Core Shelter Assistance Program, Philippines: An Evaluation

After the devastation of more than 200,000 houses by Typhoon Sisang in the year 1987 which left thousands homeless, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) introduced the CSAP as a restoration/rehabilitation strategy and an intervention in 1988 under the Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness Program. The main design of the program included social preparation, community organization, external technical advice on design and construction and financial assistance for the core house. ADPC was consulted in providing technical advice on the design of the houses. The Core Shelter; (with the barest minimum requirement of a house i.e. four posts supported  by a strong foundation) were built using locally available construction material. The DSWD shouldered the cost of the foundation and the frame while the local government unit concerned acquired and assigned the land and paid the costs of walling, roofing and flooring.

The beneficiaries were the people living below the threshold of poverty, whose houses were completely destroyed and who had no previous shelter assistance, who chose houses not in disaster prone areas, sites with easy access to construction material, and finally, have a guarantee of ownership over the plot on which the house was to be built. In all it provided over 33,959 crores safe housing and also built local capacities of the people, provided livelihood to the communities and victimes of the typhoon.

Ten years after the implementation of the CSAP an evaluation was done in 1998 by the University of Philippines Social Action for Research and Development Foundation Inc. The significance of the study was that the finidings would be benchmark to decision makers and implementaters on the sustainability of the program and the eventual devolution of the same to the Local Government Units (LGUs). The study was conducted in six regions and six provinces across the country; Isabela, Tarlac, Mindoro, Sorsogen, Negros Occidental and Northern Samar. The evaluation found the program relevant, practical, viable, cost-effective, reduced number of homeless families, and maximized participation of the beneficiaries and communities. It built local capacities of the communities and made them self-reliant, reinforced the values of "damayan" and "bayanihan" (helping each other in times of calamities), and fully transferable and replicable to the LGUs with little technical and financial help.

Some recommendations made by the study are:

• DSWD and LGUs should assist the beneficiaries in finding livelihood opportunities that could provide them with viable income; a vital requirement for maintaining and upgrading the core shelters.
• The beneficiaries should be encouraged by DSWD and LGUs to get involved in the construction phase while Neighbourhood Association of Shelter Assistance (NASA) should be transformed to assume the active role of sustaining the program.
• Documentation and record keeping should be improved which can further improve the program implementation. Empirical data is needed for responsive decision-making, effective monitoring, supervision and evaluation.
• The LGU should improve the absorption and implementation of the program by meeting their assigned quota- i.e. giving shelter to as many homeless victims as possible, by providing sufficient and quality construction materials.
• The DSWD should help the LGUs absorb and implement the program.
• The DSWD should transfer the whole program only if the LGUs concerned have the technical and financial capabilities.
• The new settlements, where these core shelter are located, should be further developed.
• A national legislation should be passed that would provide the poor with the barest minimum shelter like the core shelter.

In conclusion the program has been a success story. Such initiatives maybe replicated in other parts of the Asian region to reduce loss of life and property.