UNIDA PRIMER (Fifth of a Series)

NO HOLDS BARRED (055) February 23, 2010
By Ike Señeres

UNIDA PRIMER (Fifth of a Series)

Q. What is the correlation of poverty to hunger?

A. The high incidence of hunger in the Philippines is directly related to the high incidence of poverty. We believe that as we graduate people away from the poverty line, they will have the means to buy the food that they need.

Q. What is home based farming?

A. Home based farming is an UNIDA program that encourages people in a community, under the leadership of the cooperatives, to grow any fruit or vegetable, or any animal product, for their own consumption, and for the purpose of selling their surplus production to the buying stations.

Q. How will the buying stations support home based farming?

A. The buying stations will serve as the nearest location where the local people in a community could sell their fresh crops or harvest. After these are purchased by the buying stations, the crops or harvests may be passed on to the cooperative processing facilities, where these are converted into processed goods with a higher value added.

Q. What is LETS?

A. Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) is an international barter trading system that will enable local community members to trade in or barter anything of value in exchange for value points. These value points may in turn be redeemed in exchange for goods or services of any kind, including food items. As earlier mentioned, all recyclables could also be sold to the buying stations under LETS.

Q. What is the common denominator of all UNIDA infrastructures?

A. Connectivity is the common denominator of all UNIDA infrastructures. Good connectivity is the critical resource that is needed to deliver and sustain eCommerce, eLearning and eHealth.

Q. How does UNIDA define connectivity?

A. UNIDA defines connectivity as the availability of the means to connect to computer networks, mobile networks and television networks. Under this definition, the Internet is considered as a computer network. Cable TV and satellite TV are both considered as television networks.

Q. What is the common denominator of all the UNIDA solutions?

A. Productivity is the common denominator of all the UNIDA solutions. We envision livelihood as the main engine of productivity, complemented by education because people could not be productive if they are not educated, and by health, because people could not be productive if they are not healthy.

Q. What is the correlation between connectivity and productivity?

A. Higher productivity could not be achieved without connectivity, since good connectivity is the critical resource that is needed to deliver and sustain eCommerce, eLearning and eHealth.

Q. What is the correlation between convergence and productivity?

A. On the political side, convergence has to be achieved between industry, the citizenry and the bureaucracy. On the environmental side, convergence has to be achieved in the restoration and preservation of our land, air and water resources.

Q. How can convergence happen on the political side?

A. The political convergence has to be spearheaded by the citizenry, led by the academe. The academe is in possession of the sciences and technologies that are needed for productivity. The cooperation of industry and the bureaucracy has to happen at the community level, by way of projects.


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UNIDA PRIMER (Fourth of a Series)

NO HOLDS BARRED (054) February 17, 2010
By Ike Señeres

UNIDA PRIMER (Fourth of a Series)

Q. What is CCA?

A. Since the climate could not adapt to the ways of man, it is mankind that should adapt to climate changes, now made worse by the effects of global warming. The simplest of these adaptation changes is recycling and waste segregation, but there are more complex adaptation changes such as the carbon reduction technologies that are prescribed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations.

Q. What is DRR?

A. Even if disaster risks could not be prevented, their effects could either be reduced or avoided as the case may be. DRR generally involves the use of technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Short Messaging Systems (SMS), incorporated into hazard mapping and master area planning.

Q. What is ERE?

A. Nature as it was created is perfect by itself, but the destruction of the environment by mankind has caused nature to be imperfect, thereby needing some structural and cosmetic changes to correct it. This is where ERE is needed, for example to re-channel the flow of water to prevent floods, and to build artificial reefs to bring back marine life.

Q. What is the positive side of high poverty rates?

A. A higher prosperity rate is the positive side of a high poverty rate. Having a good LEGAL condition, in other words being the recipient of equal justice, including social and economic justice is a primary human need, as validated by the United Nations and the other international organizations.

Q. What is the positive side of high illiteracy rates?

A. A higher literacy rate is the positive side of a high illiteracy rate. Having a good MENTAL condition, in other words being in possession of a healthy mind that is full of knowledge is a primary human need, as validated by the United Nations and the other international organizations.

Q. What is the positive side of high mortality rates?

A. A higher longevity rate is the positive side of a high mortality rate. Having a good PHYSICAL condition, in other words being in good health is a primary human need, as validated by the United Nations and the other international organizations.

