Wednesday, April 4, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Yangon Gov’t Halts $500 M Tower Project Until Flooding Fears Settled

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 06:02 AM PDT

YANGON — The developer of a $500-million tower project on military-owned land has been ordered to suspend work until the Yangon government approves its proposed safety measures for a 92-year-old reservoir nearby.

The Myayeik Nyo project, still in its early stages, is being developed on a 13-acre compound in Bahan Township home to the shuttered Myayeik Nyo Hotel. The developer, Zaykabar, ranks among Myanmar's largest construction companies and is run by tycoon U Khin Shwe.

Twelve buildings ranging in height from 382 feet to 412 feet and another three-story structure are slated for construction on the compound, which lies near a reservoir that distributes water to Yangon's 16 downtown townships.

Residents who live near the construction site are against the project because they fear that damage to the 20-million gallon reservoir could flood their neighborhood and cause water shortages across the city.

The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) told the developer to suspend work on the site in March and, seeing that the company had not complied, sent it a letter on Monday.

On Wednesday, U Khin Shwe told The Irrawaddy that he met with Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein and some cabinet members the day before to discuss his safety plans for the reservoir.

"The chief minister told us to make sure the reservoir is safe. After the safety issue [is resolved], other things should go ahead," U Khin Shwe said.

The tycoon, who is related by marriage to U Shwe Mann — the third most influential person in the former military regime and now an important ally of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — said his company would use bored piles and water seals to protect the reservoir.

"We've already consulted with technicians and will submit the proposal to the YCDC in one or two days," he said.

A YCDC member with knowledge of the project told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the committee had asked the developer to officially submit the proposal with signatures from relevant technicians or engineers before it is referred to the cabinet for approval.

"We will allow them to go ahead [with safety measures] after the cabinet agrees to the proposal. At the moment they haven't been allow to do anything yet," said the committee member, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the project.

Not a Joint Venture

Project director U Tun Win Han said Zaykabar won the military’s bid tender for the site in 2014.

"Under the terms of the lease, we are allowed to operate for 50 years with two 10-year extensions," he said.

U Khin Shwe said the project, scheduled for completion in 2020, was a landmark investment for Yangon and would feature both hotel space and serviced apartments. He said the company building it all, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, was a contractor and not a partner.

"I want to make it a joint venture, but the MoU with the military forbids it. I will have to pay them from room sales,” he said, adding that 60 percent of the profits will go to the Chinese company.

He also warned that frequent suspensions of the project could scare off potential foreign investment in Myanmar.

"We used to think there would be investments for the US and EU. In reality they don't come, so we have to rely on China, even for the technology," he said.

Asked about local residents' fears of flooding, he said the construction was taking place far from the reservoir.

"But to lessen people's worries, we will make bored piles and add water seals to enhance safety. So nothing bad will happen," he said.

Some residents are not convinced.

"That's not for him to say, only for technicians from a third party," said Kokkine Avenue resident U Win Bo, who heads the Yangon Kokkine Reservoir Salvation Team, a lobby group of residents opposed to the project. They fear that their relatively sparsely populated residential neighborhood will lose its character once the high-rises go up.

"We need a solid guarantee from someone independent that the reservoir will be safe. It has to be revealed to the public,” he said. “So far, the project has no transparency."

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Landmine Campaigners Urge Action as Casualties Continue to Rise

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 05:31 AM PDT

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — The number of accidents caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) continues to rise, and all stakeholders need to scale up efforts to protect children and families, according to UNICEF, citing information provided by the Myanmar Mine Risk Working Group (MRWG), an inter-ministerial agency.

At an event held in Naypyitaw on Wednesday to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Actions, the UN agency, the European Union and other stakeholders warned that nine of Myanmar's 14 states and regions continue to be "contaminated" with landmines and ERW, posing an ongoing threat to the lives of children and families. International Day for Mine Awareness is observed every April 4.

Some 42 landmine casualties were reported in the first quarter of 2018, according to UNICEF. In 2017, 176 casualties (including 52 fatalities) were reported, mostly in Kachin and Shan states, up from 161 in 2016. In those two years, one in four of those injured was a child, and one in four accidents was fatal, according to the agency.

"Even though data is still unreliable and many casualties occurring in the conflict areas go unrecorded, Myanmar has some of the world's highest landmine incident rates," June Kunugi, UNICEF representative to Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy via email.

Women and children accounted for 43 percent of the casualties in 2017, she said.

