Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement

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Policy Reform and Convergence for Voluntary Action

Influencing Public Policy and Promoting Development Cooperation

Policy Reform and Convergence for Voluntary Action Over the past decade PRRM has been consistently involved in all sorts of advocacies for social and environmental justice. It has claimed some space in every imaginable site of struggle where people’s welfare is at stake, from barangay elections to United Nations events, from World Bank and Asian Development Bank meetings to dialogues with corporations. The point of such engagement with state and market forces is to get them to commit to policy reforms and see to it that reforms actually take place.

PRRM has been involved in influencing global development processes through its participation in the major United Nations conferences since 1992. In all of these conferences, PRRM played an active role in the preparatory processes, in the summit events and in the post-conference activities, particularly in monitoring the implementation of commitments made by the Philippine government and other development actors.

Involvement in the decade of UN summits

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992.
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, Egypt, 1994.
International Conference on Women, Beijing, China, 1995.
World Summit on Social Development (WSSD), Copenhagen, Denmark, 1995.
Habitat Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, 1996.
Summit on Food Security (World Food Summit), Rome, Italy, 1996.
Fifth International Conference on Adult Education, Hamburg, Germany, 1997.

Engaging the Multilateral Development Banks

In the global arena, pursuing the commitments in the various conferences also entails examining the policies and allocations of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), most notably the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Engagement aims to reform these institutions towards making them more socially and environmentally responsible. PRRM regularly dialogues with the WB Resident Mission Philippines on policy and project issues. As a member of the ADB NGO Working Group, PRRM has also lobbied for bank reforms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Strengthening Global Civil Society

Besides the UN-sponsored global conferences, PRRM also pursues its international advocacy work by participating in various regional networks. These are organizations of citizens seeking to promote the globalization of people’s development initiatives, parallel to the dominant globalization of private business and the market. These initiatives not only promote solidarity among members but also create mutual support mechanisms for sharing models of development that work, taking into account multi-cultural differences. PRRM is active and holds key positions in various international organizations, notably CIVICUS, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, a global network of civil society organizations promoting greater visibility and influence for the voices of civil society, and the World Social Forum (WSF) of civil-society groups and social movements against unbridled globalization.

Pursuing National and Local Advocacies

PRRM also undertakes advocacy campaigns at the national and local levels, both by itself and in collaboration with other organizations, to promote laws, policies, programs and regulations that benefit small farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples, women and the youth. It is active in advocacies on several themes and issues with various partners. (See separate insert on major advocacy themes, issues, and partner organizations, coalitions and networks.)

Membership in Multi-Sectoral/Comprehensive Coalitions and Networks

Association of Foundations (AF)
CONVERGENCE for Community-Centered Area Development
Conference Against Poverty (CAP)
NGO Sectoral Council of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC)

Core Features of the PRRM Approach
Thematic Areas
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Publications

Journals, Books, Articles, Features and Commentaries on national and international policy, grassroots developments and initiatives and rural reconstruction movement. Read more

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

Community resilience needs a change in mindset
THIS ISSUE OF PRRM’S COMMUNITY & HABITAT JOURNAL IS focused on the intertwined issues of climate change, energy and food.