(EID-024) “DO YOU WANNA BETSA?”

The report of Bertelsmann Foundation, a German study group that said the Philippines is stagnating economically and socially is both alarming and disgusting, to say the least. But with so many problems confronting our development however, we should just choose our battles, making the most of the resources that are available to us.

In the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) that we have formed, we are focusing our energies on five areas of development, namely Shelter, Health, Agriculture, Protection and Education or SHAPE for short.

While the other four areas need no definition, we need to define Protection as a general area that includes national security, peace and order, public safety and environmental protection. To be more specific, it includes the prevention of crime and injustice, which are the focused concerns of the Citizen’s Foundation for the Prevention of Crime and Injustice (CFPCI), one of the UNIDA member organizations.

Do you want to BETSA? A mnemonic device, BETSA is short for Build Homes, Eat Right, Think Green, Stay Safe and Always Learn, the advocacies of UNIDA in its five chosen areas of development work. To get this country into SHAPE, we should all want to BETSA!

Building homes is now the focused concern of the Inter-Charity Network (ICN), also one of the UNIDA member organizations. Wanting to revive the Human Settlements approach in the Philippines, ICN is now working closely with a development partner to build a model community in Zambales, with affordable and cost-efficient homes for its residents.

We could all complain about the stagnation of our national development, or we could all do something about it. For those who would want to do something, UNIDA is willing to provide the support for any group that would want to implement programs in any of the five areas.

Should you be driven to act, you could organize a “kapihan” in your own local community, and invite kindred spirits to join you in planning a development program for your locality.

“Eat Right” is an advocacy to shift to organic and natural foods, for good health. “Think Green” is an advocacy to clean and save the environment. “Always Learn” is an advocacy to make education available to everyone, including adults who would like to learn new skills.