Upcoming EvEntsAUg–sEpt 2014Ban Ki-moon Climate Summit / UN General Assembly September 2014

GROW Pilipinas National SRI Consultation August 2014

Asian Rural Women Travelling Journal: Community Travels June, July and August 2014 Multi-country

in

C o u n t r y u p d At e : I n d o n e S I AFood Rainbow: Developing Mothers’ Awareness of Nutritious Local Food

r e g I o n A l u p d At eFor Jenny’s Sake

r e g I o n A l u p d At eAsian Rural Women Travelling Journal Travels Again Around the Philippines

Editor’s notE

Yes, we are sporting a new look! and with the new look are more

updates on exciting campaigns being developed by the different countries in the region to further GrOw campaigning.

Learn how a smart tool they developed, the “Food rainbow,” is helping Oxfam Indonesia’s partner PIKUL Foundation and east Nusa Tenggara’s moms outsmart malnutrition. This smart tool is part of a bigger project aimed at promoting local food, food diversity, and food sovereignty. Darmawan Triwibowo, Oxfam Indonesia’s GrOw National

Campaign and advocacy Coordinator, sheds further light on this innovation. More at www.facebook.com/pages/oxfamIndonesia.

Greenpeace campaigner amalie Obusan’s blog piece tackles the sad plight of Jenny, a survivor of Typhoon Haiyan (Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines) and talks about why aseaN urgently needs to have a stronger regional voice at the global climate negotiations. More at www.a-fab.com.

Be part of the journey. share the stories and struggles of rural women in six asian countries as the asian rural women’s Travelling Journal travels again. Find out more at www.travellingjournal.asianruralwomen.net.

Happy reading!

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IN a BID to help mothers fight against malnutrition, PIKUL Foundation in Kupang, east Nusa Tenggara province, a partner of Oxfam Indonesia in the GrOw campaign, has developed a smart tool they dubbed as the “Food rainbow.” The Food rainbow is a self-assessment instrument that can help mothers monitor and evaluate the pattern of food consumption at the household level. Using the tool, mothers can easily record the combination of food that their family members consume daily, including how frequent they consume local food. The tool provides information on the nutritious content of each food type available for consumption at the household level. Mothers can then use the tool to calculate the amount of nutrition that their households, especially their children, consume in a certain period (weekly, biweekly), and encourage them to try out combinations of food that would provide high nutrition intake to their children. The tool, which was distributed to households/families in Oelnaineno and Oh’aem (Kupang district), Oebatu (rote-Ndao district), and several villages in North Molo district, has made mothers aware that

coUntry UpdAtE: indonEsiA

Food rAinbowdEvEloping mothErs’ AwArEnEss oF nUtritioUs locAl Food

dArMAwAn trIwIbowoOxfam Indonesia

various local food often have higher nutritious content than the food they frequently eat and has encouraged them to diversify their food consumption.

The “Food rainbow” is part and parcel of a Food Diversity and sovereignty project, which is aimed at helping combat high malnutrition in the province. east Nusa Tenggara—comprising about 500 islands with Flores, sumba, and west

Timor (the western half of the island of Timor) as the biggest islands—is one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia, with about 30 percent of the population living below the poverty line, according to the Central Bureau of statistics. The province also grapples with malnutrition, with cases of underweight, stunting, and wasting among children exceeding the 30 percent thresholds set by the world

The “Food rainbow” tool has two versions, one of which is this food wheel which contains pictures of various local food and their nutritional content. Mothers can use this to make sure that their children are receiving the nutrition they need. photo CredIt: oxfAM IndoneSIA

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Health Organization (wHO) indicating a significant health problem. Based on the Health Ministry’s Basic Health research in 2008 (riskesdas 2008) at least 33.6 percent of children in east Nusa Tenggara are underweight children, or have low weight for their age.

