Departing from the common path:

Mapping Organized HBWs in the Philippines

The usual way to map homebased workers is to go to a place where they are concentrated but where not much accurate information about them is available. A survey is done to identify their location and distribution in hitherto “uncharted territory.” The information could then be used for visibility and advocacy purposes by homeworkers’ networks, if not for organizing and expansion.

PATAMABA chose to depart from this common path because their context and their aims were different. Wanting to deepen existing knowledge on current membership in areas where they are strong, PATAMABA leaders needed to understand and document the reasons for this strength, and to see how they can capitalize on this for further consolidation and eventual expansion. They thought it best to invest in keeping their current membership and finding out how to serve them better, rather than do research in new areas for organizing new chapters which they may not be able to maintain and sustain.

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH
Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

PATAMABA’s mapping research focused on the location of organized homeworkers within their respective production or value chains, as well as within the context of their organizational and community life. A survey conducted among 500 homeworker members in four research sites (National Capital Region, Rizal, Bulacan, and Iloilo) also aimed at collecting basic information to initiate a computer-based membership data bank which PATAMABA leaders can build on as they strive to develop computer-based literacy, connectivity, and research capability. The data bank would include the following information clusters: personal characteristics, household profile, production activities and resources, working conditions, organizational involvement and benefits, access to markets, social protection and community services, and priority needs.

The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods in data-gathering, processing, and interpretation, within the tradition of participatory action research which PATAMABA has been doing since the late 1980s to initiate and support its organizing efforts. The 500 survey respondents also participated in 30 focus group discussions facilitated and documented by the PATAMABA leaders – one in every community where there were organized homeworkers in the research sites.

From PATAMABA’s viewpoint, the creative use of qualitative methods such as the focus group discussion and documentation of best practices have an energizing effect on the organization because community-based groups are brought together to think together, and best practices, when documented and disseminated, always have an inspirational value.

Capability-building was integrated into the research process, as PATAMABA staff and youth were trained in SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences), making the coding guide, encoding, and processing the data themselves with professional guidance.

Each of the four sites had its own particular strengths from which others could learn. After deciding on what theme/program/activity to focus on, PATAMABA leaders provided the information needed for documentation. The best practices thus documented include:

• the UNDP-UNESCO and APPROTECH-supported Budbod Sustansya project of Balingasa, Quezon City, where PATAMABA leaders acted as producers, trainers and field researchers in testing out a highly nutritious vegetable-based food supplement that can take the form of powdered snacks, noodles, cookies, etc;
• group enterprises producing Christmas balls, doormats, candles, and footwear in San Vicente Angono which provided alternative employment for embroidery HBWs suffering from steeply declining orders ;
• organizational discipline in Dona Remedios Trinidad(DRT), Bulacan, where HBW workers showed 100 percent repayment of their loans and 100 percent payment of their dues; and
• outstanding leadership for PATAMABA Region VI, which started with one municipality in Iloilo and now covers almost 3,400 members not only in Iloilo but also in Antique, Negros Occidental, and Capiz. These members are provided many kinds of skills and other training and have benefited from microfinance, social protection, and other services resulting from their high visibility and successful networking with local governments.

Important Findings, Recommendations and Follow-through

PATAMABA must help create opportunities for increased income in line with a wholistic approach to poverty reduction and elimination. From the survey, it can be gleaned that earnings from homebased work, which usually fall below the poverty line, cannot address a family’s basic needs.

Since rural homebased work is basically combined with agricultural activities like vegetable and animal-raising, PATAMABA needs to develop more programs intended to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability and to network with farming and environmental groups.

The decline in subcontracting work among industries in crisis is manifested in the decrease in the number of PATAMABA members under subcontracting. This has to be addressed through alternative livelihood for the subcontracted workers who are expected to be displaced eventually.

On gender and the life cycle

Sustaining the organization calls for recruitment and training of younger women who will eventually succeed aging PATAMABA leaders and core members. The gender-based needs at various stages of the reproductive life cycle; e.g., early motherhood, and late adulthood (menopause, old age) have to be considered in PATAMABA’s training and aware-ness-raising campaign.

A significant number of women household heads are assumed to have more difficulties due to multiple burdens and less income. PATAMABA should advocate programs, study the law on solo parenting, and organize a support group that can later tap more generous social protection schemes for themselves and their families.

On social protection and services

The urban-rural differences in access to formal sources of social protection (SSS, GSIS, Philhealth) may be explained by the fact that in urban areas (NCR, Rizal), many of the respondents used to work in factories, a few in government offices where membership in SSS or GSIS is compulsory. In rural areas such as Bulacan, the tradition of mutual aid and self-help through damayan and paluwagan is more alive because of a greater sense of community developed through decades of living in the same neighborhood.

Formal and informal sources of social protection must be advocated. This may be accessed by expanding the damayan and paluwagan systems in other areas where PATAMABA is strong. A tripartite scheme can also be tried out at the community and other levels, with NGOs like PATAMABA tying up with local government units (LGUs), and donor agencies such as the ILO, UNIFEM, and/or UNDP. Existing savings mobilization and microfinance programs of PATAMABA chapters can also include a social protection fund.

In the rural areas, not all PATAMABA members have access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. This matter has to be addressed at the community level since clean water is essential to health.

