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AGRARIAN REFORM AND RESOURCE RIGHTS
In commemorating its 25th
anniversary this year, ANGOC inevitably traces its roots to the World
Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) that was
held in Rome in July 1979. Preparatory work for the WCARRD had led to the
formation of ANGOC in February 1979. More importantly, the principles agreed
at that historic Rome meeting were to set the agenda for the fledgling
organization's work.
In the next 10 years, and even
as ANGOC continually re-defined its work program in response to changing
circumstances and development needs, ANGOC made a conscious effort to align
its programs along the principles and action programme drawn up at WCARRD.
Through its members, ANGOC partnered with NGOs involved in advocacy efforts
for agrarian reform (AR), and collaborated with government to maximize
benefits from state-supported AR programs.
In 1997 ANGOC sought to link its
advocacy efforts for macro-policy reforms with local level or grassroots
action. The Regional Secretariat deployed its resources and staff to assist
sugar farmers in Bukidnon, Southern Philippines that were being kept out of
land that had been awarded to them under the government's AR Program.
Together with a local NGO, ANGOC facilitated meetings between the farmers
and government offices, and eventually helped get the farmers securely
installed in the disputed estate. ANGOC also co-produced a video documentary
of the sugar farmers' crusade.
The year 1998 marked a shift in
the Network's strategy to pursue agrarian reform. Along with ANGOC's other
traditional programs, the Agrarian Reform and Resource Rights (ARRR) Program
was subsumed under what has since become and remains ANGOC's flagship
program: Food Security.
As a sub-program, ARRR was
envisioned to promote community access to resources by empowering people to
exercise their legal and cultural rights. In this regard, ANGOC committed to
undertake a number of specific activities, loosely classified under three
categories:
Networking
Policy Advocacy
On-the-ground Initiatives
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