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Equator Initiative Case StudiesLocal sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities
Philippines
TROWEL DEVELOPMENTFOUNDATION
Empowered live
Resilient nation
Empowered live
Resilient nation
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UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES
Local and indigenous communities across the world are advancing innovative sustainable development solutions that wo
or people and or nature. Few publications or case studies tell the ull story o how such initiatives evolve, the breadth
their impacts, or how they change over time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with community practition
themselves guiding the narrative.
To mark its 10-year anniversary, the Equator Initiative aims to ll this gap. The ollowing case study is one in a growing ser
that details the work o Equator Prize winners vetted and peer-reviewed best practices in community-based environmenconservation and sustainable livelihoods. These cases are intended to inspire the policy dialogue needed to take local succ
to scale, to improve the global knowledge base on local environment and development solutions, and to serve as models
replication. Case studies are best viewed and understood with reerence to The Power of Local Action: Lessons from 10 Years
the Equator Prize, a compendium o lessons learned and policy guidance that draws rom the case material.
Click on the map to visit the Equator Initiatives searchable case study database.
EditorsEditor-in-Chief: Joseph CorcoranManaging Editor: Oliver HughesContributing Editors: Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Erin Lewis, Whitney Wilding
Contributing WritersEdayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Toni Blackman, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Larissa Currado, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughe
Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Rachael Lader, Patrick Lee, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma,
Mary McGraw, Gabriele Orlandi, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding, Luna Wu
DesignOliver Hughes, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa, Amy Korngiebel, Kimberly Koserowski, Erin Lewis, John Mulqueen, Lorena de la Pa
Brandon Payne, Mariajos Satizbal G.
AcknowledgementsThe Equator Initiative acknowledges with gratitude Trowel Development Foundation, and in particular the guidance and inputs
Leonardo B. Rosario. All photo credits courtesy o Trowel Development Foundation. Maps courtesy o CIA World Factbook and Wikiped
Suggested CitationUnited Nations Development Programme. 2012. Trowel Development Foundation, Philippines. Equator Initiative Case Study Series. N
York, NY.
http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/index.php?option=com_winners&view=casestudysearch&Itemid=858http://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdfhttp://equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/Power_of_Local_Action_Final_2013.pdf7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: TROWEL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, Philippines
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PROJECT SUMMARYTrowel Development Foundation is a community-basedorganization employing climate-adapted aquaculturetechnology to replant mangroves. Mangrove reorestationeorts have ocused on planting native tree species instrategic areas, resulting in restored marine biodiversity,ood security, and protection o coastal areas.
The initiative also works to increase local incomes andimprove livelihoods through a value-chain system to markettie-crabs. The group has established ve community-managed tie-crab arms that benet 250 subsistence
shing households. This innovation has been implementedin idle shponds, where mangrove-riendly and climate-adapted tie-crab attening technology has been employedto double the income o shing households.
KEY FACTS
EQUATOR PRIZE WINNER: 2010
FOUNDED: 2004
LOCATION: Northern Samar province
BENEFICIARIES: Over 250 families
BIODIVERSITY: Mangrove ecosystems
3
TROWEL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATIONPhilippines
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background and Context 4
Key Activities and Innovations 6
Biodiversity Impacts 9
Socioeconomic Impacts 9
Policy Impacts 10
Sustainability 11
Replication 11
Partners 12
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4
Northern Samar province is located on the eastern side o the
hilippine Archipelago. It is bound on the north by the San Bernardino
trait, on the east by the Pacic Ocean, on the west by the Samar Sea,
nd on the south by the provinces o Samar and Eastern Samar. It is
omposed o 24 municipalities and 569 barangays covering a total
and area o 3,693 square kilometers. The province is characterized
y a varied topography with mountains and undulating terrain that
s exposed to wind, typhoons and rainall, with warm equatorial
waters owing northward along the eastern coast. The province has
complex mix o terrestrial ecosystems and habitat types, which
nclude natural terrestrial ecosystems composed o lower mountain
orests, agroorestry areas, lowland agricultural areas, beach orests,
quatic ecosystems (rivers, streams, mangrove swamps, aquacultureonds and reservoirs), seagrass beds, and coral rees. Wetland orests
urround the reshwater swamps and coastal orest. The cultivated
rea, which covers 171,000 hectares o the province, or roughly
8 percent o the land, is used or coconut (140,212 hectares), rice
26,737 hectares), root crop (1,710 hectares), banana (679 hectares),
nd corn (542 hectares) production.
