poor; and review selected international experiences and case studies where NGOs play an active role in housing to see to what extent they can be compared to the Philippine situation and analyzed in the thesis.

This study was the author’s thesis for a Masters in Urban Management and Development from the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)-Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, funded through a fellowship from the Netherlands Fellowship Program of NUFFIC (The Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education). It is available at the IHS-Rotterdam and HDM-Lund University resource center/library. Email the author to request for a copy.

Service Infrastructure Sharing of Resettlers and Host Communities: a Case Study of the KV-3 Summerfield Subdivision in Trece Martires, Cavite, Philippines

by Rosalyn-Frances Marcelo, Program Staff for Young Professionals Program

Despite the Asian Development Bank and World Bank’s continuous emphasis on the need for integration of resettler and host population in resettlement communities, it is still far from being standard practice in the Philippines. Resettlement planners normally focus on providing assistance only to the resettlers. However, the hosts are also severely affected by the relocation project because more people will use the hosts’ resources, compete for job opportunities, and demand social services. If these are not adequate to address the needs of both populations, competition may arise and lead to adverse conflicts between the resettlers and the hosts. Inability to address these concerns may render the resettlement project a failure.

This study aims to provide some ideas for resettlement planning, particularly in the aspect of integrating resettlers and hosts through service infrastructure sharing. The researcher selected a resettlement area and studied what facilities are actually shared by the affected population. Satisfaction with the use and sharing arrangements was also part of the study. Recommendations to prevent the occurrence of the aforementioned problems and improve future resettlement planning processes were then formed. Ideal characteristics of shared service infrastructure in terms of location, quality, degree of urgency and cost recoverability, were also included.

This study was the author’s thesis for a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of The Philippines, Diliman in 2007. Email the author to request for a copy.

Integrating Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in Site Planning and House Design of Resettlement Projects

by Geraldine Matabang, Rosalyn-Frances Marcelo, and Beryl Baybay

Albay province in the Bicol region is still in the process of recovery after mudflows at the height of typhoon Reming (Durian) last November 30, 2006 flowed from the slopes of Mayon volcano burying surrounding villages and rendering thousands of families homeless and displaced. The urgent need to provide relocation for displaced families resulted in rapid reconstruction work in areas with less than minimum site development.

The purpose of the study is anchored on “the use of knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience,” as outlined in the Hyogo Framework of Action 2005-2015. Its overall objective is to enhance the disaster resilience of communities through the integration of disaster risk management considerations in the physical (site) planning and design of houses in the resettlement areas. It looked into the post-disaster rehabilitation processes taking place in Albay particularly in the resettlement sites more than a year after typhoon Reming struck, as the local governement has yet to fully re-settle all displaced families. The research output can serve as a guide for stakeholders in developing relocation sites into more disaster-resilient areas for human settlement.

This study is an action-research project funded through the Applied Research Grants for Disaster Reduction Programme by the ProVention Consortium and with support of TAO-Pilipinas, Inc. as host organization. It has been recently published as a monograph and is now available at the TAO office for 140 pesos per copy. For further inquiries, you can call 441-0998 and look for Ms.Geraldine Matabang or Ms. Rosalyn-Frances Marcelo.