Workers Watch: Community-Based Response in Advancing Human Rights and Corporate Ethical Practice in Mindanao

CTR Reference No.

CTR 2019/410-455

Title of the project

Workers Watch:  Community-Based Response in Advancing Human Rights and Corporate Ethical Practice in Mindanao

Implementing organisations

Nonoy Librado Development Foundation Inc. (NLDFI)

Project Location/s

Davao City, Davao de Oro/Davao del Norte, Northern Mindanao, CARAGA Region, and Region 12 Philippines

Operational Duration

(start date – end date of activities)

November 12, 2019-November 12, 2022

Allocated budget

(EU contribution only)

350,000 euros

Overall and Specific objectives (simplified – for publication)

1. Organize and empower workers communities to become strong human rights defenders.
2. Provide immediate protection, legal services, and relief to victims of human rights violations.
3. Develop a participatory action plan with business, government, and trade unions towards mainstreaming respect for human rights and responsible business conduct in workplaces.
4. Engage government agencies in amending existing department orders or drafting new laws to strengthen the promotion of human rights and responsible business practices in workplaces.

Main target groups

1. Organized and unorganized workers in banana and pineapple plantations, mining, fishing vessels, fish ports, and canneries across four regions.
2. Community leaders
3. Women workers in the covered industries
4. Children of the workers in the covered industries

Main activities (simplified – for publication)

1. Workers Watch Formations, community capacity building, and training
2. Protection, services, and access to justice
3. Stakeholders engagement with business and government
4. Legislative reform, research, and advocacy

Sustainability of the Project

Financial Sustainability: The community capacity-building activities in the workers watch project assist community leaders in developing the competence to manage organizations, including resource generation, networking, and accessing grants made available by the Department of Labor and Employment and other agencies. It is thus expected that Workers Watch formations will have financial sustainability even after completion of this action.

Institutional Sustainability: The community approach of this action ensures that all the results and outputs of Workers Watch remain in place even after the end of the action. The participatory nature of the processes, including in decision-making, evaluation, and strategy builds ownership of the action’s results. The capability building activities of the action and their subsequent application in actual human rights situations likewise enables the putting up of systems of response and care at the community level. With these systems in place, communities are empowered to respond to human rights effectively without the need for external organizations.

Policy Level Sustainability: The action contributes to structural impact through improvements in existing human rights framework at the enterprise level. Through the development of an Action Plan for Business and Human Rights, existing codes of conduct for employers with respect to human rights will be enhanced. The action also envisions the passage of national legislation that will mainstream human rights in the workplace.

Target SDGs

The action seeks to institutionalize a community-based response towards the protection of fundamental freedom and mitigation of human rights violations of workers amid Agri-industrial expansions in Mindanao.

Link to more information on the project (website/Facebook page/etc)

Official website: www.nldfi.org

Official Facebook Pages: Nonoy Librado Development Foundation, Inc.

Workers Watch