Q. What is the correlation of poverty to justice?

A. In the language of the United Nations, everything is measured in terms of access, and that includes access to justice and legal services. It is a known fact that the poor people in the Philippines generally do not have access to justice on the upside, and are even denied justice on the downside. By giving the poor access to livelihood, the UNIDA hopes to graduate people from the poverty line, consequently gaining the means to have access to justice and legal services.

Q. What is the correlation of illiteracy to knowledge?

A. In the present definition of literacy, a person is considered to be literate if he or she has graduated from the primary grades. In these modern times however, new forms of literacy have emerged, such as computer literacy and climate literacy. To add to that, if we as a nation would want to be competitive in the global marketplace and get back to our position of economic dominance in South East Asia, we have to elevate the definition of literacy to mean taking on new forms of knowledge in higher education.

Q. What is the correlation of mortality to health?

A. It could be said that the high mortality rate in the Philippines (or conversely, the lower longevity rate) is largely due to the similarly high poverty rate. Despite the fact that most Filipinos relatively have access to free medical consultation in public health clinics and public hospitals on the upside, they generally do not have access to affordable hospitalization and medicines on the downside. This is the reason why the UNIDA wants to build more primary hospitals that are owned by the cooperatives, with built-in pharmacy stores where low cost medicines will be sold.

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UNIDA PRIMER (Third of a Series)

NO HOLDS BARRED (053) February 10, 2010
By Ike Señeres

UNIDA PRIMER (Third of a Series)

Q. What utilities could be provided within the UNIDA housing clusters?

A. The clusters could generate their own electric power to supplement the local electric supply. The alternate energy source could be turned on and off depending on the price and availability of the local power source. They could also improve upon the power quality by controlling the power surges through a centralized Universal Power Supply (UPS). They could also improve upon the water supply through a centralized water filtering system, thus saving the residents from the costs of buying filtered water. As an alternative to buying Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), the clusters could pipe in methane gas through a centralized biogas digester. Commonly used items such as cooking oil, vinegar and liquid detergents could also be piped into the homes. Depending on local conditions and applicable franchise rules, the clusters could also operate as retail distributors of telecom services such as cable television, telephony and Internet access. All of these services could be owned and operated by cooperatives.

Q. Where will the UNIDA housing clusters be located?

A. All the UNIDA housing clusters will be located near the train stations and the bus stations. This will correct the common error in previous housing programs wherein beneficiaries obtained access to affordable housing, but could not get access to affordable means of transportation.

Q. How will the UNIDA housing clusters be funded?

A. The funds that will be used for the acquisition of the real estate properties could either come from the local government units (LGUs) or from the cooperatives. The LGUs could be the originators of the housing projects, but in order to sustain the long term expansion of this approach, they would have to be refunded by the developers of the project, which in this case are the cooperatives. Construction costs will also be funded by the cooperatives.

Q. What are the advantages of cooperative housing?

A. Cooperatives are exempted from paying import duties and from the payment of Value Added Taxes (VAT). That means that they will be saving a lot of money when they import construction materials and equipment or if they will buy these from local retailers.

Q. What are the advantages of cooperative processing?

A. Since the cooperatives have duty free and VAT free privileges, they could also save money when they buy materials, equipment and other supplies for the operation of centralized processing facilities. These pieces of equipment could be in the form of driers, shredders and extractors. If they have these pieces of equipment, they could dry, shred or extract juices and oils from any fruit or vegetable, or any form of animal product.

Q. How can cooperative housing help the environment?

A. The cooperatives in general and the housing clusters in particular could organize the collection of factory returnable post consumer waste, which could all be sold to the buying stations. In addition, they could also produce fertilizers, fermented products, fine arts items (crafts), filler materials, fuel ingredients and other functional materials from the segregated waste. These are the six F’s of recycling as expounded by Dr. Metodio Palaypay, MD.

Q. What is the correlation of the environment to HDI?

A. The poor people are the first victims of natural disasters and manmade destructions. When disasters strike, poverty rate go up as people lose their means of livelihood. The mortality also goes up as disaster fatalities are counted. Consequently, the illiteracy rate also goes up as the people lose the support mechanisms to go to school.

Q. What are the scientific ways of reducing environmental damage?

A. Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) are the known scientific ways of reducing environmental damage, as acknowledged by most international organizations. To these two, the UNIDA has added the new scientific way of Environmental Re-Engineering (ERE) which should be a step prior to CCA and DRR.

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