The design of our Sustainable Livelihood initiatives under our Quadrants of Development involve an assessment of community assets, adaptive strategies and technologies. This includes the analysis of policies and investment requirements to enhance livelihood opportunities of beneficiaries. We believe that livelihood can be sustainable if it can cope with and recover from stress - such as the end of the mine life - maintain and enhance its capabilities, and provide sustainable opportunities for the next generation.
Our Sustainable Livelihood approach takes into consideration a community's strengths. This approach acknowledges that communities are both catalysts and subjects of change and that they have the strength and knowledge to alter their own situation. This approach places a strong emphasis on sustainability in terms of economics, the environment and the social well-being of people in the community. It uses empowerment rather than welfare, improves the productivity of existing livelihood systems and creates new opportunities on a sustainable basis.
A prime example of this approach is our Farmer-Instructor Technician (FIT) program, a livelihood-through-agroforestry component of our Social Development and Management Plan for the Subanon indigenous people (IP) hosts of TVI in Canatuan. Under FIT, the once semi-nomadic Subanons, who were used to a traditional and destructive slash-and-burn farming method, demonstrated that they can easily adapt to an irrigated multi-cropping scheme using rice terrace farming - the same technology applied by generations of Ifugao IPs in the mountainous terrain of the Northern Philippines.
To further work for the empowerment of our beneficiaries, we will develop indicators to measure the improvements in our host communities’ livelihood systems and the sustainability of these systems.
