Stage one consist of building the CBEC Center

Building of the CBEC Center

How the hell are we going to do this? Bamboo and concrete block? Number of rooms? Electricity? Connecting to mains? Plan?

Motorcycle

One of the problems we continually face on Romblon is transport. The barangays (villages) are isolated are separated by long stretches of road. You sometimes have to wait for upwards of an hour for a public transport vehicle to pass by. There are no timetabled trips.

We feel we waste a lot of time just getting people and resources from point A to point B. Therefore we have included a motorcycle as part of Stage One of this proposal.

This will allow us to get people and certain small goods to where the need to be. It will save us a huge amount of time.

We will hire a vehicle for any very large goods we need to ship. The motorcycle will cover about 95% of our needs.

Stage Two

Stage two can commence immediately after the CBEC has been built.

The administrative base for CERV in Romblon can start immediately after the CBEC is built. The other stage two projects will take more effort.

Daycare Center

One of the primary uses of the CBEC will be as a daycare center. We are not in the position to use it as a school or kindergarten at the moment due to license requirements.

We feel that education is one of the key ways to help the people of Romblon. We also feel that giving children a boost early on is a good idea – hence our perceived need for a day care center in Romblon. The day care center will be run free of charge.

We see the following as the major obstacles.

Obstacles

Obstacle One – No facilities

The CBEC will be the base for the day care center.

Obstacle Two – Lack of teachers

From our partnership with GVN (www.volunteer.org.nz), we have a constant stream of international volunteers arriving. Most of these wish to be part of some sort of education program. Teaching at the day care center will be the ideal opportunity for them.

Unfortunately, GVN does not guarantee us volunteers every month so we may not have an available volunteer to teach at the day care centre. For this reason, we are looking to employ a local person from Romblon. It is expected that this person will be paid a small stipend

Obstacle Three – Lack of educational resources

We have very few educational resources such as books, flashcards, pencils, paper, blackboards and chalk. Volunteers occasionally bring such items with them, but it is at best a stopgap measure.

We are hoping that the money we receive will help overcome this shortfall.

Obstacle Four - Lack of structured program

If we were to start the program tomorrow, we would have no structured program in place. Everything would be done on a day-to-day basis. This is far from ideal. We will therefore work on a structure to an overall program that will get the kids ready for when they finally do begin school.

Measurable Outputs

· A full time Filipino teacher.
This person will have overall responsibility for the job.

Who will do this?
A qualified teacher from the Romblon area.

· A day care center.
A center in which the children can learn.

Who will do this?
The people responsible for the construction of the CBEC center (see page 1 above).

· Volunteer teachers.
Volunteer teachers will assist the local Filipino teacher.

Who will do this?
GVN (www.volunteer.org.nz) will provide us with the volunteers.

· Education Program
An education program will be produced that will guide the students through the necessary steps to prepare for school.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia (a qualified teacher) will prepare the program.

· Educational Resources
The resources (chalk, paper, books and so on) will be purchased from donor money.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia will purchase the resources.

Capacity Building

You can’t lose when you give a kid an education. Our hope is that the capacity we build with them name will have huge long term benefits.

As an added advantage, the Filipino who works fulltime at the daycare center will gain invaluable experience. If they choose to take that experience and apply for a better paying job elsewhere, then the will go with our full blessing.

Community Participation

Education is seen as a powerful tool by most parents in the Philippines. We know that the community will get behind this one and that we will have many mothers in particular helping us out.

Monitoring and Evaluation

A good educational program is one that has measurable results. We will give the kids a standardized test on their first day, and then give them regular tests throughout their stay to see how they are improving.

This will also give us a gauge as to how well the teaching is going.

Sustainability

Our biggest challenge as far as sustainability goes is the stipend paid to the teacher. At the moment, our only income is that coming in as part of the volunteer fees.

We hope that some of the donated money will be used to pay for one years of teacher fees.

Family Planning

The average family size in Romblon is about eight. For many economic reasons well documented elsewhere, this is just far too large. We are hoping by running a series of public seminars and education campaigns we can start to reduce the average family size.

We also feel that family planning can expand the life-choices of many young Filipinas: Having a family is not the only option. This ties in nicely with our education campaigns that have many young foreigners that first of all teach the children academically, but also as an example of young successful females who do necessarily think that a large family is a criteria for success.

Education – as always – is the key.

Obstacles

Obstacle One – There is no coordinated program in Romblon.

As previously stated, there are no established NGOs in the Romblon area.

Our program will be the first ever family planning program.

Obstacle Two – Breaking established ideas.

There are many established ideas that we want to challenge.

1. Raising a family is the only option for young Filipinas
Young Filipinas are capable of great things, but many of them don’t know it yet! Part of education campaigns will focus on other options for young Filipinas. Further education will be part of this message. We have already established some sponsorship programs for the bright young Filipinas who could not afford it otherwise.

2. Family Planning is a dirty word.
The best way to explain family planning is non-applicable. Some of this attitude comes from the Philippines’ deep roots in the Catholic Church (80% of Filipinos are Catholics). This is a two-pronged solution to the problem of family planning. We will construct programs around both of the following methods:

a. Working within the Church.
During our time in Dumangas, we started to introduce the ideas of cycle beads. The cycle beads are worn as a necklace by the women and one bead is moved each day. The beads are designed to be synchronized with her monthly cycle so that she can determine on which days she is likely to conceive and which days she is unlikely to conceive. The effectiveness of cycle beads is about 95%.
There are some obvious nice tie-ins with the craft group (see page 30 below) who make necklaces from beads constructed from paper.

b. Working outside of the Church
Some Filipinos are more progressive than others and are more open to the idea of other contraception methods such as condoms.

Obstacle Three – Lack of Resources

We have no family planning resources. Romblon has no family planning resources.

We hoping to get some cycle beads by working with the craft group (see page 30 below). We will pay them for the necklaces. The necklaces will then be distrusted to all those who are interested. A small fee will be charged (less than we charge for them) in order to give some sense of ownership of the product. We only want people to have the necklace who are committed to the program. We don’t want it to be seen as a free gift.

We are about to start work on a family planning booklet that will help explain the issues. Our emphasis will be on the husband-wife relationship. We feel that other programs focus too much on the woman. We want to get the men involved as well!

