Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement

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Conrado S. Navarro

Conrado “Ding” Navarro, 11th President of PRRM, started his involvement in Rural Reconstruction when he was invited in March 1980 by former Senator Juan M. Flavier, then President of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), to join IIRR as Assistant to the President, to advice and assist the President in general management matters. He was subsequently designated, in successive order, as Director of International Training, Director of International Extension, Director of Field Operations, and Director of Field Operational Research, until his appointment as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 1992, the position that he held until his retirement from the Institute in December 1996.

After leaving IIRR, he was invited to join the Educational Capital Corporation (ECC), a subsidiary of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE), where he served as Vice President and General Manager of the ECC Triple-A Property Ventures, a property development company that he organized to assist private schools develop their idle properties into profit centers.

In July 1998, Ding was drafted into government service as Undersecretary for Field Operations and Support Services of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) by then Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio “Boy” Morales, Jr., himself a former PRRM President (1986-1998). He resigned the position in February 2001 to allow the new national leadership which assumed office in January of that year to appoint its own senior officials in the Department, as tradition dictates.

Soon after leaving the DAR, Ding was asked by the PRRM Board of Trustees to serve as Acting President of the Movement to allow the incumbent President, Wigberto “Bobby” Tañada, to go on leave so he can join the senatorial race during the national elections of that year (2001). Ding occupied the post from March 1 to May 31, 2001. When Bobby Tañada re-assumed the presidency on June 1st, he asked Ding to stay on as Senior Assistant to the President. He was subsequently designated Director for Movement Building and Field Operations, and later, as Director for Resource Development. In May 2006, he was elected to succeed Bobby Tañada as PRRM President when the latter’s term ends in May 2007. Meanwhile, the PRRM Board of Trustees created the position of Executive Director and appointed Ding to this post, as a transition post to the PRRM presidency. On June 1, 2007, Ding assumed the position of PRRM President and Chief Executive Officer.

Ding also served in the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) as Vice President in 1974-1980, and in several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), either as chair, president, or board member. At present, he sits as Chair of the International Network of Alternative Financial Institutions (INAFI) – Asia and Philippine chapters, and Vice Chair of the INAFI International Foundation. He is also President of the Institute of Reproductive Health-Philippines (IRHP), which promotes natural family planning, and a board member of “Sarilng Sikap, Inc.”, a NGO providing livelihood assistance to small farmers, women and youth.

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Community and Habitat No. 13: Community resilience needs a change in mindset

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