Environmental threats to an area of mega-biodiversity
he waters o the coast o Northern Samar are inhabited by
ommercially important sh and marine species. The provinces
ch abundance o biological diversity helps to account or the
hilippines classication as one o the worlds 18 areas o mega-iodiversity. Thirteen o the Philippines orty indigenous mangrove
pecies are ound in Northern Samar, as are twenty-our ree-based
sh amilies, thirty economically important sh species, two
ndigenous seagrass species, and several endemic seaweed varieties.
mportantly, Northern Samar supplies 60 percent o the countrys
rablets. This diversity and abundance o sh, coral and mangrove
esources, however, has been severely degraded due to illegal
shing and destructive activities such as dynamite shing, coral
arvesting, and mangrove deorestation. In the case o the latter, a
ubstantial proportion o the provinces mangrove orests have been
systematically deorested to convert land into settlement are
or shpond use. Hundreds o hectares o sh ponds, previo
used or milk sh and prawn cultivation, have been abandoned
now sit idle and unproductive.
Root causes of poverty in Northern Samar
Northern Samar is also an economically marginalized provin
recent survey o the region ound that 14 o 24 municipalities
poverty rates higher than 50 percent, making it the seventh po
among the countrys 79 provinces. Roughly 50,000 househol
Northern Samar suer rom extreme poverty.
The economy is largely dependent on the agriculture and sh
sectors. Small-hold armers are the norm, with the average a
tending to less than ve hectares o land to cultivate coconut,
corn, bananas, abaca, pineapple, ginger and vegetables. Copra
root crops provide the primary sources o rural income. Small-
production also predominates in the shing sector, where
shermen use traditional shing techniques and equipment
as hook and line, sh netting, and small-scale aquaculture. S
scale shing operations cultivate Spanish mackerel, grouper,
big-eyed scad, round scad, herring, anchovies and salmon. O
marine resources include cuttlesh, crabs, shrimp, squid and lob
As shing incomes have plummeted, so has the ability o s
amilies to provide or basic ood security, health, education, houor other economic needs.
Growing levels o poverty can be linked, to a certain exten
diminishing outputs rom the provinces sheries. According
Fishery Resources Management Conerence in 2006, the decl
trend in the provinces sh production stems rom dwind
productivity due to overshing, destructive shing methods,
o strong sheries regulation and enorcement, lack o sh
inormation, inaccessible credit acilities, lack o post-ha
acilities, and weak institutions and organizations. So too, pov
Background and Context
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n Northern Samar has been exacerbated by the negative impacts
climate change. It is particularly vulnerable to tropical cyclones,
ooding and coastal erosion, which introduce insecurity and
ncertainty or an already vulnerable rural population.
nnovative technologies for local livelihoods
ince 2004, the Trowel Development Foundation has worked to
trengthen the adaptive capacities o coastal villages to the impacts climate change by securing the livelihoods o subsistence shing
ouseholds. The project ocus was and remains the productive
tilization o idle shponds, namely through the introduction and
mainstreaming o mangrove-riendly, biodiversity-enhancing, and
isaster-resilient tie-crab attening technology. The tie-crab attening
pproach tying individual crabs to bamboo poles has helped to
ouble the income o shing households. The Trowel Development
oundation has also ocused on mangrove reorestation, planting
ative tree species in abandoned sh ponds to restore aquatic
iodiversity, improve ood security and enhance the protection o
oastal ecosystems.