We hope to use the funding we will (hopefully!) receive to purchase additional materials such as study materials and books.

Obstacle Three – A resistance to sexual health talks in the schools.

At the moment there is no talk of sexual health or family planning in the schools. We think this is a mistake as the children of today will look produce families of their own in the near future. We want to make it abundantly clear to them that they have more options than raising a large family.

We will need to work quite closely with the local churches, school boards and the local government to implement such programs. It will be a challenge, but we think it is worth the effort.

Measurable Outputs

1. Ten Seminars.
This will be our main drive to assist in family planning in Romblon. Our initial drive will see us do ten seminars.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia will coordinate the seminars. If we have an international volunteer with us at the time and is willing, they will do the seminars. A lot of Filipinos are of the mistaken assumption that a “white person” is necessarily superior to them. While this is clearly not the case, it can be advantageous to have a white person perform the talks as they are seen as having some authority.

2. Distribution of fifty cycle-bead necklaces.
The necklaces will be made by the craft group (see page 30 below). We will pay the craft group for producing the necklaces. The necklaces will be distributed to people who are interested in the program for a small nominal charge (much less than what we paid for the necklaces).

Who will do this?
We will have a supply of necklaces at the CBEC. These will be sold to any who want one. They will also be available at the end of every seminar.

3. Distribution of an abundance of condoms.
We plan give away condoms to any who might need them. They are cheap and – if used correctly – are a 100% effective.

Who will do this?
The condoms will be given out freely at the end of seminars where condoms are talked about. We will also have a free supply at the CBEC center. There will be some practical limit to the amount you can take away freely – say a pack of twenty-four.

4. Production of Family Planning booklet.
A booklet will be produced detailing the advantages of family planning. An initial run of one hundred booklets will be performed.

Who will do this?
Raymund Villanueva will produce the booklet and Eden Navia will get it printed.

5. Sexual Health programs in the school.
Once we have sorted out the “political” issues with the local churches, school board and local governments, we can begin to give sexual health talks in the local high schools.

Who will do this?
We have many international volunteers working in the local schools. They are ideal candidatures for giving the talks.

Capacity Building

This project is not so much about capacity building as it is about un-capacity building.

Community Participation

We feel it is very important to get the community behind this project. If we can get the community to agree that large families are a bad idea, then lots of natural support structures will arise. For example, wives can freely talk amongst themselves about how they are planning their families and the struggles they are facing

We think that the key to the community getting behind this project is to get the local churches behind the project, especially in regards to the cycle-beads. We plan to talk to church leaders about what we are doing and why. With a little luck we can get to the church to advertise it for us. With a bit more luck, we can run talks inside of the normal church services.

Monitoring and Evaluation

All too often campaigns like this have lots of head-nods and agreements to participate, which then loses momentum once all the publicity has died down. We do not want this to happen as family planning is a long term solution to a larger problem

We will take the names down of all how participated in the lectures and who purchased cycle-beads. We will them talk to them individually a few months down the line to see if they are still practicing what we talked about. At this stage, we are not quite sure how this will go as people are often very shy at talking about sexual things. We fear that they may say “Yes” in the follow-up interviews when they really mean “No, but I’ll say ‘Yes’ so that you will go away”. We are looking at ways to address this problem.

Sustainability

Education is the key for sustainability. We want the young people in particular to be aware of the issues around family planning. We want the young Filipinas in particular to be aware that they have more options than just raising a big family.

We feel that if we can change the mindset, then this project will be naturally self sustaining.

Stage Three

Stage Three will start after Stage one has been completed (the building of the CBEC Center). Each of the following projects still requires additional work. Once we have the CBEC built, and have proven ourselves as worthy recipients of funding, we can begin to apply funding for the following projects.

Mangrove Nursery

or many years, the people of Romblon have been cutting down the mangroves and using them as firewood. This has had an adverse affect on the number of fish in the area, as the fish have lost their primary breeding area. We plan to use the land around the CBEC to establish a mangrove nursery using best practice industry techniques.

About ?? hectares of coastal land needs to be replanted. This equates to about ?? mangrove seedlings.

A stop-start program has been attempted by the local government with very limited results. We hope to be working closely with the local government to replant the mangroves.

We are planning to due extensive research on the area first. It is of no use replanting mangroves if we don't really understand what is going on. We plan to establish a research project for one of our future environmental volunteers so that we can fully understand what the problem is and what we intend to do about it. The project document will be used to educate future environmental volunteers.

We also plan to use the CBEC as a base to educate the local fisher folk about why it is bad to cut down mangroves in the long term.

We see the following obstacles to achieving our goals.

Obstacles

Obstacle One: Work out what the question is!

Too many mangrove reforestation projects have started with the best of intentions, a lot of energy and a lot replanted mangroves. All too often the mangroves have died off due to poor research and a lack of understanding of what the underlying problem is.

We think you are better to start of with the best of research as opposed to the best of intentions.

We plan to have one of international environmental volunteers put together a document detailing exactly what the problems are in Romblon and how we are to address them. We are also conscious of not wanting to reinvent the wheel. There have been many successful mangrove projects. We plan to tap into that reservoir of information.

The questions we want answered are:

· Understand the past and the present.
Why were the mangroves removed? Why did previous attempts fail? What is to stop the mangroves being removed again?

· Understand the ecology of the mangrove species.
What type of seeds does the species use? Fruit or Propagate? When is the best time to plant? What are the signs of maturity?

Where is the best place to plant the seedlings? What depth? Salinity of water? How much fresh water does it need?

· Understand the hydrology.
What are the depths, durations and tidal inundations of existing mangrove plantations? How closely does the hydrology of the target area meet the hydrology of existing plantations?

· Understand the past use of the area.
Does replanting of mangroves in the previous depleted area even make sense? Has is changed into something else, such as a feeding ground for birds?

Does water still flow in the area? Or has the land been sculptured for other needs? (Fish ponds, shrimp ponds, salt farms...)

· Understand the Topography.
What is the topography of the land? Is this well matched to the species of mangrove we are using? Do we need to reshape the land?

We are already beginning to get to grips with some of these questions. We are finding that the more we know, the more we realize we don't know!

Once we understand what the question is, we can begin to reforest the area.

