LANAO DEL SUR, PHILIPPINES – A total of 554 vulnerable households from the towns of Butig, Lumbayanague, and Masiu will receive community-based livelihood support from the Marawi Recovery Project (MRP) of Community and Family Services International (CFSI).

CFSI staff processes the inputs of community members for their proposed community-based livelihood project.

The community-based livelihood support aims to enhance the productivity of the current livelihood of the project participants. They themselves will discuss and decide which livelihood to propose to ensure an inclusive and needs-based approach.

The project participants will also appoint community leaders who will be in-charge of the proposed project. Representatives for youth, solo parents, elderly, men, and women will also be selected.

Last July, community assemblies and discussions have begun in the three towns as part of the process. Majority of the population are engaged in farming and fishing so they proposed projects supporting farm and fishing activities and those that will help cut the production costs.

For instance, the residents from Butig agreed to have a road project to improve transportation of goods. Farm tools and machineries were proposed in Lumbayanague while the people of Masiu requested for fish nets.

Once the projects are implemented, it is believed that the community will have a developed capacity to manage a sustainable livelihood.

Project participant from Masiu, Lanao del Sur, Southern Philippines listens carefully in discussions during their community assembly.

The families living in the three towns are survivors of the Marawi Siege in 2017. They are currently displaced and MRP continuously supports them through livelihood assistance, as well as protection and psychosocial interventions.

CFSI, supported by the Australian Government, implements the MRP since 2017 to promote protection, psychosocial, and livelihood recovery of 6,500 households affected by the Marawi crisis.

To learn more about the project, visit https://cfsi.ph/marawi-recovery-project-mrp-project-brief/. #