LAND Partnership Protocol - The Philippines

On Friday 7 November in Rome, the International Land Coalition, the Philippines Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and ANGOC signed a protocol launching the LAND Partnership programme in the Philippines. The Governments of the Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa and Guatemala are the first four pilot countries for LAND Partnerships along with the expressed interest by the Minister of Agrarian Reform from Brazil. The protocol was signed at an ILC luncheon hosted by Bruce Moore that included the DAR Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan and Undersecretary Jose Mari Ponce, the Philippines Ambassador to  Italy Philippe Lhuillier and his staff Noel de Luna Agricultural Attaché and Kristine Salle Third Secretary, President of IFAD Lennart Båge, Assistant President Jim Carruthers and Country Programme Manager Sana Jatta and Tina Liazon the ANGOC representative for Europe. The luncheon provided for an open debate on rural development in the Philippines with a common interest in the Department of Agrarian Reform, the responsible Ministry for two of the three current IFAD programmes.

LAND PARTNERSHIPS PROTOCOL

between

	Department of Agrarian Reform - DAR Government of The Philippines
	International Land Coalition - ILC
	Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development - ANGOC

LAND Partnership Protocol

Whereas, the Department of Agrarian Reform of the Government of the Philippines (DAR), the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) and the International Land Coalition (ILC) have convened stakeholder consultations in the Philippines, October 21-25, 2003 to consider the concept for establishing a LAND Partnership - Land Alliance for National Development;

And whereas, the relevant Departments of the Government of the Philippines, a broadly representative set of stakeholders from civil-society organizations, bilateral agencies and the international community active in the Philippines have determined that a LAND Partnership has the potential to make an important contribution to the Philippine Agrarian Reform agenda and should therefore be advanced to a further stage of detailed activity so that its added value can be determined;

And whereas, pending the outcomes of this next stage, an interim LAND Partnership of stakeholders is being coordinated by DAR, ANGOC and ILC to assess the capacity for widening and deepening collaboration and coherence among stakeholders that can build synergy in the interests of the rural poor who are depending on agrarian reform generally, and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) specifically, to improve their livelihood systems;

And whereas, the stakeholders recognize that successful implementation of the CARP requires the convergence of the efforts of government, civil-society and the bilateral and international community.

It is therefore agreed, through this Tri-partite Protocol, that DAR, ANGOC and ILC will jointly coordinate, in consultation with other stakeholders, a mapping study to create a common and consolidated synthesis of current policies and programmes of all stakeholders; assessments on progress; mechanisms for improving access to land; identification of key policy issues; and synthesis of areas of consensus, challenges and opportunities for collaboration. This will be undertaken by a consultancy jointly agreed between the three parties. DAR and ANGOC, in consultation with ILC, will agree on the timeframe and supervision roles and responsibilities of the study process with technical support and financing by the ILC. DAR will take the lead in encouraging participation by other government agencies and departments. ANGOC will take the lead to engage NGOs and civil-society. The Philippine Council for Sustainable Development, having invited ILC to consider The Philippines to be among the pilot countries for LAND Partnerships, will be kept informed in order to both benefit from their suggestions and in considering their role with the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

It is further agreed that the study will be the basis for a National Stakeholders Roundtable that will:

• with the benefit of the study, work toward establishing a common and current understanding of the agrarian reform reality (its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and its implications for next steps;
• identify elements for joint action; and,
• determine if and how the LAND Partnership can be a mechanism for dialogue and negotiations to further the Philippines agrarian agenda.

Through this Protocol, it is also acknowledged that the agrarian agenda, and particularly the CARP as a component of this agenda, is a challenging commitment that will continue to take time. As such, the considerations relating to this LAND Partnership are recognized by the signatories to be factors that will emerge over a period of time. As such, each party to this protocol can reasonably enter into this understanding in the confidence that the others are committing their organizations over a period of time expected to be not less than through 2004 and thereafter as determined by agreements that may be reached for particular activities.