The Food Diversity and sovereignty project is managed by PIKUL Foundation. The main aim is to strengthen food sovereignty based on diverse food production and consumption. It will be achieved by (i) developing grass-root collaboration to strengthen local food diversity, productivity, and betterment of consumption, (ii) formulating smart tools to measure and monitor nutritional and food diversity status at daily consumption, and (iii) increasing knowledge and understanding of food sovereignty among community and key stakeholders in the district and province level. The “Food rainbow,” one of the intended smart tools, was developed based on data from the previous mapping of potential local food in east Nusa Tenggara.

rEgionAl UpdAtE

For JEnny’s sAkEAMAlIe obuSAnaFaB Coalition and Greenpeace

day after that or if we can continue surviving.*

Jenny’s heart-breaking story and many more like hers are increasingly becoming common in the Philippines and across southeast asia.

For more than 20 years climate change has been on the global

* http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-24896060

The gravity of destruction wrought by Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) is evident in this photo of Tacloban a few days after the city was hit by the typhoon which left more than 6,000 people dead. photo CredIt: elIz Abeth l ACSon-pAguIo

JeNNY DeLa CrUz was eight months pregnant when Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms to make landfall, barrelled through central Philippines on November 8, 2013. she lost 11 members of her family, including her two-year old daughter. she says:

right now all we can do is survive the day. But I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, or the

The food tube, another version of the “Food rainbow” smart tool. photo CredIt: oxfAM IndoneSIA

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agenda. Yet over the same period it has shown mixed outcomes. Many players have already backed away (and are backing away) from the international climate negotiations although in my opinion it is an important platform where a credible and meaningful outcome is still possible to address the most urgent humanitarian and environmental problem that is climate change.

Vulnerable countries in southeast asia like the Philippines are already suffering the impacts of climate change. They are one of the lowest emitters but they are already suffering tremendous loss and damage caused by climate change. Millions of people are the innocent victims in the whole climate change equation.

at the UN climate talks in Bonn, governments are meeting yet again to present further mitigation measures on top of what has already been committed under the Kyoto Protocol and Cancun agreements. However, current emission reduction commitments on the table are still not enough to steer the world away from a path towards catastrophic climate change.

Later in the year, during the 20th Conference of Parties in Lima, Peru, governments must work together to deliver on two things. First, they must agree to

rEgionAl UpdAtE

AsiAn rUrAl womEn trAvElling JoUrnAl trAvEls AgAin AroUnd thE philippinEs

AMIhAn

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FOLLOwING THe sUCCessFUL run of the asia wide rural women travelling journal, “Our stories, One Journey: empowering rural women” in 2013 which chronicled the life stories of 8 rural women for 10 days in 8 different countries, the second phase of the women’s Travelling Journal

set to travel around communities in six (6) countries in asia was launched in the Philippines.

Ten rural women from 10 regions of the country were selected by aMIHaN, the partner organization launching the project, to tell their life stories as they

Nanay Margie Tagapan, the first rural woman writer of the asian rural women Travelling Journal (wTJ) hands over the wTJ to Teresita ecat, who will be one of the writers on the second phase of the wTJ this year. photo CredIt: AMIhAn

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face challenges in the performance of their roles as mothers, food producers, wives, carers of the elderly, community managers, human rights defenders, and environment activists.

Teresita ecat, a woman farmer from Negros Oriental, will be the first journal writer. she will tell her story of how she defends the land of her family against rich land grabbers. she and her entire family, including her 21/2 year old child were put to prison by the land grabbers, but she vows to continue fighting.

women farmers from three (3) haciendas—Hacienda Luisita, in Tarlac; Hacienda Ilimnan, in Murcia, Negros Occidental; and Hacienda Doronila-

top Ka Lita handing over the journal to Teresita ecat, the journal’s first writer. bottoM Launch of the TJ, after amihan’s consultation on women and agrarian reform. photo CredIt: AMIhAn

araneta in Mascap, rodriguez, rizal— will also chronicle how they and their communities are asserting their rights to their lands.

Two women leaders from Leyte and Iloilo who suffered the devastation wrought by typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) will relate their stories of how they and their communities have transformed the grief brought about by the disaster into a powerful force to rebuild their lives, empower people to claim their rights and hold the government accountable for its continuing neglect of their plight months after the deadly typhoon.

