Informal Economy Budget Analysis in Philippines and ... - WIEGO

WIEGO Working Paper N o 12additional income and/ or embark on alternative livelihoods. Some groups are borrowing money to buytrucks which enables them to become collectors of garbage in nearby communities, thereby raising theirincome prospects.Through coordination with other City government departments, offices and agencies, local communitybasedNGOs and POs, public and private business and educational institutions, the scavengers haveobtained financing and skills training that have allowed them to go into minor business ventures andprepare for alternative livelihoods, in anticipation of the closure of the disposal facility. Almost 1,000families living along danger zones adjacent to the dumpsite have been relocated. Various organisations arealso helping the City Government provide for healthcare, non-formal education and livelihood opportunitiesto the scavengers and nearby communities.In January of 2009, the Galing Pook Foundation which is the most prestigious independent body thatawards exemplary LGUs in the Philippines, recognised Quezon City as an outstanding LGU for thisinnovative, effective and empowering undertaking.Another initiative aimed at addressing the needs of the waste pickers in the city is the BULASI project.This ‘Build-Up a Long-term and Alternative Source of Investment’ is a pilot project of the PayatasAlliance Recycling Exchange Multi-Purpose Cooperative or PARE-MPC. PARE-MPC is a cooperative thatwas organised by major recycling centers and scavengers’ associations in Barangay Payatas throughthe support of the Payatas Operations Group. The recycling centres have managed the solid wastemanagement in Payatas Dumpsite since the 1990’s.Through this project, an amount of PhP500,000 was provided for capacity-building of the PARE-MPCmembers to enhance their knowledge and skills in business planning and management particularly indirect buying and selling of recyclable materials to eliminate intermediaries and enable them to collectivelydetermine reasonable buying and selling rates; and to promote profit sharing among the cooperativemembers. The project also aims to find alternative sources of livelihood for the members.Programmes and strategies addressing the needs and prevailingissues, concerns and challenges of women workers in the informaleconomyUlat Lila (Purple Talk) (Centre for Women’s Resources, 2009), a discussion on the Filipino women’ssituation held every year by the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR), shared the results of its focusgroupdiscussions with the women leaders from the Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa(SAMAKANA) or the Association of United Poor Women in Barangay Talanay, Quezon City. Due to thecontinuing crisis and their inability to find sufficient employment, most of their members continue tobe heavily in debt. The women use to pay for their debts whatever they earn in a day so that they canborrow again. To make ends meet, many women in urban poor communities engage in odd jobs in theinformal economy. Some of the women in their communities do laundry jobs in exchange for a kilo of fishand PhP50 (around US$1), or offer cosmetic services such as pedicure and manicure even without thenecessary skills. During the days that their earnings are insufficient, they end up eating only twice a day, ateleven in the morning and at four in the afternoon. Some families eat only ‘lugaw’ (porridge) the whole day.At worst, mothers would beg for food from the neighboring subdivisions and oftentimes, they are given stalebread. The mothers would then grill the bread so they would have something to eat.Over the years, the Quezon City government has prioritised programmes and strategies to address theneeds of the growing number of workers in the informal economy, usually in the form of skills trainings and/or microfinance projects and other loan facilities.24