In 2012 Myanmar initiated the MRWG, an inter-ministerial and inter-agency coordination platform under the co-leadership of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and UNICEF. Tasked with ensuring mine action intervention, it comprises representatives of 10 ministries, Myanmar's military (the Tatmadaw), and 41 national and international organizations. Its has state-level platforms in Kachin, Shan, Kayah (Karenni) and Karen states.

With EU support, MRWG has conducted mine risk education sessions in nine states and regions: Kachin, Shan, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Chin states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. The sessions take place in schools, communities and IDP camps. The organization has also opened support and rehabilitation centers for landmine victims and offered other forms of psychosocial assistance.

Despite the progress made over the past two years, Kunugi told The Irrawaddy, "there are still areas out of reach for MRE [mine-risk education] partners, for instance Tanai and Phakant in Kachin State, and Namhsan and Kyaukme in Shan State, where communities live threatened by the dangers of landmines and ERW."

MRWG chairman U Myo Satt Aung told The Irrawaddy that additional mine awareness and victim support services would be implemented in other states and regions as soon as possible. He also serves as the deputy director general of the Rehabilitation Department under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

UNICEF urged the government "to improve data and information management systems" in order to develop more effective victim support services, which it said would also "be key for enabling survivors to have ongoing access to much-needed health and social services."

At an event in Naypyitaw on Wednesday, the participating organizations concluded that "progress is possible if all parties work to enable mine risk education in hard-to-reach areas; invest more in assistance for survivors; and initiate landmine clearance wherever possible."

The EU, UK Aid, UNICEF and their mine action partners urged the government to join the Mine Ban Treaty. Some 164 states have formally signed the treaty.

In a speech at the event on Wednesday, EU Ambassador Kristian Schmidt said he had been made aware that Myanmar was making preparations to join the treaty, and hoped it would do so soon.

He said the EU stood ready to support mine risk education and demining activities.

Schmidt called on all stakeholders – the government, the Tatmadaw and the ethnic armed organizations — "to do the right thing for the country, for unity, for peace and justice for the next generations: stop laying mines, ban them and let's start the cleanup for a peaceful and prosperous future."

The post Landmine Campaigners Urge Action as Casualties Continue to Rise appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

YCDC Teams With UK-Based Company to Renovate Yangon Sewage System

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 04:09 AM PDT

YANGON — The Yangon municipality has teamed up with a UK-based company to renovate the commercial capital's sewage system, stated the British Embassy on Tuesday.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has funded specialist engineers from the UK to help the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) conduct a condition survey of the sewage system.

The original system was installed more than 130 years ago and was designed and manufactured by Hughes and Lancaster, now owned by SATEC, said the embassy's press release.

A combined team from YCDC, SATEC, and local engineers from Royal Haskoning DHV based in the Netherlands are conducting a thorough asset condition survey and will report findings to the YCDC and the Yangon regional government.

DFID has provided training in safety and emergency procedures to YCDC staff. The UK has also provided new safety winches and harnesses.

A British engineer. / British Embassy Yangon

According to historical records on Yangon, the town municipality built a Shone hydro-pneumatic sewage system in November 1887, and it was put into operation in December 1889.

After the second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852, the British brought in postal, drainage and sewage systems to Yangon.

At that time, sewage from different parts of the town was carried through underground ditches to a sewage pipe near Sule Pagoda and then drained into the Yangon River.

The system relied on the ebb tide to sweep away the sewage as there was no sewage plant at the time. But, it was not successful, as the tide also carried back the sewage.

The hydro-pneumatic system was introduced some 35 years later in response to a growing population and extended wards.

Today, the former capital dense with more than 6 million people is prone to flooding when it rains due to poor maintenance of the sewage system.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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ANP Repeats Call to Keep Rohingya Out of Southern Maungdaw

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 02:08 AM PDT

YANGON — Arakan National Party (ANP) lawmaker U Tun Aung Thein submitted a proposal to the Rakhine State legislature on Tuesday urging the union government not to resettle Rohingya refugees in southern Maungdaw Township.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army mounted a major attack on security posts across Maungdaw District and neighboring Rathedaung Township in late August. The Myanmar military launched a months-long clearance operation in response that has driven some 680,000 Muslim Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh.

Drawing on widespread reports of arson, rape and arbitrary killings by the military, the UN has called the its operation “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Rights activists have urged the UN Security Council to refer Myanmar and its military leaders to the International Criminal Court.

Although Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities agreed to repatriate the refugees back to Rakhine in November, not one has been brought to a reception camp set up along the border in Maungdaw as of Tuesday.

