Strategies for Sustainable Development: Case Studies of Community-Based Population, Health, and Environment Projects
Date
October 18, 2006
Author
(October 2006) PRB, in partnership with nongovernmental organizations in the Philippines, has produced five case studies that document approaches to the implementation of integrated population, health, and environment (PHE) projects. Written by the project managers themselves, the case studies provide lessons learned from their experiences, and focus on issues such as partnering with local governments, engaging communities in participatory research, and developing advocacy strategies. See the table below for a synopsis of each case study and the key issues they address.
The interactive nature of the case studies, which include discussion questions, makes them ideal for use in a classroom or workshop setting (see information on the Teaching Guide below). Outside of a workshop setting, development practitioners and others who read the case studies independently may find new inspiration and ideas for their own work.
PHE Case Studies at a Glance
Strategies for Sustainable Development: Case Studies of Community-Based Population, Health, and Environment Projects
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Case Study
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Synopsis
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Key Issues
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|---|---|---|
| From Roadblock to Champion: PHE Advocacy and Local Government Executives by Enrique Hernandez, PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc. | In many places around the world, local government executives (mayors, chiefs, and governors) have decisionmaking authority that could significantly affect the content and direction of development projects. This case study relates the story of how a development NGO—PATH Foundation Philippines, Inc. (PFPI)—won the support of a mayor who almost derailed an innovative project in her municipality that was working to incorporate reproductive health interventions into coastal resource management plans. | Advocacy strategies, role of local government executives, partnerships, coastal resource management, food security |
| Identifying Our Own Problems: Working With Communities for Participatory PHE Research by Rainera L. Lucero, World Neighbors | Determining the most important development challenges at the community level can be difficult, especially when they entail complex cause-and-effect relationships across different sectors. This case study relates the story of how World Neighbors (a development NGO) involved community members in identifying both critical development challenges and the relationships among those challenges in their community. World Neighbors then supported a process through which the community members developed a plan of action to achieve their goals in the areas of livelihoods, natural-resource management, and reproductive health. | Participatory research/community engagement, volunteer recruitment and retention, cross-sectoral planning, adolescent reproductive health, agriculture, migration |
| Building Partnerships With Local Government Units: PHE Programming in the Municipality of Concepcion by Norma Chan-Pongan, Save the Children U.S.– Philippines Country Office | The sustainability of development programs is a major concern for many NGOs involved in program design and implementation. This case study tells how Save the Children (or SC, a development NGO) established a successful partnership with a local government unit (or LGU, in this case, the municipality of Concepcion) to ensure that integrated PHE programming would be sustained and mainstreamed into local government activities after SC’s involvement ended. | Partnerships, engagement of local government, project sustainability, community outreach, poverty alleviation |
| Enlisting Organizational Support for PHE: Perspectives From a Microfinance Institution by Ellen Grace Z. Gallares, First Consolidated Bank Foundation, Inc. | Enlisting organizational support for a new concept or innovative idea can be a daunting challenge. This case study relates the story of how decisionmakers at the First Consolidated Bank Foundation, Inc. (FCBFI), a nonprofit microfinance institution, evolved from being skeptical to cautiously optimistic about innovative approaches to social development and pro-poor lending—including integrating PHE concerns into the foundation’s programs. | Organizational change, message formulation, mission drift, microfinance |
| Fhaida’s Journey: Promoting Population, Health, and Environment Interventions in a Muslim Community by Jumelita Romero, Tawi-Tawi Marine Research and Development Foundation, and Jurma Tikmasan, Tarbilang Foundation | Development practitioners must often invent strategies to work within constraints posed by traditional and cultural beliefs that may affect the progress of community projects. This case study is a fictional story that synthesizes many of the challenges and obstacles that two actual development NGOs—the Tawi-Tawi Marine Research and Development Foundation and the Tarbilang Foundation—faced in mobilizing women to address PHE issues. The story demonstrates strategies that were used to advocate change while also respecting the religious values of a Muslim community in the Philippines. While the events of this case study occur in a Muslim religious and cultural setting, the lessons the case study contains may be usefully applied in a variety of settings. | Advocacy strategies, religious and cultural barriers, gender roles |
Strategies for Sustainable Development Teaching Guide
Trainers and others who would like to use the case studies to facilitate group discussion of the issues addressed in the case studies may wish to download the Teaching Guide, which provides general suggestions for effective facilitation, proposed agendas for workshops of differing lengths, and specific insights on each of the case studies that will help facilitators highlight key learning points. The Teaching Guide includes the following components:
- Overview: What Are Teaching Case Studies, and Why Use Them? (PDF: 429KB)
- Tips for Facilitating PHE Case Studies (PDF: 450KB)
- Sample Workshop Agendas (PDF: 450KB)
- Teaching Note for “From Roadblock to Champion: PHE Advocacy and Local Government Executives” (PDF: 470KB)
- Teaching Note for “Identifying Our Own Problems: Working With Communities for Participatory PHE Research” (PDF: 470KB)
- Teaching Note for “Building Partnerships with Local Government Units: PHE Programming in the Municipality of Concepcion” (PDF: 468KB)
- Teaching Note for “Enlisting Organizational Support for PHE: Perspectives From a Microfinance Institution” (PDF: 464KB)
- Teaching Note for “Fhaida’s Journey: Promoting Population, Health, and Environment Interventions in a Muslim Community” (PDF: 468KB)
- Download entire Teaching Guide (PDF: 805KB)
These case studies were produced by PRB’s Population, Health, and Environment Program, with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.