Obstacle Two: Inadequate facilities.

Some attempts have been made to reforest the coastal areas with mangroves, but these have met with very limited success.

One of the major obstacles is the complete lack of a mangrove nursery. We plan to build the nursery according to best practice industry standards.

To build the nursery we will need the following:

1. Nursery pond.
We will create four nursery ponds, each with a capacity of about 6m³ (6m by 2m by 0.5). Each pond will require about 75, 190 mm cement Besser blocks. The pond is then lined with durable, UV resistant plastic. This should prevent seepage, burrowing animals and stand up to the rigors of foot traffic when the plants are being removed from the pond.

2. Movable shade structure.
We will create a movable shade structure. This will enable us to grow both sun-hardened and non sun-hardened species as well allow us to move a mangrove into sun-readiness as the time approaches to transplant the saplings.

3. Water Tanks.
Two 5,000 liter water tanks will be used to store salt water and rainwater. The rainwater will come from a roof fed collection system on the roof of the CBEC building. The ponds will be filled with a mixture of salt water (filtered to remove sediments) and fresh water to maintain a salinity of 17 ppt (the ideal salinity for growing mangroves in a nursery environment[1]). This should be about a fifty-fifty mix of salt and fresh water.

4. Salinity/pH meter.
A salinity/pH meter will need to be purchased to ensure ideal conditions for mangrove growth. We are hoping to have a secondhand meter donated to us.

5. Pumps.
Pumps will be needed to pump the water into the ponds, and to pump water out of the ponds to simulate tidal movements. Ideally, this would be an automated process, but we may work with a manual process. A gravity fed system that moves water from one tank into another will help alleviate this problem.

Note: Depending on the location of the land purchased, it might be possible to pump the water directly to the ponds from the source (creek, river or ocean) and avoid the need for outgoing pump.

Obstacle Three: Poor handling of mangroves.

CERV has had some experience with mangrove reforestation in the Dumangas area of the Philippines.[2] We used many local people to help us plant the saplings. We noticed that many of them roughly handled the mangroves, resulting in a damaged root system, which reduced the probability of the mangrove surviving.

We are expecting similar problems in the Romblon area.

We will address this problem by running training seminars in the CBEC for everybody that is involved in the program. The seminars will discuss the correct handling of mangroves, the reason why we are doing this and so on.

To promote a sense of ownership, a very simple quiz will be given and to all those who successfully pass, a certificate will be given. No certificate, no work.

Obstacle Four: Lack of understanding of the local fisher folk.

The root cause of this problem is a lack of understanding by the local fisher folk. They chop the mangroves down and use them as firewood, unaware that they are robbing the fish of a valuable breeding spot. Using the mangroves as firewood has good short term benefits, but does horrendous long term damage.

To address this problem, we plan to run seminars at the CBEC instructing the fisher folk about what the issues actually are and what we plan to do to address them.

Obstacle Five: Lack of adequate facilities and land

The CBEC will provide a place to provide training, and the land around the CBEC will provide land for a mangrove plantation.

Measurable Outputs

6. A well researched document.
This will become our basis for out mangrove reforestation project.

Who will do this?
A future international environmental volunteer.

7. A best practice nursery.
This will be the hardest obstacle to overcome, but also the most rewarding. Many half-hearted attempts at mangrove nurseries have been attempted and more often than not, the fail.
We don't intend to do this half-heartedly.
We feel that if we construct the best possible nursery with adequate funds, then we can reforest the area more efficiently and bring the benefits to the people of Romblon more quickly.

Who will do this?
There will be many people involved on this project. Eden Navia will take the lead on the project with Vincent Embile leading the construction team.
CERV attracts many international volunteers through GVN (Global Volunteer Network www.volunteer.org.nz), some of whom are interested in the environment program. These international volunteers will help with the construction.
A community project is meaningless without community involvement, so we plan to first educate the people about the importance of the nursery and then get them involved in the building of it. Everyone from manual laborers to people providing the lunch is envisaged.
Some experts will be paid a small stipend for their efforts.

8. Ten trained people in mangrove management.
A well run nursery is useless without trained people to plant the mangroves. We plan to train at least ten people in the science of planting mangroves. Each person will be issued with a certificate at the completion of their training to give them a sense of ownership.

Who will do this?
It is hoped that our international volunteers will do this. It is hard to know exactly whom though, as volunteers tend to come for one or two month blocks. We are sure that they will be keen to help with the education when they are here though.

9. Increased awareness of issues
While it is hard to put an exact figure on this, we plan to run at least one seminar a month on the issues surrounding mangrove reforestation. We will hold more if there is a demand. We suspect that if we offer a free meal and some amber beverages, then we are likely to get more people along. Everyone likes free food!

Who will do this?
Once again, we hope that our international volunteers can run these seminars. They are always keen to help and will appreciate the opportunity to have a real and meaningful impact both on the environment and people's lives.

10. ?? Hectares of replanted mangroves,
This is - of course - our ultimate goal of this project. It is hoped that the lessons learned here can be applied to other areas in the Philippines who also require mangrove reforestation.

Who will do this?
Everyone listed above.

Capacity Building

Community Participation

Monitoring and Evaluation

Sustainability

Vocational Overview

e want to train people in skills that they can make money from. It is pointless to train people in computer programming – for example – because the opportunities for employment in the information technology area or a self-sustaining business are very limited.

Each of our vocational programs must therefore have the following:

· Clear employment opportunities.
In the simplest form, this would be selling craft items informally. In its most complex form, this would be an establish shop in Romblon providing either items for sale or a service.

· A market.
It is pointless making items that you cannot sell

· Sustainability.
Sustainability is the key to having a meaningful impact on a community.

Projects in developing countries should be suspected to the same rigor as projects in developed countries.

The following tasks will be performed for all of our vocational training programs.

Feasibility study

Any project that we initiate needs to be strong enough to stand on its own two feet. How will we know that this is even possible? We will know – one way or another – by conducting a feasibility study. The study will answer such questions as:

· What empowerment opportunities will this project provide?

· Are the any similar businesses in the area?
Have they failed? Why? Why not?

· What are the key positions for this project?
Do we have people with adequate skills to fulfill this position?

· How will family commitments and existing employment effect people’s abilities in this project?