U Tun Aung Thein’s proposal was not new. His party, composed of Buddhist Arakanese, suggested segregating Maungdaw Township along religious lines in November to Social Welfare Minister U Win Myat Aye, who also chairs the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine.

The minister has said the returnees would be resettled near their original homes.

"This proposal is not an objection to the repatriation project for those who fled to the neighboring country, but an encouragement to take them back systematically in a way that can meet the wishes of the public, who demand that they not be relocated in southern Maungdaw," U Tun Aung Thein said in Parliament.

He also said that establishing new ethnic Arakanese villages in southern Maungdaw would prove a more effective security measure than the barbed-wire fences along the border and the Navy patrols along the Naf River, which marks part of Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh. With the support of other Arakanese lawmakers, Parliament agreed to schedule debate on the segregation proposal during its next session in late April.

The proposal has the backing of some residents. In November, more than 30 Arakanese villages in southern Maungdaw Township issued a joint statement demanding that Rohingya returnees be resettled strictly in the north and warning that all ethnic Arakanese would leave Maungdaw if they were ignored.

In late 2017, the state Parliament approved a proposal calling on the Rakhine government to establish ethnic Arakanese villages in southern Maungdaw. On Tuesday, some Arakanese lawmakers rebuked the state cabinet, appointed by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), for failing to follow through.

Separately, US Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel visited the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe, on Monday and held a one-hour meeting with the steering committee of the ANP. On Tuesday he met with Muslim community leaders at a local hotel, after authorities denied a trip to a camp on the city’s outskirts for people displaced by the communal violence.

ANP Vice Chairwoman Daw Aye Nu Sein, who joined Monday’s meeting, said the ambassador asked party leaders for their thoughts on repatriation. She said they told the ambassador that the NLD should listen to the ANP’s concerns on the matter.

"It's totally wrong that we are reporting our ideas to the union government via a foreigner even though we have many civilian elected lawmakers in both the regional and Union Parliament," Daw Aye Nu Sein said.

 

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Rakhine Field Investigation Delayed Months after Deadly Mrauk-U Incident

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 01:07 AM PDT

SITTWE, Rakhine State — An investigation team formed by Rakhine State Parliament to investigate a deadly riot in Mrauk-U Township still cannot start the field investigation more than two months after the incident.

It is because members of the team are away on trips, said secretary of the team U Tun Tha Sein, who is also a lawmaker representing Mrauk-U Township in Rakhine State Parliament.

On Jan. 16, thousands of Mrauk-U residents staged a protest after officials banned a memorial event marking the 233rd anniversary of the end of the Arakan Dynasty. Local police opened fire on the crowd. Seven were killed and 12 were severely wounded in the crackdown.

U Aye Maung Thein, the father of one of eight detained protestors, has complained about the delay in the investigation.

"The Rakhine State Parliament formed the investigation team with an official notice. But, the team has not started the investigation. Are they afraid of the government? If the team is of no avail, what a shame for the Rakhine State Parliament," U Aye Maung Thein told The Irrawaddy.

U Tun Tha Sein said the team plans to start the investigation after the ongoing session of the state parliament ends. The team has conducted an informal investigation so far.

"We are not too late even though we have been unable to conduct a field investigation. Our team held informal interviews with voters, the parents of those who died in the riot, families of the eight detainees and eyewitnesses. We assume that we know about 75 perfect of what happened in regards to the incident," he told The Irrawaddy.

The investigation team was formed with nine lawmakers from Rakhine State Parliament on Jan. 29. In early February, the Rakhine State government issued an instruction to departments urging them not to cooperate with the investigation team because "it does not comply with the 2008 Constitution."

On Feb. 7, the state government also sent a letter to the state Parliament dominated by the Arakan National Party, stating that the investigation went against the 2008 Constitution. However, the government and the Parliament later reached a consensus over the investigation.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.

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WWF Confident Govt Set to Launch Crackdown on Illegal Wildlife Trade

Posted: 04 Apr 2018 12:00 AM PDT

YANGON — The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) expressed hope that its six-month campaign to raise awareness of elephant poaching and wildlife smuggling, which ended Wednesday, would lead to the closure of illegal wildlife markets in Yangon.

"We're hoping the [illegal wildlife] markets in Shwedagon [Pagoda] and Bogyoke Market close in April. We have initiated steps for their closure, and are now waiting for the government to make an announcement," WWF Myanmar partnership director Daw May Moe War said on Wednesday.

