Resilience and Inclusion through Investment for Sustainable Agrikultura (RIISA)

This project aims to support inclusive economic opportunities in the poor rural areas of Mindanao in the Philippines. Aligned with the Government of the Philippines’ post-coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery response this project works to increase the productivity of cacao farms and enterprises particularly those led by women while promoting gender equality and resiliency in communities vulnerable to conflict and climate change. Project activities include: (1) assessing needs providing training and offering matching-grants to financial and business service providers in the cacao sector; (2) providing investment capital to financial intermediaries and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); (3) improving the farming and business practices of cacao smallholder farmers and co-operatives through training and matching grants; (4) offering workshops and retreats to women and men cacao smallholder farmers and appointing gender equality champions to promote gender equality in households and communities; and (5) increasing awareness of the gender and environmental needs of cacao smallholder farms SMEs and co-operatives through an advisory council. This project expects to benefit 6 250 smallholder cacao farmers 15 cacao co-operatives and 150 smallholder household couples in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanano (BARMM) and Davao regions of Mindanao.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased integration of gender equality environmental sustainability and human rights considerations into the operations of businesses and financial intermediaries serving small and medium-sized enterprises and co-operatives in the Mindanao cacao market system; (2) improved farming and business practices with inclusive socio-economic dynamics for smallholder farmers and co-operatives in the cacao market system in Mindanao; and (3) improved practice of relevant actors to promote best gender equality environmental sustainability and human rights practices in the cacao market system in the Philippines.