WIREDGOV

The Big Lottery Fund is awarding more than £7 million to two UK-based charities to help communities in the Philippines rebuild their lives following the devastating impact of Typhoon Haiyan.

The typhoon which struck in November 2013 affected millions of people, many who are still struggling to redevelop their livelihoods. The Big Lottery Fund consulted with a range of non-governmental organisations in the disaster area, the Disasters Emergency Committee and Bond to identify how its funding could have the best impact in the long-term process of rebuilding lives. The grantmaker has yesterday announced awards to Plan UK and Save the Children.

Plan UK, which receives £3,859,096, will work with 14,400 of the most vulnerable people including those with disabilities, out of work young people and female-headed households in East Samar and the Roxas City and Sigma municipalities of Panay. 

Working with partner Handicap International, the project will provide entrepreneurship development training, start-up funds for small businesses and will link graduates of training to potential employers. Training will include agriculture, repairing vehicles, cellphone servicing and plumbing installation. Poor farmers and fishers who have lost their assets, boats and equipment and do not have the resources to restart their businesses will be targeted. The project will support the rebuilding and diversification of resilient livelihoods, restore markets and communities’ natural environment. The project will help farmers to produce multiple products like vegetable noodles, abaca handicrafts, banana chips, the drying and processing of fish and communal boat services to transport agricultural products. Early warning systems will be improved, enabling communities to be better prepared for emergencies.

Tanya Barron, Chief Executive of Plan UK, said: “The people of the Philippines have shown tremendous character in coping with the destruction wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. Plan was at the forefront of the immediate response, working with communities to rebuild homes, schools and health facilities and helping people get back on their feet. Yet, the Philippines remains vulnerable to a whole host of disasters, so the work cannot end there.

“That is why we are extremely grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for this fantastic grant which will help create long-term sustainable jobs and ensure communities are more resilient and better prepared for future disasters. By enabling them to have the skills and work opportunities to help them through the toughest of times, it will improve not only the quality of their lives but will also help to save them.”

Save the Children receives £3,238,474 and will directly support around 11,000 families with more than 32,500 children in Capiz and Iloilo provinces. It will target the most economically marginalised families, including landless labourers and land tenants, older people, people with disabilities, women of reproductive age and adolescents. Most of the families are from remote areas such as island communities, with little access to services and support. The project will focus particularly on restarting fishing and farming activities.

A community consultation revealed that 60 per cent of people preferred a loan or financial help to recover from the typhoon’s impact. Community associations and local government units will also be given support on disaster risk reduction to mitigate the effects of future disasters and ensure more sustainable livelihoods as well as advice on reproductive health issues and services.

Save the Children Programme Development Quality Manager, Joel Balaquit  said: “Filipino children are among the most vulnerable in the world. In the Western Visayas, there are still many families struggling to make ends meet and needing help in providing food for their children to thrive after Typhoon Haiyan hit. To effectively fight child hunger and improve children's wellbeing in the Philippines, livelihoods support and sustainability are vital - families must have the means to buy food for their children.

“The Big Lottery Fund project is dedicated to longer term recovery of the poorest families who have been unable to refinance their livelihoods since the typhoon hit. With financial support and skills training on new livelihood methods and financial literacy, Save the Children will build capacity in business management at households and communities levels through a graduation scheme, which will then be taught by beneficiaries themselves to the rest of the community.”

The £7 million to both organisations comes from the Big Lottery Fund’s International Communities programme.

Peter Ainsworth, Big Lottery Fund UK Chair, said: “I remember too well the terrible images of devastation and hopelessness after Typhoon Haiyan struck. The Big Lottery Fund’s mission is to support people most in need so we are funding two experienced organisations to work on the long term recovery in the Philippines - helping people to rebuild their communities and infrastructure in the area hit by this disaster.”

Website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk  
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Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
• Since June 2004 we have awarded over £6.5billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £33 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.