ive community-managed tie-crab arms have been established,
which together benet more than 250 subsistence shing
ouseholds. Aquatic biodiversity has recovered, as evidenced by the
rolieration o native sh, crustaceans, and mollusks which are now
arvestable in the tie-crab arms and neighboring areas. Stocks o
mud crabs have increased substantially due to the release o gravid
mud crabs into the wild or spawning. Over 20 hectares o mangrove
orest have been replanted and maintained.
he Trowel Development Foundation is guided in its work by our
ey objectives:
. Increase by 80 percent the ood security and income o 1,000subsistence shing households through the establishment o
community-managed tie-crab arms.
. Restore local aquatic biodiversity and enhance the protection o
10 barangays through mangrove reorestation in idle shponds.
. Enhance the economic productivity o subsistence shing
households by building mutually-benecial market supply
chains in the local mud crab industry.
. Develop viable value chains or crab-attening and marketing.
As crosscutting issues, the Trowel Development Foundation aims to
nhance the local economy, ensure environmental sustainability, and
improve local governance. To bolster the local economy, the initi
works through community-managed tie-crab arms to increase
supplies o mature mud crabs. Market supply chains are not
developed or tie-crabs, but or a range o locally harvested ma
resources and products. The benets are ound not only in impr
livelihoods and incomes, but also in improved ood security athousehold level. On the environment side, the initiative has oc
on the restoration and recovery o degraded mangrove ecosyst
Targeting previously idle sh ponds, mangrove reorestation
helped to reduce shore erosion, buer against climate-rel
natural disasters, and has promoted the regeneration o se
marine species. Local governance eorts have ocused on
institutionalization o co-management systems which encou
the active participation o local shermen, and partnership
cooperation with womens sel-help groups, national governm
agencies and line ministries, local government units, acad
institutions, civil society, and other community-based organizat
The coastal communities in Northern Samar, Philippines continue to face the threat of sea-lev
rise and strong storms due to climate change. As an adaptive response, the small-scale fishers in th
province developed an integrated strategy that involves disaster-resilient aquaculture, ecologic
mangrove restoration and value-chain development in tie-crab fattening and marketing.
Leonardo B. Rosario, Trowel Development Foundation
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6
Key Activities and Innovations
he Trowel Development Foundation was born in 2004, ollowing
n Integrated Support or Local Actions Towards Coastal Resources
Amelioration and Augmentation o Livelihoods program unded
by New Zealand Aid. This program was implemented in twenty
oastal barangays. The ounders o what would become the Trowel
Development Foundation were asked to implement the program
n Lavezares. As in the other barangays, the traditional shing
ommunities in Lavezares were suering rom low incomes due
o dwindling sh catches resulting rom illegal shing, a lack o
ppropriate shing gear and equipment, and an absence o viable
lternative livelihood options.
Transition to a community-owned initiative
When the project ended in 2007, the Trowel Development
oundation developed a continuity strategy to sustain advances
nd gains made during the course o the program. Specically, the
trategy ocused on the local aquaculture industry and the gap in
ppropriate technologies or small-scale armers and shermen.
ollowing a gap analysis based on several key considerations
ncluding potential t with coastal and marine and environments,
vailability o necessary raw materials, and market demand priority
was given to mud crab and seaweed cultivation, as these were seen
o have the highest enterprise potential. Trowel Development
oundation began by undertaking a comprehensive inventory a
ocial mapping o local technologies and practices in mud crab andeaweed cultivation. A viable, transerable crab-attening technique
was identied that involved tying crabs to individual bamboo poles.
o test the approach, a two-hectare demonstration arm and training
acility or tie-crab attening was established. On- and o-site training
was oered to small-scale shermen. Mangrove restoration and
eorestation were instituted as a central conservation dimension
o the strategy. Supply-chain and marketing support or attened
ie-crabs was also provided, closing the loop on market access and
business development.
