Makati City – Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from all over the Philippines gathered on Friday, April 29 in a strategy meeting tagged as “In Busan and beyond: Claiming the People’s Right to Development” which aimed to identify key issues to be forwarded in the 4th High Level Forum (HLF4) on Aid effectiveness in November this year. Moreover, the meeting also merged aid effectiveness and its parallel process CSO development effectiveness in the country. This initiative which aims to further advance Filipino people’s development issues in the global community is the first of its kind in Asia-Pacific.
During the said meeting, AidWatch Philippines presented its engagement on the aid effectiveness process since its establishment in 2003 as a strong CSO network on aid and development issues while the Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) discussed Philippine CSOs’ engagements in the development effectiveness process.
The afternoon session saw a presentation by the IBON/RoA’s Country Outreach Team on the BetterAid ‘Key Asks’ (key demands of CSOs united under the BetterAid platform) that was followed by a lively discussion on the CSO agenda towards Busan. CSO representatives pointed out several issues of the marginalized sectors that need to be addressed in the Korea HLF4 through a workshop guided by the BetterAid platform Key Asks document. Willy Marbella of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP/Peasant Movement of the Philippines) registered that the peasants, the largest sector in the society must be included in the global discussions of development by addressing the issue of Agrarian Reform. On the other hand, Carlos Maningat of Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research pointed out that issue of higher wages must be part of development agenda.
After the workshop, AidWatch Philippines announced its series of CSO gatherings towards the HLF4 and its projects which include an independent report on the Philippine government’s implementation of the 2005 Paris Declaration in the country.