· How will the income be distributed?

· What are the margins we are making on the product?

· How much product do we need to make to return an acceptable income?

· Is the community exited and interested in this project?
Why? Why not?

· Will this product be affected by seasonal variations?

· And so on…

Planning and Budgets

Each project will have an associated project plan and budget.

Training

The people involved in the various projects will be given full training. We want to give them the power to perform great tasks on their own. To encourage a sense of ownership and accomplishment, anyone who completes the test will be given a certificate of accomplishment.

Capacity Building

The goal of every NGO should be to make itself no longer necessary. This is the ideal we are trying to achieve in Romblon. All off our programs are designed to build capacity within the community. We want to get the project running, pass on the necessary skills and then walk away. Like developing areas all over the world, the people are more than capable of marvelous things. All they need is a slight push and some training.

Community Participation

We feel we have some good ideas about how to invigorate the economy of Romblon. We may be wrong though. Some of our ideas might be terrible and misguided. This is why we think it is crucial to have the community participating in these projects.

To that end, we will form boards for each vocational activity. The board will be made up from people in the community who have an interest in the project. The board will be made up of a President, Vice President and so on.

The board will meet every four weeks or so and discuss what is going well, what is not going well, and what can be improved on. We hope to make the meeting open and honest so that everything can be challenged.

Monitoring and Evaluation

One of the jobs of the board will be to produce a report giving the current status of the project. This document will form the basis of any reporting that the donors might require.

A copy of the report will be given to the local mayor so that they can see what is going on and give any feedback as necessary.

Sustainability

The goal of all these vocational activities is to provide sustainable income generating projects for the people of Romblon. If the project is not sustainable in and of itself and is just getting propped up by donors’ monies, then we will discontinue the project.

Vocational Training – Crafts

ur craft program is all about empowering the women[3] of Romblon. We want them to regain control of their lives and have some say in their future.

One of the ways we will be doing this is the establishment of a craft program in Romblon. We hope to establish a strong brand and release into markets both locally in Manila and worldwide via the Internet.

We see several main obstacles.

Obstacles

Obstacle One: Lack of Market

The women of Romblon are no doubt talented. They are already putting together many amazing pieces of craft. Most notably woven mats and baskets.

Like many craft groups across the world, they suffer from the same basic problem: A lack of market. Sure, they can make beautiful crafts, but just where do they plan to sell them?

We plan to address this problem in three ways.

1. On line Presence
The Internet provides a marvelous way to open up markets that have been traditionally out of reach to impoverished people. Malcolm Trevena -one of our key personal on this project – has ten years worth of experience in the IT industry and has already successfully completed a similar project (www.grassrootsuganda.com) that is benefiting approximately one hundred Ugandan woman.
One of the keys to making the On line Presence worth is to come up with “Cool” light weight products. Too often on line stores have been hamstrung by the large postage costs associated with heavy items

2. Markets in Manila
CERV is based in the Philippines biggest city, Manila (where we also have a volunteer program). CERV is actively looking for partners in Manila to sell the goods

3. Partnership with local Government
Romblon is pushing hard with tourism. They are somewhat overshadowed by the nearby showboat island of Boracay – one of the Philippines main tourist attractions. The beaches and scenery in Romblon are just as nice as Boracay, but they just don't attract the tourists like Boracay does.
We will be working closely with the local government to brand our crafts in such a way that it promotes Romblon as a tourist destination and provides a steady income for the ladies.

4. Boracay
Boracay is a nearby tourist island and is one of the world hot spots. It attracts about 500,000 people a year. We are hoping to sell the crafts on the island. On its most simple level we could have people selling the items as “hawkers”. We could even look at opening a small street stall in the future.

We feel that with a strong push in each of these marketable areas, we can create a market for the products and overcome our most basic of obstacles.

Obstacle Two – Lack of Marketable Goods

1. The ladies of Romblon are making beautiful crafts, but they need to diversify. Mats and baskets are all well and good, but they suffer from two basic problems:

2. Everybody is making them
There is nothing inherently original in the items. They are very common across the Philippines.

3. Weight
The weight of the items and the baskets in particular is very heavy. This makes them very expensive to transport to both Manila's local markets and the Internet's world-wide market.

4. We plan to overcome this obstacle by creating lightweight items that scream out “Romblon, Philippines”.

Obstacle Three – Lack of a Strong Brand

People want to know that they are buying from a reputable organization and not some fly-by-night outfit.

One way to do this is with strong branding. Ways to do this include:

· A catchy name

· A logo

· Tags on the products

· Flyers with FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

This obstacle can be overcome by coming up with creative ideas to produce a strong brand.

Obstacle Four – No central training facility

The CBEC will fill this gap.

Obstacle Five – Lack of business skills

To run a business successfully, you need to have good business skills. These business skills are sorely lacking in Romblon. The skills are not hard though, and we expect the people to quickly pick them up. Examples of such skills include:

· Bookkeeping
Simple paper based cash-in, cash-out system.

· Budgeting

· My Money vs. Business Money

· Paying Tax

Measurable Outputs

· Twenty trained women.
Our first goal is to have twenty fully trained women in various crafts. This will increase once we have adequate systems and markets in place.
We will initially teach them paper bead craft, and then any other marketable ideas as they get discovered.

Who will do this?
Malcolm Trevena will run the initial workshops. We are great believers in teaching the teachers and hope that existing members will train the new members

· A professionally designed logo.
We hope to gather ideas from the community in Romblon, and then pass these ideas onto a professional to produce computerized versions.

Who will do this?
Members of the community will provide the initial ideas and Christopher Leinonen will create the finished design in a computerized format.

· One thousands cards to attach to the craft.
These will include the logo, the brand name and a brief description of the group and what we are trying to accomplish.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia will coordinate this in Manila. Romblon does not have an adequate printing company.

· An on line store.
The on line store will be similar to www.GrassRootsUganda.com.

Who will do this?
Malcolm Trevena will provide all the necessary technical skills.

· Three points of sale in Manila.
We are hoping to have at least three retail stores in Manila that will be selling crafts on our behalf.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia and Pom Villanueva will find locations in Manila.

· Three to four people trained in basic business skills.
Running a business requires people with basic business skills such as book keeping and budgeting.