Evolution of project goals based on local demand
The initial objectives o the project were to increase the incom
200 subsistence shing households by 50 percent, to protect
enhance local biodiversity in nine mangrove sites, and to aci
co-management arrangements or the conservation and sustain
use o aquatic and mangrove resources. These objectives
later expanded to cover incomes and ood security or a tot
1,000 households, mangrove reorestation in idle shponds,
market supply-chain development. Growth in the number o ta
beneciaries was quite simply a unction o local interest
demand rom small-scale shermen. The issue o ood security
introduced in acknowledgment that tie-crab attening could alsused or consumption, and to directly address an existing decie
Lastly, supply-chains were prioritized based on a perceived ga
avorable markets or locally produced products.
Planning, mobilization, and evaluation
To date, Trowel Development Foundation activities have
delivered through three phases: assessment and planning, educa
and mobilization, and evaluation. The rst phase on assessm
and planning had two stages. The rst stage was an exerci
institution-building, scoping and visioning. Project orient
assemblies were held to raise awareness and understandin
the various aspects o Trowel Development Foundation objecand proposed activities, to mobilize relevant stakeholders, an
secure needed commitments. During this stage, the projec
management council was ormed, project operation and investm
plans were ormulated, and an MOU was signed between the proj
stakeholders regarding partner responsibilities and commitm
o resources. The second stage involved community assessm
denition o project priorities, and crab industry scoping. In the
instance, local consultations and site inspections were undert
to identiy and select idle shponds that could useully be inclu
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7
n the project. This was complemented by participatory resource
ppraisals, which gathered data on community and household
ssets in the target villages, easible cooperation guidelines and
riority areas, and potential project collaborators. Lastly, a crab
ector study and value-chain analysis was conducted on the linkages
etween members o the tie-crab association and other industry
takeholders. Based on the ndings o this study, an industry
rotocol was drated to ensure a steady supply o quality lean crabs,
eliable market outlets that oer air prices to local shermen, andccessible business development services.
he second phase on education and mobilization had three stages.
he rst stage ocused on awareness-raising within the local crab
ndustry, using the ndings o the sector study and value-chain
nalysis. A standard protocol on crab attening was developed,
long with a trading plan. Training on the tie-crab attening
was provided to project participants. The second stage invo
mangrove reorestation and restoration in strategic portions o
and abandoned shponds. Community members were involve
documentation o mangrove species as well as replanting e
Fattening sites were identied, arm areas were demarcated, bam
poles were set up, a eed area and guard house were establis
lean crabs were procured and distributed, and harvesting
marketing was acilitated. The nal stage in this phase was a
parade and mangrove estival, where wholesale and retail markesupport was provided and market agreements between
armers and buyers negotiated. These public events also serve
a means o exchanging best practices in tie-crab attening betw
stakeholders. The third phase o Trowel Development Founda
development involved mid-term assessments and pro
evaluations, where the net benets and costs to participa
communities were determined.
Support local adaptation strategies because the negative impacts of climate change hit loc
communities the hardest.
Leonardo B. Rosario, Trowel Development Foundation
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8
Innovations in technology, value-chains, and governance
The most noteworthy innovation o this project is the disaster-
esilient tie-crab attening technique, which involves tying individual
rabs, each with a buoy, to bamboo poles staked two meters apart.
As a consequence, crabs do not easily escape during arm ooding
a regular occurrence), as they are securely astened to the bamboo
poles. In the event that the poles break during oods, the crabs can be
ecovered, as the buoys are easily visible rom above the oodwater.When aced with more severe storms, armers can quickly collect
he crabs, place them in a secure shelter, and then return them
o the arms ater the storm has passed. Individual eeding allows
or regulation and rationing based on the consumption capacity
o individual crabs, meaning that there is less wasting o ood as
ompared to grow-out methods o crab cultivation. In addition to
being an easily transerred technology, tie-crab attening adds to
ease o harvesting, greater selection in harvesting based on weight
nd maturity, and a higher return on investment, as prots are 50
percent higher over a 15 to 20 day period as compared with the
grow-out method.
