The Philippines
HelpAge International has worked in the Philippines with our partner the Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE) since 1989.
Together we help community-based older people’s organisations to:
- Support their communities recover from natural disasters and prepare their communities for future disasters.
- Improve income security through livelihood training and access to funds.
- Improve access to drinking water through water filling stations.
- Provide solar-generated electricity to households using kerosene lamps.
Life story: Rosemarie, 56
Rosemarie received funding for her vegetable growing business.
Lucy Blown/HelpAge International 2011
Rosemarie, 56, lives with her husband who is blind in one eye and two of her children in a small hut.
She joined an older people's organisation after typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines in 2009.
The disaster caused hundreds of casualties, massive damages to houses, infrastructure and livelihoods and affected over four million people.
Rosemarie said: "Before Ondoy (Ketsana) we were poor, after we were poorer.
"Thanks to the support from the older people's organisation, we have started to recover little by little."
Since she received some help, Rosemarie has supplemented her existing vegetable growing and vending business.
"Before the livelihood support we only ate one meal a day. Now we can have three," she added.
The difference we made in 2010-2011
- We successfully lobbied the government to introduce an old age pension.
- Many older people and their families now have access to sustainable incomes thanks to the loan schemes and livelihood training we provide.
- We provided water refilling stations that allow about 16,000 people in more than 40 communities to access clean and safe drinking water. These water stations also generate income for older people’s organisations.
- We trained more than 100 older people’s organisations in how to prepare their communities for natural disasters. Each group has now developed a hazard map, formed a disaster plan and created a disaster committee.
- We provided solar panels for 70 older people’s households, giving them access to electricity for the first time.
What next?
- We will push the older people’s agenda to government and to the general public.
- We will engage indigenous older leaders in their communities and encourage them to participate in governance.
- Within three years, we will develop a network of support groups to promote the inclusion of the older people in our target communities.
Our affiliates
Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE)
Our partners
Confederations of Older People’s Organisation (COPAP), the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the University of the Philippines College of Social Work and Community Development, the Department of Health
Our donors
AGE UK, DEC, CORDAID, MISEREOR, Sponsor a Grandparent, HelpAge Korea, HelpAge Germany, the National Commission on Culture and Arts (NCCA), ECHO