Who will do this?
Either Malcolm Trevena or another international volunteer.

Vocational Training – Mechanical

he out-of-school youth in Romblon lack focus because the employment opportunities in Romblon are very scarce. This leads them into anti-social behavior such as excessive drinking and gambling. We hope to provide some of them with the mechanical skills to fix the numerous tricycles and jeepneys on the islands. There is no central garage on the islands, so we further hope to increase their earning power by opening a garage in the central township.

The training will be done in the Community Based Education Center (CBEC).

We still need to do a lot of research and planning for our mechanical training program. We therefore see it as stage two of our funding. Once we have the CBEC built, we will know more about how we plan to proceed and will have a place to perform the training.

We see the following obstacles.

Obstacles

Obstacle One – Inadequate training

The vehicles in Romblon are in constant state of flux between being fixed and being repaired. The repairs are often stop gap measures, just enough to “get the damn thing going”. This is a short-sighted but understandable view. A well repaired and tuned vehicle is cheaper in the long term. It will burn less fuel and spew fewer pollutants into the air.

The understanding of just how this might be done is just not there.

We plan to overcome this obstacle by bringing in a trained mechanic from Manila to teach the locals how to correctly service their vehicles. The trainer will be paid a small stipend.

Obstacle Two – Poor quality spare parts

The vehicles in Romblon are held together by left over spare parts of vehicles in Romblon. This is not an ideal situation. This further exacerbates the poorly tuned and running vehicles.

We plan to overcome this obstacle by bringing in good quality spare parts to Romblon and selling them at cost. We feel that selling the parts at discounted rate is not a sustainable position.

Obstacle Three – No central training facility

There is nowhere to learn mechanical repair in Romblon. The CBEC will fill this gap.

Obstacle Four – Lack of understanding of the local market

Is it feasible to open a mechanical workshop in Romblon? We don’t know. We plan to undertake a feasibility study to see if it possible.

Measurable Outputs

· Twenty trained men[4].
We aim to run courses that will initially train twenty men. It is envisioned that the courses will take approximately five weeks to complete.
A certificate of completion will be given to all who complete the course.

Who will do this?
A trained mechanic from Manila will perform the training. We have yet to find a suitable candidate, but do not foresee any problems in obtaining one.

· A well stocked spare-parts shop.
We plan to bring in good quality spare parts from Manila. The spare parts will be sold from the CBEC.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia will purchase the parts in Manila and bring them to the islands via her regular ferry trips.

· A feasibility study.
A feasibility study will help us understand whether or not it is feasible to open a mechanical repair shop.

Who will do this?
Either Malcolm Trevena or a future international volunteer with business experience.

Vocational Training – Fisheries

Fisheries form the backbone of the Romblonanon economy. The catch is either directly consumed by the fisher-folk or sold in an as-is state at local wet markets.

We see many ways to add value the catch. On a simple level, we hope to teach the fisher-folk some simple deboning, filleting and drying techniques that will add value to the product at the local wet market. We feel people will be happy to pay a few extra pesos for fish that is already deboned.

We see the following obstacles:

Obstacles

Obstacle One – Establishing a market

At the moment, everybody buys their fish from the local wet market in its as-is state. This includes everyone from the local mayor to subsidence farmers. Everybody in that spectrum has to gut, scale and debone the fish - which nobody likes to do. We feel that in the spectrum of people at least some of them will be prepared to pay a few extra pesos to have an already prepared fish. A forty peso prepared fish looks mighty good when compared to a thirty-five peso unprepared fish.

The fisher-folk already know how to prepare the fish and it a simple task to do while listening to the radio or sitting on the beach.

Obstacle Two – Decomposing of Fish

The main disadvantage in a prepared fish is that it decomposes so much faster than an unprepared fish. We will show the fisher-folk some simple techniques to keep the fish fresh and in a hygienic state so that it can get from the beach to the market safely.

Obstacle Three – Training in fish drying technique

Another way to keep the fish fresh is to dry the fish. At the moment, there is no fish drying on the islands or Romblon.

We plan to overcome this problem by bringing in a fish drying expert from Manila. We will initially train a small group of people who will then themselves train another group, and so on. The expert will be paid a small stipend.

Measurable Outputs

· Five people trained in fish drying.
These people will then go on to train other people.

Who will do this?
A trained expert will be bought into Manila to do the training.

· Five seminars.
An initial series of five seminars will be run to raise awareness of ways people can add value to their catch.

Who will do this?
One of our international volunteers.

Vocational Training – Fish Paste Business

Some ingenious folk at Romblon have found a way to turn their catch of sardines into a delicious fish paste. Fish paste is already a traditional accompaniment to Filipino meals and this one is already proven with CERV workers and volunteers!

Our plan is to take this product, give it a brand name and to sell it in many diverse markets. The people of Romblon – as has been noted before – are wonderfully clever and gifted people and only need a push to get them started. It is our hope that we will provide that initial push and that then the people of Romblon will be able to run this business by themselves.

As with other vocational activities, we need to produce feasibility studies, budgets, project plans and so on. This section summarizes our thoughts on the business thus far.

Obstacles

We see the following obstacles.

Obstacle One – Lack of market

While the fish-paste is no doubt delicious and a marketable product, it is next to useless as an income generating product with a market!

We have identified the following markets.

· Local Markets
Romblon has many local markets, both wet and dry. These markets would be ideal for the selling of the fish-paste.

· Manila
Manila is the Philippines biggest city with a population of about eleven million people. We feel that a great product with a great brand name (see below) back with a professional approach will do well in a city the size of Manila. Manila will also allow us plenty of room for expansion. We can start small at local sari-sari stores (see below) and then move onto bigger areas such as supermarkets.

· Sari-sari stores.
A sari-sari store is a small shop that can be found all across the Philippines. They are the equivalent of a dairy in England or a corner-shop in North America. We hope to form partnerships with many of these sari-sari stores – starting with those in Romblon, and then expanding to other areas as we proceed. It is envisioned that a retailer-wholesaler relationship will ensue.