Additionally, the Trowel Development Foundation has created a
uccessul value-chain or crab attening and marketing. The process
ocuses on consolidation within the existing tie-crab association
o improve its collective productivity, to set standards, and to
enhance collective bargaining capacity when negotiating with
mainstream markets. Industry orums and training in marketing and
negotiation help to strengthen armer engagement with industry
takeholders. Industry protocols have been enhanced, and in some
ases pioneered, to advance investments in crab research, crab
nursery establishment, crablet collection, crab attening, and crab
marketing. Negotiations between crab growers and buyers are
acilitated in advance o the attened crabs being ready or market
n order to establish mutually benecial outcomes and to bolsterhe bargaining power o local crab growers who are otherwise in a
ompromised position.
Another project innovation has been the co-management approach
o mangrove restoration, which brings together a range o relevant
takeholders, including civil society organizations, government,
nd the business sector. Cooperating organizations are equal and
ctive participants in decision-making, and each perorms a distinct
developmental unction that complements the work o other players.
Similarly, benet-sharing is at the heart o the co-management
rrangement.
Multifaceted service delivery and capacity building
Above and beyond its work in tie-crab arming, mangrove
eorestation and market supply-chain development, Trowel
Development Foundation is actively involved in integrated service
delivery to the local community, including credit and savings
ervices. These services are provided or small-scale armer activities
nd enterprise development in the orest, agriculture, and shery
ectors. The initiative also provides technical support and guidance
o local armers on organic agriculture, orest management and
agro-orestry techniques, community-based coastal resou
management and conservation, and community mobiliza
Further still, Trowel Development Foundation oers training
community members on project management, bookkee
accounting, and gender sensitivity.
Organizational structure
On an organizational level, the Trowel Development Foundaretains our technical sta members, including a project t
leader, an aquaculture ofcer, a orestry ofcer, and a develop
ofcer. Administrative support is provided by a nance o
and a bookkeeper. Technical support is provided by consult
with expertise, respectively, in the areas o aquaculture, or
and value-chain development. Project management is a sh
responsibility between the Project Management Council, the
Crab Industry Association, the Project Technical Team, and a num
o barangay sherolk and armers organizations.
The Project Management Council is a multi-stakeho
interdisciplinary governance unit. It is variously composed o
representatives rom sherolk, armers and womens ederat
a municipal agricultural ofcer and municipal councilor rom
Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries; the chairperson o
University o Eastern Philippines, Department o Fisheries;
provincial ofcer o the Bureau o Fisheries and Aquatic Resou
and the Executive Director o Trowel Development Foundation
decision-making body is charged with overall strategic dire
and policy guidance or the organization. Its members deter
resource requirements, ensure a avorable policy environm
through local government unit advocacy, provide technical
nancial assistance through line ministries, and set criteria o
selection o project beneciaries. Overall coordination o the Tr
Development Foundation is undertaken at the community levthe Tie Crab Industry Association, with assistance rom the Pro
Technical Team the project team leader, aquaculture ofcer, s
ofcer, and community development ofcer.
