>> AID Foundation strongly supports the coalition in its struggle not to allow the PNOC-EDC to carry out any exploration for geothermal inside the bufferzone of the Kanlaon National Park.

 

>> The long awaited Techno Park is in it’s finishing stage.  In fact the opening of the park is planned on November 8, 2008.

 

>> As a result of the decision to work more on the community organizing, AID has decided to start any ram pump project with an orientation to the community

 

>> The ram pumps in Afghanistan which AID technicians installed are all in operation and according to the people from Mercy Corps are being used intensively for the irrigation of newly planted saplings of Almond, Pistacio and Walnut.

 

In 1990 a group of people working with the socio economic program of a labor union for sugar workers here on the island of Negros Occidental found out that the leadership of the union no longer wanted to give priority to the socio eco projects. A labor union by nature concentrates on organizing and education. Especially considering the difficult circumstances in which the union had to operate this was understandable but on the other hand a pity. Certain sugarcane plantations (haciendas) were already transferred to its sugar workers through the Land Reform Program and for them these were fruits of their struggle. These sugar workers, turned farmers, needed serious support which were not delivered and could not be expected from government agencies. We realized that this kind of development needed a fulltime concentration and not a kind of lower priority program. Taking over a plantation is not a joke. So the idea of forming a Non-Government Organization came up. With four persons we started the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation and in 1992 it became officially registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As a new organization we had a hard time to survive because access to funding is very difficult if you have no track record. But maybe this was the best way to start if we look at it now. We could shape AID to what we really thought was needed and what we wanted and didn't have to adjust our programs or activities to certain criteria or trends. Actually up till now we still operate this way: only requesting for what the beneficiaries need/have identified and to what we as organization need. Also in terms of funds: we spent every centavo in a responsible and transparent way. The first years were spent in farmers areas in the South. The programs concentrated on Organic Farming and Appropriate Technologies. However in 1996 short of budget caused the group to disperse and give up the old small bodega it was renting as office shop. This black period in AID's history took up to the middle of 1997.

From that time on the organization started to grow. We got involved in the agrarian reform program and helped several sugar workers to get hold of their land by both carrying out the paper works that came along with that and organizing the new farmers into associations. These activities were placed under our agricultural program.

On the other hand the technical program with three staff started working on an improved model of the hydraulic ram pump and the manufacturing of twenty heavy duty hand pumps.
We were still housed in the same bodega which we had rented again. The technical work during raining periods had to be carried out under heavy leaking roofs. Since there were all in all only 6 staff, the group was running the management on a kind of collective basis. We needed some funds in order to sustain our operations and so we concentrated on establishing relationships with small recycling shops, third world groups and some individual donors in Holland. Through their joint effort and the help of the Wild Geese (also from Holland) we were able to buy a piece of land (250 m2) for our own and built an office with workshop on it, all just small. In 1998 we transferred to this building which was within two years time already expanded through the same group of donors.

In the meantime the agricultural department continued guiding the new associations of farmers and started certain joined farming activities like vermi culture, common vegetable growing. Seeing the need for other basic services, considering the lack of those in the past on all the plantations, AID Foundation got also involved in scholarships, pre-schooling and alternative health programs.

The technical department concentrated on the ram pump and came up with several modifications. This model later evolved into a very reliable working model and became the flagship of the Foundation. We also started manufacturing the Firefly, a small hydro power machine generating 12 volts DC, good for community battery charging.
In order to help spread Appropriate Technologies further than its own organized communities, AID decided to divide the department into three sections: Manufacturing & Installation, Research & Development and Promotion & Marketing. This worked out very well. From that time on the Manufacturing & Installation section operated on self-reliant basis. The other two sections cost money and were sponsored by Funding Agencies. The R&D developed over the years 14 different technologies like water pumps, hydro power, biogas, latrines, ferro cement reservoirs and some agricultural equipment (see technologies). The new approach really worked out: the interest in the technologies seemed tremendous. For proper promotion we produced brochures, technical CD's and participated in Trade Fairs. The clients are very diverse: cooperatives, associations, LGU's, Government Agencies, NGO's and private persons/sectors and increase year after year in number.

After so many years of intervention by our agriculture department, we were still not able to have the former sugar workers make the shift to other products (food and cash crops). This is a very deeply rooted cultural problem, caused by generations of dependency of the workers on the plantation owners. Lack of self confidence kept the new farmers still hanging on to the sugarcane. Many of them financially even more worse off than before. So since 2003 we have been exploring ways of making a shift in the agriculture program by offering concrete markets to the farmers. This was started with the selling of bananas and coconuts from some of our upland communities, followed by the set up of a distillation project for essential oil from lemongrass. There are also plans for coffee trading. All these activities are under Fair Trade conditions guaranteeing the farmers a higher price and a share as well for the associations. Besides the benefits for the farmers, AID Foundation itself wants to create some income for its own sustainability and to become less dependent on foreign funds. In order not to end up doing too many things, we had to drop our scholarship, pre-school and health program. Another new program is rain forestation of project areas to conserve and protect the watershed and ensure continuous supply of water to the communities.

With the increase of activities and the shift in programs there was a need for a new building and so a campaign was carried out at the end of 2004. This campaign was accomplished successfully and the construction started at the end of 2005. This new building gives more space and inspiration to the 21 full-time staff of our Foundation in order to scale up our activities for the poorest of the poor.