FPE RAC Mindanao Turn-over Ceremony and Meeting last November 4-5, 2014 Mandaya Hotel Davao City

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FPE Report 2014
by the Immediate Past FPE Chair & CEO
(Slide 1: Cover Slide)
(Slide 2)
I am pleased to report our milestones from the past fiscal year.
First, we funded 67 projects worth a total of P40.98 million during
the 12 months in review.
(Slide 3)
Majority of our trust fund earnings went to large grant and site
projects in the past year. These community-led terrestrial and
marine have proven as the best barometer of our impact on
the ground.
Diverse environmental advocates also sought FPE grants to help
build grassroots coalitions, promote public discussion, influence
policy, and develop their capacities through training, research and
symposia.
(Slide 4)

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From our frequent field visits and discussions with project
partners, we saw the urgency to set clear roadmaps and reinforce
a more holistic approach to conservation. The Board of Trustees
and staff thus worked year-round on the following strategic
initiatives that were also a response to an in-depth evaluation of
our organizational track record:
(Slide 5)
First, we focused on nine project sites situated within key
biodiversity areas. Giving support to as many as 22 sites had
fragmented our assistance and led to uneven project outcomes.
More sites also meant higher operational costs, redounding to
smaller projects with lower potential to create impact. Our current
funding limit per project reflects our thinly spread resources. By
rationalizing our project footprint, we hope to engage more
community partners and a broader ecosystem in every site.
(Slide 6)
Second, the Board decided to take a longer view of FPE’s future.
We thus formulated a new 10-year strategic plan (2015-2025) in
consideration of the long-term needs and required gestation
period of BCSD interventions. The typical five-year planning frame

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was inadequate for measuring results. Our new strategic plan
aligns FPE’s project goals more closely with national and global
conservation targets. We believe that the new long-term strategy
presents a more realistic perspective of what we can contribute
towards restoring and preserving our part of the planet.
Third, we aimed to double the size of our trust fund by year 2025
and manage it prudently over the same 10-year horizon. We are
determined to generate project funds greater than the current P60
million a year from our investment. Even as we decrease our
number of sites, environmental projects will need to be
sustained for longer periods and therefore require a lot of
resources. Our resource mobilization strategy will explore anew a
debt-for-nature swap for the first time in two decades, carbon
credits and other innovative financial instrumentalities.
(Slide 7)
Fourth, we maximized the counterpart contribution of our local
and international development partners, thus mobilizing an
additional P20.66 million for projects last year. These contributions
came from our partnership with EU-FUNDESO for the
Mainstreaming Indigenous Peoples’ Participation in Environmental

4. 4
Governance project, the USAID Upscaling Forest Restoration
Efforts in Key Biodiversity Areas project, and the EU-AnthroWatch
Consolidating Indigenous Peoples Forest Corridors through
Sustainable Ancestral Domain Management project.
(Slide 8)
Fifth, we recognized on a growing scale how sustainability rests on
livelihoods so we infused livelihood development into our new
conservation management plan as a form of conservation
tradeoff . This is to relieve the pressure on people to extract more
resources from their area. In a watershed reserve in Negros
Occidental, we urged farmers to plant and extract lemongrass as a
financially rewarding option to their destructive coal-making
business. For good measure, we distributed solar home systems
as well in off-grid households to power TV sets, a mobile phone
and up to four LED lanterns overnight. As a trade off, each
family with a solar home system will establish a 1.5-hectare
rainforest farm to buffer or protect remaining forests.
(Slide 9)
Sixth, the evaluations confirmed that many of our partners on the
ground were good project implementers. But there remains much

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to be done on the financial management side. Having strong
financial systems would not only improve the governance and
accountability of FPE grant recipients. It would also pave the way
for them to effectively manage and grow their financial resources.
Seventh, FPE maintained its strategic partnerships with
international and local development organizations. At the
international level, FPE continues to be member of the
International Union for the Conservation for Nature, and was
previously given a seat in the Steering Committee of the GEF-Small
Grants Program 5. (Just recently, FPE was selected as the Grants
Manager of GEF-SGP5 in the Philippines). At the national level, we
maintained our critical collaboration with the DENR-led National
Greening Program. We extended our partnership with Globe
Telecom to provide cellular phones and special SIM cards that
automatically give the forest guards who use them a 50% discount
on regular fees. The forest guards were also connected to BPI
Globe Bangko to help them send and receive electronic cash
transfers while in the field, and their insurance coverage was raised
as well. Another unique tie-up we undertook last year was having
the winners of the Ms. Earth pageant as ambassadors and program

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emcees during public events. We invited them to join our tree
planting and school visits to help promote our advocacies, while
they relied on FPE to help build their own capabilities to be good
spokespersons for the environment. We also continue to
provide support to FPE3 and we are now sharing an office
space with them.
(Slide 10)
Eight, FPE initiated a knowledge management roadmap beginning
with the grants online-management information system. This year,
the FPE grants online management information system was
developed to make it easier to submit grant applications and
receive immediate feedback from us regarding application status.
It also serves as an interactive project tracking and monitoring
system, which allows immediate generation of summary reports
for project trending and decision-making. The Board also created a
Knowledge Management Committee that would guide FPE in
putting BCSD information and knowledge into action.
(Slide 11)
Last but not the least, in succeeding years, FPE will integrate

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disaster risk reduction in selected vulnerable sites and
communities. The unprecedented level of human and ecological
damage from typhoon Yolanda in November 2013 can happen
again. We must be proactive in facing the onslaught of similar
disasters. The Board immediately approved a project for
Eastern Samar last year to complement the post-Yolanda efforts of
other donors. FPE will help rehabilitate the ecosystems and
natural resource-based livelihoods in Guiuan municipality and
Gigantes Islands. Among the Foundation’s targets are to restore
50 hectares of mangrove green walls and 20 coral reef sites
through 2015. Many of our projects already focus on community
resilience and adaptation to the impacts of climate change. It is a
long-term and cross-cutting strategy that the institution must be
able to pursue.
(Last Slide)
In the years to come, we envision a dynamic and relevant FPE
leading actions towards healthy ecosystems and resilient
communities.
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