To coordinate Trowel Development Foundation work, our unct
committees have been established. A sanctuary committee
charge o the development and management o the crab sanct
including monitoring and enorcement. A production comm
ensures the steady production o mud crabs, the developme
tie-crab arm plans, the monitoring o mud crab production
tie-crab arm, and reporting on perormance and obstacles. A c
committee sets organizational policies or credit availability and
monitors the use o credit unds by community members, ensthat credit unds are paid on time, and monitors adherence to c
policies. Lastly, a marketing committee lays the oundation or ai
equitable market supply-chains through price negotiation sup
and industry meetings. Fisherolk, armers and womens edera
provide volunteer labor and resources or the implementatio
project activities at the barangay level. These communities
directly involved in coordination o the tie-crab arms and the
sanctuary, as well as the credit and marketing aspects o the pro
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
The municipalities o Lavezares and Rosario in which the Trowel
Development Foundation is currently active have a combined
ggregate coastline o 102 kilometers, comprised mainly o coastal
nd marine ecosystems and wetlands that include mangrove
wamps, aquaculture ponds, reservoirs, coral rees, and seagrass
beds. The regions mangrove orest contains thirteen mangrove
pecies o seven amilies, the most dominant o which are
Rhizophora mucronata and R. apiculata, which are ound in all Trowel
Development Foundation project sites. Due to ongoing degradation,
mangrove orest densities are low and increasingly shrinking, with
n average o 6,000 stems per hectare. It is this trend that the TrowelDevelopment Foundation is working to reverse.
The projects positive biodiversity impacts have stemmed largely
rom the reorestation and restoration o mangrove ecosystems.
These activities have resulted in the recovery, reappearance and
prolieration o sh species, as well as other endemic marine auna.
Reorestation eorts have ocused primarily on idle and abandoned
shponds.
Beyond mangrove replantation, the act o tie-crab arming itsel
has proven to have a number o biodiversity benets. The tie-crab
pproach allows or more targeted and less destructive harvesting,
nd the demarcation o tie-crab arms has in many case (whetherdeliberately or otherwise) created de facto marine sanctuaries where
quatic species have been able to regenerate and thrive. Tie-crab
armers have reported the reappearance o native sh species in arm
ites and in adjacent areas. Specically, wild milk sh, rabbit sh and
hrimp can now be ound and caught, both inside the arms and on
heir peripheries. Farmers have also been supported to strategically
elease attened and matured crabs or spawning in the wild. This
has led to a dramatic increase in crablet stocks, which, according to
egg production numbers oered by the South East Asian Fisheries
Development Centre, have grown by over 12 million individuals.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Trowel Development Foundation has improved the quality o
o over 250 amilies, who can now meet basic needs as a resu
increased incomes and diversied livelihood options. On ave
participating amilies have seen an increase in monthly earnin
USD 69. This revenue is reported to have been invested into sc
ees and meeting the subsistence needs o local households. Pr
activities have also resulted in greater ood security, through
reliable and regular production o attened, mature crabs, as w
the reappearance o wild sh in the crab sanctuaries. Where ar
had no reliable source o sh previously, they now report an ave
weekly take o three kilograms o wild milk sh, rabbit shshrimp. The sh caught is equivalent to an additional USD 32
month.
For tie-crab attening, the cost o land averages USD 313 per he
per year. Since tie-crab armers only require about 100 sq
meters or a unctioning small-scale arm, the cost o the pond
is very low. The time required to develop a unctioning tie-crab
is also minimal, taking between 15 and 20 days or crabs to atte
which point they are harvestable. There is a strong market and
demand or tie-crabs, both locally and or export. Tie-crab ar
can make gross average revenue o USD 161 per attening cycle
Within the over 1,000 small-scale shermen amilies engagetie-crab arm management, women have been a primary ta
o capacity building and support. Specically, local wo
are supported to engage in the buying and selling o lean
robust crabs, each earning USD 5 or a hal day o trading. Tr
Development Foundation has also promoted a Passing on the
approach, whereby primary project beneciaries are encour
to transer and share the original assistance they received to o
amilies in need o capacity building support.