· Partnerships with co-operatives
The Philippines – like many other developing countries – suffer from too many middlemen. Both of the consumer and the producer suffer. The consumer ends up paying more than they need to, and the producer profit margins are cut to a minimum. The only person who really benefits is the middleman, who adds no real value to the process.
We plan to form relationships with organizations like ALTERTRADE – an NGO in the Philippines dedicated to the removal of the middleman – to help alleviate the problem with our product. It is hoped that the partnership with ALTERTRADE will also open up some partnerships for us.

· Not the Internet (yet…) .
The internet is wonderful at opening up local markets. We feel it will used to great effect in the craft project (see page 30 above). The fish-paste product is a food based product and therefore subject to numerous bio-security laws. We feel at this stage it is not worth the effort to understand and apply these laws to the product.
We do know however that there are over ten million Filipinos living abroad who would just love to try this product, so it might be something we look at in the future.

Obstacle Two – Lack of Brand Name and Logo.

Great tasting fish-paste will not sell well if it is dumped inside a jar and “Prodoct of Romblon – Good tassting Fish Past” scribbled on the side with a marker pen! We intend to make the fish-paste product as professional as possible and part of this is a strong brand name.

At the moment, we do not have any brand names we are happy with. One will come though! Like the craft project (see above), we also need a logo to add a touch of professional to the product. We hope that the people of Romblon will come up with a catchy name and associated logo. And paper based ideas for logos that they produce will then be handed over to a professional designer to convert the basic designs into computerized versions.

Obstacle Three – Transport to the market

Romblon is an isolated island community and is a long way from major cities in the Philippines. It takes 13-and-one-half hours for example to travel by ferry to Romblon from Manila. Romblon has no airport. The tyranny of distance didn’t stop the cavaliers and it won’t stop us!

Transport costs will be a problem though.

CERV makes numerous trips to Romblon on the ferry and we will be happy to take the product back-and-forth to Manila. This is only a short term solution though. As the business expands (we hope!), this will no longer be practical.

The local mayor of Romblon – Emmanuel F. Madrona, – owns a shipping firm. We know that he wants the people of Romblon to succeed and would hope that he will provide us with discounted shipping rates for this fish-paste product as our markets expand.

Obstacle Four– No central base and factory

There is no central base or factory in which to produce this product. Initially we will base this industry out of the CBEC center, but we are also aware that this is a short term solution for the business and it will need to move to a more permanent location in the future.

Obstacle Five – Lack of business skills

The business skills that are lacking in the craft project (See Page 30 above) are the same skills that are lacking for the fish-paste business. The skills we plan to impart are repeated here.

· Bookkeeping
Simple paper based cash-in, cash-out system.

· Budgeting

· My Money vs. Business Money

· Paying Tax

Obstacle Six– Lack of professional and hygienic practices

How do you produce a hygienic jar of fish paste that will stand to the scrutiny of a large supermarket chain? We are not sure. We know the basics: sterilized jars; clean workplace practices (hair nets, gloves etc) and the utmost respect to hygiene. But we are not sure if these are good enough to satisfy the demands of big business.

This is one of the areas where we need to do a lot more research.

Obstacle Seven – No advertising materials

It is hard to convince a reseller to sell your product if they themselves do not have confidence that the product will sell. We therefore plan to give a plethora of advertising materials with which to sell the products. Everyone will get some of the materials, be they sari-sari store owners or supermarket chains. This has an obvious tie in with a strong brand name that is mentioned above.

The people of Romblon will provide the initial design, before it is handed over to a professional for the final touches. One idea we have had is to sponsor a competition to see who can come up with the best poster/flyer. This will firstly generate some interest in the project, and secondly allow the people of Romblon to highlight their obvious artistic talents.

The following advertising is envisaged:

· Posters.
A typical sari-sari store is covered in posters advertising both cigarettes and alcohol – two of the modern day curses of the Philippines. We feel that the fish-paste product is a much healthier option and at the very least deserves equal billing alongside cigarettes and alcohol.

· Flyers
Flyers could be handed out around the local communities informing them of the product and initial opening specials. The flyers would be designed as an initial marketing push.

We may look at more expensive options in the future such as radio and a stand handing out free samples in the future.

Obstacle Eight – Lack of Startup Capital

We lack the capital to start this project. At a future date (after the CBEC is built – see page on page 88 above) we will apply for separate funding for this project. This funding will either be in the form of a micro-loan or in donated funds.

We are committed to proving ourselves as worthy recipients of donors’ monies. We feel that proving ourselves in building the CBEC center will increase our chancing of funding in recent projects.

Measurable Outputs

· One thousand jars of fish paste.
Our initial goal will be to produce one thousand jars of fish paste.

Who will do this?
As this is overriding goal of this project, everybody mentioned here will be involved in some way in this project.

· A professional designed logo and brand name
People the world over want to buy quality products. We feel a professionally designed logo and brand name are essential to do this.

Who will do this?
The people of Romblon will come up with a catchy name and a logo and Christopher Leinonen will convert the logo into a computerized version.

· Fifty posters and one thousands Flyers
The posters and flyers will form the backbone of our initial advertising push. Initial designs will come from a community wide design competition.

Who will do this?
The initial design will be by the people of Romblon, before the final touches are added by Christopher Leinonen.

· Five sari-sari stores in Romblon, three outlets in Manila and a selling space at the local wet market.
These represent out initial outlets to sell the products.

Who will do this?
Eden Navia – our local volunteer coordinator on the ground.

Vocational Training – Tailoring and Textiles

Many islands in the Philippines produce beautiful textiles from products as diverse as abaca and banana leaf fiber.

At the moment, no textiles are being produced in Romblon. We feel this makes for a great opportunity.

We also feel that there is great potential for the people of Romblon to turn this product into marketable products such as skirts, pants and bags.

The two industries will form a nice complement to each other. The textiles can be used by the tailors and then sold to the consumer.

Obstacles

Obstacle One – Product Identification.

What a Filipino tailor thinks is cool is not necessarily what the market thinks is cool. So one of the first challenges is trying to work out what can be made that will sell well in the markets we identify. A further challenge on top of this is identifying differing tastes between the Filipino market and the international market.

We plan to overcome this obstacle in several ways.

1. Create local product samples.
Several sample products will be created and then shown around Romblon to get consumer feedback. It will help to keep in mind both ends of the market. Some people might like flashy dresses suitable for fiestas, while others might just like a plain t-shirt with a “Romblon is cool” emblazoned on it. We will make what the market wants – regardless of its complexity.

