BRC – Building Resilient Communities

In this project, Life Bank Foundation, Partnership for Transparency Fund Asia and Jesse Robredo Foundation work together to establish resilient communities. This cooperation, too, began during the Covid pandemic 2020-2022. Responsible and sustainable programs in favor of people in the marginalized sector were set up.

For the first project in 2021, 30 families living in three different slums of Cagayan de Oro were chosen. Three parents from each slum work as volunteers in this project and get paid a small amount:

• provision of children with food packages during twelve months
• monitoring of their nutrition during this time
• training of their parents in nutrition
• creating corporate gardens for self-supply in their particular slums
• training the employees of the local government to manage crisis situations

In the second project, several people in our project area received a microcredit and training (e.g. lessons in bookkeeping). Thanks to these resources they can set up their own business.

Since the beginning of 2022, this project has expanded and now includes four additional districts in four other areas. Representatives of City Social Welfare and Development, CSWD, are now also involved:

• investigation of needs
• distribution of food
• instruction related to home schooling
• guidance of vulnerable people and households