The six-month nationwide campaign "Voices for MoMos" was launched on Nov. 4 in response to an alarming increase in the rate of elephant poaching in Myanmar—estimated at almost one elephant per week since January 2017.

The campaign is named after a popular 64-year-old elephant in the Yangon Zoo whose name has become virtually synonymous with elephants among Myanmar's children. It calls on individuals and organizations to use their voices to speak up for the animals.

"Voices for MoMos" was organized by six international wildlife conservation agencies—WWF; Wildlife Conservation Society; Fauna and Flora International; Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association; Friends of Wildlife; and Grow Back for Posterity—in cooperation with Myanma Timber Enterprise and the Forestry Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation.

At a press conference in Yangon on Tuesday, WWF said the campaign had raised awareness among shopkeepers at Shwedagon Pagoda and Bogyoke Market about the trade in illegal wildlife parts and products, and the relevant laws.

WWF will hold the "Voices for Wildlife" music festival in Yangon's Mahabandoola Park on April 7. The final public event related to the campaign, it is being organized with the support of the Danish Embassy.

Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein is set to attend the festival, and Danish Ambassador Peter Lysholt Hansen said he was hopeful the regional government would make an announcement on that day.

"There have been calls to halt the illegal wildlife trade in Yangon before Thingyan [in mid-April]. We don't know if it will happen, since we aren't the government. But I believe the concerned authorities will make a decision at the music festival on April 7," the ambassador said.

Organizers of "Voices for MoMos" have called for all illegal wildlife markets across the country to be closed over the next two years.

Handicrafts made from elephant skin and parts such as tails and tusks are sold in Yangon, Mandalay and at Kyaiktiyo Pagoda in Mon State, but most of them are smuggled into China and thriving wildlife markets in the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar converge, posing a grave threat to the survival of Myanmar's elephants.

In the past, elephants were mainly poached for their tusks, but they are increasingly targeted for their hide, and the number of poached elephants been rising.

Dr. Zaw Min Oo, a manager at Myanma Timber Enterprise, confirmed that the illegal trade in elephant hide had grown since last year, though the business has existed in the country for a long time.

Myanmar's elephant population is now estimated at between 1,400 and 2,000—a drastic decline from about 10,000 in the 1940s, according to the Forestry Department.

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Thailand Makes One of its ‘Largest Ever’ Crystal Methamphetamine Busts

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 09:51 PM PDT

BANGKOK — Thailand has made one of its largest crystal methamphetamine busts, seizing 700 million baht ($22.42 million) worth of the drug, police said on Tuesday, as the United Nations warned Southeast Asia was being flooded with illegal drugs from the “Golden Triangle” region.

Police said 700 kg of the drug, known as ice, was seized on March 28 in southern Chumpon Province and were destined for Malaysia.

The drugs were produced in the Golden Triangle region, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. Two Thais and two Malaysians were arrested in connection with the bust.

The methamphetamine market has expanded at an alarming rate in East and Southeast Asia. In 2015, experts in several countries in the subregion reported an increase in the use of both crystalline methamphetamine and methamphetamine tablets.

Among amphetamines, methamphetamine represents the greatest global health threat, a 2017 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug report said.

“These big seizures are indications that there is a relentless supply pumping out of the Golden Triangle and north Shan to flood Southeast Asian markets and also transit Southeast Asia to high value markets like Australia, New Zealand and potentially further,” Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC’s chief in Southeast Asia, told Reuters.

Police displayed the haul on Tuesday at a government compound north of Bangkok. Other drugs on display included 890 million baht ($28.51 million) worth of illicit drugs, including cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy, seized in various busts between March 25 and April 1.

Most of the drugs were produced outside of Thailand and were trafficked through the country en route to Australia, North America and Europe.

“The prices we announced are the values in Thailand,” Police Lieutenant General Sommai Kongvisaisuk, commander of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told reporters.

“Once the drugs pass through Thailand the prices will increase,” Sommai said, adding that disruptions to supply chains have done little to stall production.

“We have intercepted a lot of drugs over the past year … but the production capacity remains untouched.”

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As Myanmar Economy Rebounds, Sanctions Risk Gives Some Investors Pause: IMF

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 08:58 PM PDT

WASHINGTON — The government of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is opening the economy and growth is rebounding in Myanmar, though the possibility of broader Western sanctions over the Rohingya refugee crisis is nevertheless giving some foreign investors pause, according to a senior IMF official.