2. Create international product samples.
A similar exercise will be done to identify product in the international product. We figure our demographic is about the same as the volunteers we get. i.e. young , generally female university students with a social conscience. We will take photos of the product we think will sell, and then email these out to past volunteers (about 120 people) and get their feedback about what is hot, and what is not.

Similar ideas will be used to identify marketable textiles

Obstacle Two – Training.

Tailoring.
There are tailors at the moment on Romblon, but it is a very small industry. We hope to work with these existing tailors and increase their skill set. A trained expert will be brought in to do the training. It is expected that this expert will get paid a small stipend.

Textiles.
At the moment, no textiles are being produced on Romblon. They do have the raw materials though, such as banana leaves. We plan to bring in (another!) trained expert to teach them how to prepare the textiles.

Obstacle Three – Lack of material and machines.

One of major obstacles in producing marketable clothes is that there are very few sewing machines on Romblon. When we receive funding for this project, a large portion of the funding will go towards the purpose of pedal-powered sewing machines (the power is very unreliable on Romblon).

Obstacle Four – Lack of a sustainable market.

Having a well-made product that looks great is no guarantee that it will sell well. One must have markets as well. We have identified the following markets:

· Stores in Romblon itself.
There is numerous clothing stores scattered around Romblon. These tend to sell mass-produced clothing. We are hoping that our unique items will stand out against the mass-produced lines.

· Tourism.
Romblon is making great gains as a tourist town. We are hoping to take into this with “I Love Romblon” type t-shirts and apparel.

· Boracay.
Boracay is a nearby island and is one of the world’s hot spots for tourists. It attracts around 500,000 visitors a year. We are hopeful that some of our product can be sold there.

· Internet.
We may look at using the internet site developed for the craft project (see page 30 above) to sell the apparel and the textile itself. The textile itself poses little problem, but the apparel has the added complication of requiring size information.

Measurable Outputs

· Ten people trained in textile making.
We will run workshops that are designed to teach people to make marketable textiles.

Who will do this?
An expert will be brought in to teach the art of making textiles. It is hoped that the students will then become teachers.

· Ten people trained in tailoring.
We will run workshops that are designed to teach people how to become tailors.

Who will do this?
We have two options here. We will either use a local to teach more people, or bring in an expert from outside.

· Ten sample textiles and ten sample garments.
We initially want to develop ten textiles and ten garments that we think are marketable. Once this is done, we can commence mass production.

Who will do this?
The people trained above.

· Three sewing machines.
We feel that three pedal-powered sewing machine will suit our initial needs.

Who will do this?
The sewing machines will be purchased from donor money

· Markets in Romblon, Manila and Boracay.
We need people to kick down doors and find us some markets!

Who will do this?
Eden Navia is familiar with all three areas and will attempt to establish markets.

· Online Presence.
We will look at the practicality of integrating the tailoring and textile vocations with the online craft store.

Who will do this?
Malcolm Trevena – who is responsible for the technical aspects of the online craft store – will oversee the practicalities of this.

Key Personal

	Raymund B. Villanueva – Project Lead Raymund is CERV’s co-founder and its operating and financial officer. Previously, he was a national student and later national teacher leader. He also worked in a human rights office. He is a broadcaster, writer, documentary film producer, and a published poet. He was a fellow of the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University, sponsored by the Konrad Adanauer Stiftung of Germany.
	Eden C. Navia – Volunteer Coordinator Eden has been working with CERV since its inception as volunteer placement officer. She was a student organizer and agrarian reform worker. She is a loving mother to eight-year old Andrea Denise. Eden will be working on the ground in Romblon ensuring that the right materials are in the right place at the right time.
	Malcolm Trevena – Project Management Malcolm’s role is to ensure that the project runs smoothly. He produced this document and will provide project management support. Malcolm worked for ten years in the I.T. field as a project manager, chief designer and coordinator for a medium sized I.T. firm. He has since seen the light and devoted himself to volunteering. He has spent seven months volunteering in the Philippines, two months in Ghana and six months in Uganda. His proudest achievement during this time was the establishment of www.grassrootsuganda.com, which is a craft group in Uganda providing much needed funds for about one hundred Ugandan woman.
	Edna “Pom” Villanueva – Administration Support Pom will be providing general administrative support for the project. ... brief talk about Pom's experience...
	Vincent Embile – Construction Brief bio on Vincent
	Christopher Leinonen – Graphics Design Christopher Leinonen is from Canada and has volunteered extensively in Uganda. He is currently working in a graphics design studio. He will be providing the graphic design work and design the logos for the craft and fish-paste businesses.
	Shane Stankowski - Building Plans Shane Stankowski is from Australia and works for a construction company. He volunteered with CERV as part of their School Building and Maintenance program. He will be providing the technical building plans for the CBEC.
	International Volunteers CERV is in the fortunate position of being supplied with international volunteers through the GVN organization (www.volunteer.org.nz). These volunteers typically stay for one or two months. Both our Environmental and School Building and Maintenance volunteers will be involved with this project.
	The People of Romblon The people of Romblon are the chief recipients of the benefits of this project and will also be involved in establishing the project.

Budgets

Budget spreadsheet goes here

Include $ for marketing materials for craft group

· Show all costs clearly

· Show the donors requested contribution

· Avoid unclear budget headings, such as Miscellaneous, Contingencies and Administration etc.

· If the donor is an international donor, put the budget in your local currency unless the donor's format requires otherwise. Put the totals in the donor's currency or in US Dollars.

Conclusion

These should be in a single paragraph, summarizing all that you hope to achieve. You don’t have to write this if don’t want to.

Appendices

Attach only those appendices, which are really useful to the donor in understanding your proposal. They might include:

· A work plan and a schedule of when you will undertake which of the activities

· Letters of support from other organizations, or a list of other donor-funded projects you have carried out in the past.

· A history of your organization’s achievements

· A map of the project area

· Any technical schematics that you may have.