The climate change phenomena, drought and sea level rise, are the

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issues faced by farmers in the regions of Ilocos and Cagayan Valley in Northern Philippines, and these will be the topic of the stories of two women from these regions.

a woman from western Mindanao will chronicle how they are battling the relentless expansion of mining companies in their region, which is the site of one of the largest concentration of mining operations in the country today.

women from the Bicol region will showcase their local practice of ecological farming.

Lita Mariano, aMIHaN vice chairperson, declared: “we hope that these testimonies of rural women from the ground, will be heard and listened to by policy makers both at the national and international levels, especially at

For JEnny’s sAkE›› ContInued froM pAge 4

a process (to take place in the first part of 2015) to evaluate whether the emission cuts proposed are fair and will collectively allow the world to avoid the most dangerous climate impacts. second, a draft protocol that will serve as the basis for 2015 negotiations must be agreed. The ultimate task is to bring down emissions so that the world is on track to staying as far below 2°C as possible.

while rich countries need to lead on reducing emissions and provide support to poor nations to follow suit, every government bears a

should be pledged to the Green Climate Fund.

Protecting the climate, achieving sustainable and inclusive development, eliminating poverty and ensuring energy access for all are part of the same winning strategy.

The costs of acting are tiny, while the costs of inaction are astronomical. If governments and its citizens play it smart, we can all enjoy the many co-benefits from our efforts to protect the climate—from clean air and clean water to healthy environment for all of us and Jenny’s sake.

share of the responsibility and must do what is in the best interests of its own citizens.

aseaN must do its share and champion for its people a just transition towards a 100% renewable energy future with sustainable energy access for all no later than 2050. additionally, aseaN must extract a commitment from rich countries to provide much needed adaptation and mitigation support for the poor and vulnerable regions like southeast asia above and beyond the $100 billion per year that governments have agreed to provide by 2020. a substantial portion of this financing

second launch at the June 30, 2014 farmers’ rally in Mendiola. photo CredIt: AMIhAn

this time that the global community is crafting developments goals for the next decades, including a global

2015 climate change agreement that is hoped to keep global temperature at safe levels.”

GrOw.east.asiaGrOw.east.asia

growIng In eASt ASIA: newS, CAMpAIgnS, And InnovAtIonS is the bi-monthly newsletter of Oxfam’s east asia GrOw campaign. It features country campaign innovations and updates on the GrOw campaign. It also features the GrOw campaign work at the regional level, especially those being done with partners and networks.

For inquiries or clarifications, kindly contact the Oxfam ea GrOw Campaign Team.

AboUt thE contribUtors

Front pAgE photo

rice farmer, Vietnam. The multiple roles women play in the family are made more onerous by the impacts of climate change.

Photo credit: Nguyen Quoc Thuan / Oxfam GB. Taken from climate change report Viet Nam: Climate Change, Adaptation and Poor People. October 2008.

AMAlIe “AlI” obuSAn is the regional Climate and energy Campaign Coordinator of Greenpeace southeast asia. The aseaN for a Fair, ambitious and Binding Global Deal (a-FaB) is a coalition composed of Oxfam’s east asia GrOw campaign, Greenpeace southeast asia and eastern regional Organization for Public administrators (erOPa) engaging aseaN on the issue of climate change.

dArMAwAn trIwIbowo is Oxfam Indonesia’s National Campaign and advocacy Coordinator. He is also part of the east asia GrOw working Group.

AMIhAn is a national confederation of peasant women in the Philippines and is a member of the asian rural women Coalition (arwC). Oxfam east asia GrOw works with arwC on the asian rural women Travelling Journal initiative.

EditoriAl boArd

CArMInA floreS-obAnIl east asia GrOw Campaign Officercobanil@oxfam.org.uk

norly grACe MerCAdoeast asia GrOw Campaign Coordinatornmercado@oxfam.org.uk