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POLICY IMPACTS
Trowel Development Foundation actively advocates at the local
and provincial levels or community- rights and entitlements, and
he delineation o mangrove orests or both tie-crab arming and
community co-management. At the time o this study (2011), a
municipal tie-crab ordinance was still being negotiated in order
o ormally establish mud crab sanctuaries in the mangroves o
wo municipalities. At the provincial level, Trowel Development
Foundation has succeeded in introducing a mud crab ordinanc
all o Northern Samar. Tie-crab armers help enorce the ordin
by reporting violators who export y-size or undersized cra
outside the province, thereby diminishing the sustainable
reproductive capacity o local crab populations and ecosystems
organization is also in conversation with the Provincial Govern
Environment and Natural Resource Ofce regarding the alloca
o unds or mangrove reorestation eorts in two municipalitie
10
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITYn terms o nancial sustainability, the capital requirements o the
roject are relatively small. Material and labor inputs are minimal.
Materials needed, including lean crabs, bamboo poles and crab
eeds are widely available in project sites. Also, tie-crab attening as
technique requires only modest levels o expertise and knowledge,
most o which is already widely abundant amongst the local
opulation.
he nancial sustainability and viability o the Trowel Development
oundation is provided or by partners and collaborators, who
er in-kind support, sot loans, grants, the use o laboratoryacilities and manpower. The organization is engaged in ongoing
utreach eorts to make connections and linkages with relevant
takeholders capable o contributing support and resources.
artners such as the Philippine Social Enterprise Network (value-
hain development), the University o Eastern Philippines (technical
upport on coastal resource management), and the Southeast Asian
isheries Development Center (aquaculture scientists) all bolster the
nitiatives sustainability.
he Passing on the Gits approach has been institutionalized
nd contributes to project growth and sustainability. The original
ecipients o project assistance are required to transer an equal
measure o assistance to a selected recipient amily. The approachs still in the process o being socially embedded amongst the small-
cale shers in the coastal communities, but has a high degree o
otential or expanding the number o participating armers and
roject beneciaries.
REPLICATION
or the Trowel Development Foundation, success has bred interest
n other communities. As is oten the case with biodiversity
onservation initiatives, it has been necessary to communicate
the incentives and benets possible rom thoughtul, sustain
resource management. Neighboring communities and municipa
have been able to see rst-hand the positive, transormative e
Trowel Development Foundation activities have had on the
economy, on household-level ood security, and on mangrove
coastal ecosystems. Equally attractive to communities is how e
transerred the project model is to other sites, and the relat
low levels o capital investment and resource inputs needed
organization has also provided an instructive model o how to
start-up unds or crab arming through micro-nance loans.
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1212
he project model is currently being promoted among local
overnment units or integration into local development plans. For
xample, the municipality o Calauag invited Trowel Development
oundation to share its tie-crab attening technique with
overnment ofcials in 2009. The technique was also eatured in
he national aquaculture conerence Fishlink 2010, which brought
ogether shpond owners, aquaculture scientists, ofcials o national
overnment agencies, and local government units rom all over the
ountry.
PARTNERS
robust partnership makes the Trowel Development Foundation
ossible. Dierent partners make dierent contributions, depending
n their expertise and respective value-add. Several partners
rovide technical support and guidance in project implementation
and management. Other partners (mostly in government) pro
a conducive policy environment, demarcating zones or pro
implementation. Some partners support with the publicatio
manuals on ecological mangrove. Others still help to establish
tie-crab arms and construct the necessary acilities guard ho
molting pens, eed areas, and pole areas.
The main stakeholders in this partnership are:
The College o Science and Fisheries Department o
University o Eastern Philippines
Bureau o Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
Local Governments o the Municipalities o Lavezares
Rosario
Municipal ederations o shers and armers organization
Lavezares, and their member organizations
7/27/2019 Case Studies UNDP: TROWEL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION, Philippines
13/13
FURTHER REFERENCE
Trowel Development Foundation website trowelsamar.weebly.com/
Trowel Development Foundation Photo Story (Vimeo) vimeo.com/15746250
Equator Initiative
Environment and Energy GroupUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
304 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel: +1 646 781 4023
www.equatorinitiative.org
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UNs global development network, advocating or change and
necting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better lie.
The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizati
o recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions or people, nature and resilient communities.
2012 by Equator Initiative
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