Retrieving the Philippine Coconut levy by using FACT Description
PAKISAMA (Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka/National Peasant Confederation and Movement of Farmers) is a national confederation of rural organizations dedicated to the empowerment of small Filipino farmers, fisher folks, rural women, youth, and indigenous peoples. PAKISAMA has at this moment more or less 35.000 members.

Agriterra has been supporting PAKISAMA for several years now, especially in the field of grass-root entrepeneurship. In terms of policy advocacy, PAKISAMA and its affiliates sit in various local and national bodies and engage various line agencies of government in policy dialogue.

PAKISAMA is working currently on releasing a 71 billion PhP fund (originally build up in the 70s by a levy on coconut products), after a decision of the Supreme Court in 2012 to distribute this money amongst coconut farmers and industry via the government. PAKISAMA has joined for this cause a network of coconut farmers KILUS Magniniyog. For this reason a march from Davao City to Malacananag is organised. 71 farm leaders will march the 1750 kilometers.
Goal:
The project is aimed at:
- setting up a perpetual trust fund for the 71 billion PhP (1,2 billion euros) on the terms of the network of coconut farmers. Managed by the government and the farmers.
- strengthening the advocacy capacities of PAKISAMA through technical, legal, lobbying and campaign assistance by Agriterra. 
- training second-generation farm leaders of PAKISAMA in the FACT approach.

Expected outcomes:
-Farmers and other stakeholders are consulted and informed about the plans of the network and the importance of establishing a perpetual trust fund
-Start of the implementation by the governement and politicians of the Court decision on the 71 bln PhP, with PAKISAMA and the other member of KILUS Magniniyog
-Comparative analysis of the management and effective use of the perpetual trust fund in the future
-PAKISAMA improved their FACT approach by using the tools and delivering concrete FACT products (research, SMART proposals and lobby maps)
-A group of 15-20 farm leaders are trained in the FACT approach

Goals
PAKISAMA is working currently on releasing a 71 billion PhP fund (originally build up in the 70s by a levy on coconut products), after a decision of the Supreme Court in 2012 to distribute this money amongst coconut farmers and industry via the government. PAKISAMA has joined for this cause a network of coconut farmers KILUS Magniniyog and set up a campaign. The campaign is organised around a march from Davao City to Malacananag. 71 farm leaders will march for 1750 kilometres.

Though there has been a Supreme Court decision which seems favourable for the farmers, in practice the implementation of this Supreme Court decision has still not started. To make sure that the political momentum (elections will be in 2016) and attention will not be lost, the Kilus Magniniyog tries to organise attention and support for their causes by mobilizing local communities, business, politicians, churches and other groups from the Phillipines. 

Activities
During the project the FACT methodology will be followed, although PAKISAMA already has used the tool from the beginning of this year on this issue. During the march local farmers will be consulted and asked about the proposals on the table, about the criteria for spending the perpetual trust fund for coconut framers and successful projects in the local communities to give the proposal for the fund more legitimacy. Records will be kept of these encounters.

Besides this grass-root involvement of farmers, PAKISAMA will at the same time conduct studies on the functioning and effective use of the proposed perpetual trust fund. This will at the end of the march lead to a more improved, detailed and SMART proposal for the perpetual trust fund. Also lobby mapping will be conducted and the network of supporters will be broadened during the project. 
As Agriterra is aiming at spreading the FACT approach amongst farmers and its leaders, PAKISAMA will also train a group of 15-20 young farm leaders on the FACT approach.

Expected outcomes
-Farmers and other stakeholders are consulted and informed about the plans of the network and the importance of establishing a perpetual trust fund
-Start of the implementation by the governement and politicians of the Court decision on the 71 bln PhP, with PAKISAMA and the other member of KILUs Magniniyog
-Comparative analysis of the management and effective use of the perpetual trust fund in the future
-PAKISAMA improved their FACT approach by using the tools and delivering concrete FACT products (research, SMART proposals and lobby maps)
-A group of 15-20 farm leaders are trained in the FACT approach

Work area & deliverables
The project is linked to working area 3 on policy elaboration and advocacy. The most relevant deliverable in the project is achieving policy adoption, which will lead to the  perpetual trust fund for coconut farmers. Nonetheless, also other deliverables are in the project as participatory policy formulation and joint advocacy are also important subjects of the project.

Estimated outreach
The project aims at organising a big amount of meetings on the coconut levy and gathering more information. During the campaign more or less 13.800 farmers will be consulted and informed about the perpetual trust fund in 69 physical meetings along the road from Davao City to Malacananag. Also via other means of communication 10.000 people of the Kilus Magniniyog network will be regularly informed by the proceeding of the campaign and material will be sent to them. More in depth discussions on the proposal will be done with 20 farm leaders of the Kilus Magniniyog network. And the more in-depth training on the FACT approach will be done for more or less 15-20 young farm leaders, during the campaign.

Financial aspects
Agriterra is main contributor to the project, but more organisations (f.e. Oxfam) are involved. PAKISAMA contributors themselves, this seems adequate. Also the low overhead costs is a positive signal. The financial management track record of PAKISAMA is sound, seeing the projects of the last couple of years with this organisation.  

Agriterra focuses in this project on the direct links with professional and systematic advocacy efforts. This is why the project funding is used for consultation meetings, doing research and lobbying and communication; and it is only really marginally used for the expenses of the march itself.

Retrieving the Philippine Coconut levy by using FACT