Value Chain Analysis, Work and Poverty
(Results of the Focus Group Discussions )

On embroidery and garments, given the trend towards the use of computer-aided, back-to-the-factory embroidery, production for export seems bleak. Remaining manufacturers-exporters (mainly of Indian origin) cater to the low end of the global market, where competition from countries with lower labor costs (e.g., Bangladesh, China) situates the Philippines in a disadvantageous position. Using the value chain analysis as starting point, there is little chance that piece rates could be negotiated upwards.

Producing for the local market may have a chance, if prices are kept down (in relation to cheap foreign imports from China, Thailand, and Indonesia) and if designs are innovative, at par with global trends that caters to ever-changing consumer tastes. Product and market diversification may be explored at this point. A promising market for local consumption is the one for uniforms (either straight sewing or patching) for schools and offices. The Thai experience regarding capturing government orders for organized homeworkers’ groups could be replicated here. But this will require sustained advocacy work on the part of PATAMABA in approaching local and possibly national government officials.

Food production and processing is an important area of engagement and development, given the present concern for food security amidst growing hunger among the population. A marketing possibility for vegetable production in DRT would be a tie-up with the Budbod Sustansiya commercialization plan and realizing the transition to organic farming through advocacy and training. Dried fish production which needs capitalization, better technology, and upscaling, could be addressed by cooperative rather than individual effort, as is now being realized in Carles, Iloilo. Through improved marketing, and by venturing into the food stall business in Iloilo, molo ball production can be expanded. In turn, the technology can be transferred to the PATAMABA members in Luzon, who can also earn an income from producing and marketing molo ball products.

On home décor, Christmas ball production in Angono, Rizal has a seasonal market and therefore needs careful planning so that there would be enough to sell in the last quarter of the year. Careful financial management and marketing projection is also in order so that capital is maximized and not tied up in unsold inventory. Retailing through participation in bazaars, etc. may bring more earnings for the group. Since the price of lace is on the decline, Balingasa producers must explore unsaturated markets or upscale by producing products (curtains, costumes, etc.) using the lace and which can be marketed at a higher price.

On waste recycling, those engaged in doormat and rag-making face a bleak future because of growing competition among themselves coupled with increasing scarcity of the scrap cloth due to the decline in the garments industry. Scraps which were given away free by factories are now sold per ton, and not just to anyone. There should be efforts to shift producers to more sustainable and remunerative forms of livelihood should the time come when shortage of materials pose a grave threat to their income-generating activities.

PRIORITY NEEDS

A sizeable portion of the respondents already underwent basic training in many areas and themes. What is important is to identify potential trainers among them who can be trained to transfer the knowledge and skills to others in their group who have not undergone similar training.

PATAMABA should provide more seminars on issues of high interest like gender and related topics such as VAW and within the family and on solid waste management. The same can be said of training in leadership, and in advocacy and networking, indicating the direction for PATAMABA to continue providing this.
PATAMABA must provide more training, especially in economic-related skills and issues: business management, product development, marketing, pricing and costing. It must also engage in awareness-raising about the national and global economic crisis. But alternative skills training cannot stand alone. Trainees should be able to translate their training into actual economic activity by facilitating their access to capital, space, and markets.

PATAMABA can make an inventory of productive and marketing resources to which its members have access for future business planning and projects on a per-group basis. The marketing capability of PATAMABA members must be greatly enhanced, given survey findings regarding limited access to existing mass markets, and virtually no access to high-end ones (e.g., department stores, etc.) PATAMABA can create a centralized marketing fund whereby members’ products can be readily purchased on a wholesale basis for retailing by a marketing team.
wherever there are opportunities for these. Since some PATAMABA members in the pilot areas have also been trained in computer literacy, connectivity, and e-commerce through networking with TIPS-WINNER, the possibilities of new technology for marketing purposes should also be explored.

PATAMABA members can enhance their community work and networking activities on the ground to realize better access to health and other social services. They can advocate the creation of support services for socio-economic projects for homebased workers at community level. There is a need to upscale funds and to tap other sources, since obviously, PATAMABA’s resources are very limited in relation to actual and potential demand. Savings mobilization schemes for capital build-up should be developed in more PATAMABA chapters.

FROM THE BEST PRACTICES

Good, dynamic leaders are essential in building and consolidating organizations. The best leaders do not lead by themselves. They develop other leaders as they demonstrate patience and perseverance in training others, and in meeting members regularly in order to sustain their interest. They respond to the felt needs of members so that they can remain active. They are resourceful and creative in looking for funds and other resources for organizing and other needs of the organization. They show effectiveness in networking for advocacy and resource generation.

There is value in sustained networking with community groups, LGUs, GOs, NGOs, academe, and other institutions which can provide assistance and transfer technology.

This is illustrative of the group enterprise in Angono and the Budbod Sustansya project in Balingasa . PATAMABA should concentrate on scanning the environment for possible partners more systematically to spare the organization from the burden of unmet expectations because it has limited resources to extend.

Since the need is overwhelming and cannot be met merely by small efforts on the ground, a larger scale of assistance should be explored through international donor agencies concerned with the impact of the crisis on vulnerable groups. To be able to make a real difference in homeworkers’ lives, more resources have to poured into economic empowerment, principally through a viable micro-finance scheme which will enable the beneficiaries to graduate from livelihood activities to micro-enterpreneurship.

On the Research Process Itself

It was a great learning experience for PATAMABA, from which it has drawn increased capability to do work which used to be done by professionals for them. The learning process, however, has to be further developed, strengthened and institutionalized, by expanding the mapping exercise to other areas where PATAMABA is strong, and using it for capability building and organizational strengthening.