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Grace Moñera holds a curtain made out of bamboo at a small shop in Tabango town in Leyte province, south of Manila, Philippines. Photo: Basilio Sepe / Oxfam Pilipinas

Leyte district gives basket weaving a modern spin to support local artisans, inclusive businesses

Grace Moñera, 32, was just a child when her father first taught her how to cut bamboo and turn them into amakan or woven split-bamboo mats that are commonly used as wall paneling for traditional houses in some parts of rural Philippines. Knowing this craft has allowed her to earn extra money as she...

Marivic Dubria inspects coffee cherries on her family’s 2-hectare farm in Bansalan town, Davao del Sur. Dubria is among the farmer trainees of Coffee for Peace, a social enterprise that is a member of the Poverty Reduction through Social Entrepreneurship (PRESENT) Coalition, which is a partner of Oxfam Pilipinas under The Gender Transforma-tive and Responsible Agribusiness Investments in South East Asia (GRAISEA) program. Photo by Roy Lagarde / Oxfam Pilipinas

Davao coffee shop helps lift farmers out of poverty

DAVAO CITY — Marivic and Joe Randy Dubria live in a farming village in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, at the foothills of the Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the Philippines. The couple worked hard but they struggled to make ends meet. Vegetable farming brought little income while Marivic’s take home...

A rural health unit in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao. (Photo: Eleanor Farmer/Oxfam)

Transforming women’s silent or silenced issues

As we usher in a new world, we must choose what to bring and what not. Using Sarah Longwe’s women empowerment framework, there are five basic aspects of empowerment: welfare, access, conscientization, participation, and control.

Sarah Dilangelan, President of the Women’s Federation of Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao, shows the finished Inaul gown to the two women in Datu Abdullah Sangki, Maguindanao. These women are part of the cash-for-work support program by Oxfam and Rural Development Institute of Sultan Kudarat, with the support from The People of Government and Japan and UN Women. (Photo: Princess Tarroza/Oxfam)

A Better Normal

Ma. Victoria R. Raquiza of Social Watch Philippines wrote this opinion piece to emphasize the vital role of social policies, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable families reeling from the impact of the pandemic. Raquiza shared her reflections during the webinar organized by Oxfam...

When fathers care

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented changes to our way of lives. For one, work-from-home arrangements have turned our homes into our workspaces, creating a dilemma about when work exactly begins and ends each day.

B-READY participant receives her prepaid card in Barangay Burak, Salcedo, Eastern Samar. (Photo: Myleen Ogana, PDRRN)

Future-proofing our communities

The Covid-19 crisis is not the only emergency the Philippines is facing. The economic slump triggered by the pandemic is happening alongside the country’s vulnerability to natural hazards and climate-related disasters, and worsening pre-existing social vulnerabilities.

Bai, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: Others before Self

Thirty-two-year-old Bai was supposed to fly abroad for work when the Philippine Government declared a country-wide lockdown including the temporary suspension of thousands of international and domestic flights. Bai had prepared for her departure for a long time, but all of her plans took a sudden...

Ben, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: Help in Times of Great Need

Ben, 36, is a community organizer with an NGO helping people find jobs and creating sources of income in his hometown, Cotabato City. When the pandemic began, his role shifted to mobilizing Barangays (townships) to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus through hygiene awareness sessions that...

Stitching Up the Economic Wound of COVID-19: The Women Sewers of Kamuning Public Market

The Kamuning Public Market was closed last March when an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) was declared to slow the spread of COVID-19. Only food vendors were allowed to sell. Seamstresses like 61-year-old Lina Arroyo had to stay at home--a mandate she found hard to follow.

Lynda, HBCC Stigma Stories (Illustration: Vina Salazar/Oxfam)

Stigma Stories: A Change in Perspective

Thoughts of loneliness and anxiety ran through Lynda’s mind as she volunteered herself to enter into self-isolation. What transpired not only disrupted her work, but meant not being able to attend to the child she was breastfeeding.

The future is equal