Shanaka Jay Peiris, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) mission chief to Myanmar, said in a recent interview that initial data reviewed by the IMF indicated that some foreign investors were delaying final approval of projects until there was clarity about how the situation may unfold.

“The numbers we have for FDI (foreign direct investment) aren’t showing it yet … but foreign investment approvals are slowing down, so there is some indicator that going forward FDI may be weaker,” Peiris told Reuters following the publication last week of the IMF’s latest review of Myanmar’s economy.

“Since August, investors are taking a pause. It isn’t a surprise,” he said. He said it was unclear which projects were being delayed and added that more data was necessary to better understand whether the “pause” was temporary or not.

However, leading indicators such as FDI project amounts approved by Myanmar’s government for the first 10 months of fiscal 2017/18 from April show “a marked slowdown” since September 2017, according to the IMF.

For now, FDI inflows for 2017/18 still look to be a “solid number,” Peiris added.

While it is too soon to know what it could mean for the overall economy, Peiris said: “We have to see whether project approvals were temporarily lower or will be a trend, as well as whether actual FDI inflows will fall by much. The magnitude would also matter.”

“We are not operating under the assumption that there are going to be broad economic sanctions,” he added, downplaying the risk of a decline.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said that, “Especially in Myanmar, because of the Rakhine issue, tourism has come down, investments and FDI have come down too,” adding that the authorities were working hard to ensure macroeconomic stability.

The report by the IMF, which follows annual consultations with the government, followed a November visit to Myanmar, the first since nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a military crackdown condemned by the international community.

The World Bank announced on Oct. 13 it was delaying the release of $200 million in budget support for Myanmar in response to the “forced displacement of the Rohingya.”

Both the United States and Canada imposed sanctions against a general in Myanmar’s military for his role in the crackdown against the Muslim Rohingya. The European Union said in February it was preparing sanctions against military leaders to hold them accountable for their role in the crisis.

The Trump administration’s aid chief, Mark Green, said last month he will visit Myanmar soon for talks with the government and see for himself conditions of the Rohingya refugees.

Targeted Sanctions

Peiris said the IMF believed that any more Western sanctions would likely target individuals in the military and not the economy.

“If the sanctions are limited to the military personnel, which has been the case to now, we believe it will be less of an impact” on the economy,” Peiris said. “If it is broader, it would be more worrying.”

Overall, the IMF sees economic growth picking up toward an estimated potential rate of about 7-7.5 percent after lower-than-expected growth of 5.9 percent in 2016/17.

The United States remains concerned about the plight of the Rohingya, a Treasury official told Reuters, declining to comment on the status of sanctions investigations. Another US official said the Trump administration was reviewing all options on Myanmar.

When asked by Reuters how concerned the government was about more sanctions, the Myanmar spokesman said such actions would affect “the whole country” because Myanmar was no longer a military dictatorship but instead run by “a democratic government elected by the people.”

“They shouldn’t do the economic sanctions,” the government spokesman said. “If the investments are affected, then it affects the people.”

Opening Up

The IMF visit came shortly before Myanmar introduced regulations to bring the country’s banks closer to international standards and force them to recover mostly open-ended “overdraft loans” that make up the bulk of their lending.

Myanmar’s central bank deputy governor, Soe Thein, told Reuters in November that private banks had been given more time to clear most of their loan books.

Private banks account for more than half of banking system assets and the largest six private banks hold around 80 percent of private bank assets, according to the IMF.

The new rules compel banks to open their books to the central bank, and Peiris said initial data raised concerns about the need for more bank capital.

“It is more fragile than what has been published, so banks will have to raise capital and recognize losses,” he said.

“The question is whether owners are willing to put up the money, and if they can’t, will they try to find partners? How that will evolve is hard to tell but they will need more capital,” he said. The Fund would have a better perspective of the situation during its next visit later this year, he said.

“We and the central bank do have a sense that it is a significant issue,” he added.

Asked whether the government agreed with the IMF assessment on the banks, the Myanmar government spokesman said reforms were important to build economic stability.

“It is necessary to be careful,” he said, “We cannot afford to make any mistakes.”

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Coffee Conquers Conflict for Business-Savvy Farmers in the Philippines

Posted: 03 Apr 2018 08:53 PM PDT

MOUNT APO, Philippines — Five years ago, Filipina farmer Marivic Dubria would buy Nescafe sachets to serve visitors because she was embarrassed by the quality of the coffee she grew next to her main vegetable crops.

Life was tough for her family in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines, as they struggled to earn $1,000 a year from their produce, with their coffee beans fetching only 20 cents per kilo from local traders.