· A document or chart outlining your organizational structure

Letter of Intent

16 November 2006

HON. LOURDES C. MADRONA
Municipal Mayor, San Agustin
Romblon

Dear Mayor Madrona:

Warm greetings!
This is a formal Letter of Intent detailing our desire to formalize a partnership with the Local Government Unit and the people of San Agustin, Romblon.
Since August, when your good self met with Global Volunteer Network Foundation representative Emma C. Rahman and CERV placement officer Eden C. Navia, we have placed volunteers in San Agustin. Said volunteers have spent hundreds of man hours transferring competencies to both students and teachers in various San Agustin public schools, enhanced schools through constructions and repairs, planted dozens of mangrove seedlings, provided health care to residents, and generally earned goodwill from the good people of San Agustin through new friendships, understanding, cooperation and mutual respect.

We have allowed the past four months as our test period for your good office to appreciate how CERV’s volunteer placement program operate. We are confident that no incident emanating from our operations detrimental to the communities has occurred. We are equally confident it will remain the same in the future, especially when we formalize our agreements as stated in the attached draft Memorandum of Agreement.

Specifically, Your Honor, our objectives are the following:

· Contribute to the development of San Agustin in the areas of education, health and environment with the help of our international volunteers and CERV institutional projects;

· In our education program, our volunteers shall assist in teaching day care, elementary and secondary school students and undertake activities in furtherance of their education in accordance with the curricula and programs of the said schools. Books, teaching aids, supplies and equipment that CERV may happen to gather from its volunteers and network shall be donated to San Agustin;

· In school building repair, maintenance and enhancement program, our volunteers shall provide labor and expertise in accomplishing the same. CERV shall endeavor to only undertake projects that it can fund, without obligating the communities, schools and the LGU to do the same;

· In the health program, CERV volunteers shall provide expertise and labor to provide health care to the good people of San Agustin for free. Medicines and supplies that may be of help to San Agustin health care programs shall be donated as they come; and

· In the environment program, CERV volunteers shall provide expertise and labor to help achieve San Agustin’s environmental objectives. Supplies and materials that may be of help in achieving the same shall be donated as they come.

We also have the following as standard operating procedures for us in San Agustin:

· We will not be obligating the LGU or the people and institutions of San Agustin to pay for or to contribute to whatever projects that we may choose to undertake;

· The volunteers’ agreed upon board and lodging fees with their host families shall be paid for by CERV;

· CERV commits to take primary responsibility in ensuring that the volunteers maintain general acceptable behavior and always be mindful of the sensibilities of the good people of San Agustin;

· CERV commits to make volunteers be aware that their safety is their own lookout and is dependent on their strict compliance to CERV rules and regulations regarding the same. We will not be asking San Agustin authorities and residents to perform extraordinary measures for the volunteers’ benefit; and

· CERV commits to ask the volunteers to leave the program and San Agustin in case he or she has committed an act or acts inimical to the interests of San Agustin.

We only ask, Your Honor, that you sign a Memorandum of Agreement with CERV, agreeing to host and accept our international volunteers and all the help they will be bringing with them to benefit the good people of San Agustin. While we appreciate whatever help we may get from your office, we understand that this is not a precondition nor an obligation.

Ms. Navia shall have delivered this personally to your office, along with the draft MOA and other pertinent CERV papers. The undersigned shall endeavor to pay your good office a visit should you require a personal meeting. Likewise, I will be CERV’s representative should you find everything in order and is willing to sign said memorandum.

Maraming salamat po.

Very truly yours,

(sgd.) RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA

Director

Formal Structure of CERV

CERV: Center for Volunteerism in the Philippines, Incorporated (CERV-Phils.)

Company Registration No: CN200700329
Company Tax Identification No: 006-601-048
Issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of the Philippines on January 11, 2007.

Board of Trustees
Raymund B. Villanueva, Journalist
Alfonso Thomas P. Araullo, Journalist
Karen B. Villanueva, Public School Teacher
Editha C. Aquino, Information Technology Manager
June M. Alvarez, Forester
Julie V. Tinsay, Public Hospital Nurse
Felix Latuna, Media Worker

Officers
Editha C. Aquino, President
Raymund B. Villanueva, Chief Operating and Financial Officer

Staff
Eden C. Navia, Volunteer Placement Staff
Edna C. Villanueva, Administrative Staff
Vincent Embile, Staff

[1] Clough, B. F. (1984) Growth and salt balance of the mangroves Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierrh. and Rhizophora stylosa Griff. in relation to salinity. Aust. Journal of Plant Physiology (11) 419–30.

[2] Unfortunately, the entire mangrove reforestation project was wiped out by an oil spill.

[3] No males are interested in the craft project in Romblon

Date	Author	Comments
7/7/2007	Malcolm R. Trevena	Document Created

Administrative Base

A free daycare center

Education Center

A training center for income generating projects

Various Vocational Projects

Mangrove Nursery

Motorcycle

Obstacles

Obstacle One – No facilities

Obstacle Two – Lack of teachers

Obstacle Three – Lack of educational resources

Obstacle Four - Lack of structured program

Measurable Outputs

Obstacle One – There is no coordinated program in Romblon.

Obstacle Two – Breaking established ideas.

Obstacle Three – Lack of Resources

Obstacle Three – A resistance to sexual health talks in the schools.

Obstacle One: Work out what the question is!

Obstacle Two: Inadequate facilities.

Obstacle Three: Poor handling of mangroves.

Obstacle Four: Lack of understanding of the local fisher folk.

Obstacle Five: Lack of adequate facilities and land

Obstacle One: Lack of Market

Obstacle Two – Lack of Marketable Goods

Obstacle Three – Lack of a Strong Brand

Obstacle Four – No central training facility

Obstacle Five – Lack of business skills

Obstacle One – Inadequate training

Obstacle Two – Poor quality spare parts

Obstacle Three – No central training facility

Obstacle Four – Lack of understanding of the local market

Obstacle One – Establishing a market

Obstacle Two – Decomposing of Fish

Obstacle Three – Training in fish drying technique

Obstacle One – Lack of market

Obstacle Three – Transport to the market

Obstacle Four– No central base and factory

Obstacle Five – Lack of business skills

Obstacle Six– Lack of professional and hygienic practices

Obstacle Seven – No advertising materials

Obstacle Eight – Lack of Startup Capital

Obstacle One – Product Identification.

Obstacle Two – Training.

Obstacle Three – Lack of material and machines.

Obstacle Four – Lack of a sustainable market.