But Dubria is now one of hundreds of farmers nationwide who are brewing up a storm with training from Coffee For Peace (CfP) – a social enterprise striving to boost growers’ profits, protect the environment and foster peace between communities.

Having learned how to grow, harvest and process high-quality Arabica beans at a time when global demand for coffee is soaring – it is set to hit a record high this year – Dubria exports her crop to buyers as far away as Seattle for at least $5 per kilo.

“But it’s not all about the money – it’s about taking responsibility for the environment and other communities,” Dubria told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in her home on Mount Apo while brewing a pot of thick, aromatic, treacle-like coffee.

Beyond helping coffee growers get a better deal, CfP aims to encourage dialogue between communities, with tensions ranging from colonial-era conflict between native Muslims and Christian settlers to land and resource disputes between ethnic groups.

The Philippines is battling to restore order to troubled Mindanao, where militant groups have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, and five decades of communist insurgency and separatist bombings have displaced at least 2 million people.

By bringing people together through trade, businesses with a social mission can help build peace, industry experts say.

“Social enterprise presents an emerging pathway or approach to conflict resolution,” said Angel Flores, East Asia business head at the British Council, which backs companies seeking to help people, invest in the environment and tackle social ills.

“Being inclusive, participatory and prioritizing community benefit over personal agendas enhances the social fabric from a place of distrust to … confidence and mutual understanding.”

“Farmerpreneurs"

CfP was set up in 2008 on the conflict-hit southern island of Mindanao, after its founders stopped Christian and Muslim neighbors going to war over the ownership of a rice field.

The men were invited to put down their guns and talk over coffee, a tradition that quickly spread across the region.

CfP offers a three-year scheme to train farmers to produce coffee while encouraging native and settler communities and various tribes to harvest and process the beans together.

While the social enterprise buys the farmers’ beans above market value – selling them on to local coffee shops and exporting as far as Canada – communities can sell to any buyer, but are encouraged to demand higher prices.

“We don’t treat them as suppliers or just part of the chain – they are farmerpreneurs,” said CfP senior vice president Twinkle Bautista.

“The aim is to unite the settlers and indigenous people to teach each other, share techniques and tools … and harmony,” she added. “Our product is peace – coffee is just the tool.”

For Kagawad Abe and his indigenous community, setting up a processing center through CfP has brought them closer to the Christian settlers – who work with them to process their beans.

“It has also brought women together, and given them a chance to work independently … to contribute to the tribe,” he said.

About 80 percent of CfP’s coffee-growing partners are women.

“Just five or so years ago, we didn’t really know each other – but now we are talking and working together,” Abe added.

CfP says business is booming, having tripled sales to at least $46,000 last year from $15,000 in 2012 and won United Nations and regional awards for promoting peace and development.

Although social enterprises in the Philippines have more than tripled in the last decade to 165,000, many are struggling due to limited state support and a lack of funding, said the British Council and the Philippines Social Enterprise Network.

CfP’s success is likely largely due to its unusual mission, said Gerry Higgins, chief executive of Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEIS), Britain’s largest agency to support the sector.

“Coffee for Peace is unusual … there aren’t many social enterprises that recognize that if a community is resilient and sustainable, (then) fewer conflicts will emerge,” Higgins said.

Conquerors of Coffee

By walking farmers through every step of the supply chain, CfP says they no longer see the coffee industry as “a mystery”.

Once dependent on traders and big brands such as Nestle, the world’s biggest coffee maker and producer of Nescafe, farmers can now demand higher prices for better quality beans, CfP said.

Yet winning communities over remains a major challenge.

Some are proud of their traditional methods and reluctant to embrace change, while others are wary of civil society groups and used to instant cash or aid, rather than long-term support.

“We had to convince and convince our people, many times, to move from the traditional to the technical way of doing things,” said Baby Jerlina Owok, chieftain of a native tribe which has seen their coffee beans almost double in value in recent years.

Yet for women such as Owok and Dubria and their coffee cooperatives, the ambitions are much bigger than making money.

Pointing at huge swathes of coffee trees covering the hills, painting once barren land vibrant shades of green, Dubria spoke about planting more to combat deforestation and soil erosion.

Lastly, she said they need to share their prosperity.

“We need to encourage and help other communities to produce quality coffee,” she said. “We want to pull them up – to improve their standard of living – so they can experience what we have.”

The post Coffee Conquers Conflict for Business-Savvy Farmers in the Philippines appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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