The Right to Development Programme

The Government of the Philippines and the United Nations Development Programme Country Cooperation Framework (GOP-UNDP CCF) is aligned with the goals, policies and strategies of the revised Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) and fully reflects the new elements and orientation of UNDP corporate priorities and programming modalities. It focuses on eleven strategic outcomes across four programme portfolios namely:                      

(1) Creating an Enabling Environment for Sustainable Human Development; (2) Empowering the Poor;
(3) Ensuring Environmental Sustainability; and
(4) Establishing the Foundations for Peace and Development.

The programme portfolio on Creating an Enabling Environment for Sustainable Human Development or otherwise known as the Portfolio on Enabling Environment: Poverty Reduction through Good Governance is directed towards alleviating poverty through the collaborative effort between and among the government, civil society and the private sector. This portfolio is organized into the subsequent nine (9) component programmes :

(1) Electoral and Political Reform;
(2) Judicial Reform;
(3) Anti-corruption;
(4) Civil Service and Economic Management;
(5) Decentralization and Local Governance;
(6) Right to Development;
(7) Legislative Reform;
(8) Globalization and Corporate Citizenship; and
(9) Governance Review .

The Right to Development (RTD) Programme is designed towards strengthening the capacities of government agencies, civil society organizations and media institutions, the programme seeks to mainstream human rights and gender in governance policies and programmes and integrating perspective of media in national development.   It aims to accomplish over the three-year period from 2002-2004 the following: the awareness of institutions of the human rights framework and its application to specific areas of activities; human rights standards and approaches applied in key governance processes and interventions; and adequate baselines and guidelines established to ensure strategic interventions to advance the right to development.   It has a particular focus on disadvantaged groups, improving access to and quality of information available to the public, and increasing awareness of target groups and key institutions on human rights. Specific target outputs and activities geared toward the attainment of these core objectives are detailed in the programme.

For each of the component programmes , an Executing Agency (EA) has been identified. The management and control of these programmes as identified in the portfolio rests in the Portfolio Steering Committee (PSC), and the EAs are duty-bound to report to the said Committee. Below the executing agency are implementing agencies, which may include other government agencies, UN agencies, civil society organizations and the private sector. And with the designation as the Executing Agency of the Right to Development Programme (RTD), the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHRP) has fully committed to assume its critical role of strengthening the capacities of institutions to protect and promote human rights through the rights-based approach.   CHRP's interventive roles as educator, advocate, adviser, monitor, capacity builder, constituency and network builder are spelled-out at the Guidebook on the Rights-Based Approach.

Under the RTD Programme, CHRP has started to institutionalize the Rights-Based Approach to mainstream human rights and gender in government operations. It has initially built its constituency for the propagation of the RBA not only in government agencies but also among its partner institutions in the civil society, through the RTD Programme Cluster composed of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD), Medical Action Group, Inc. (MAG), Integrative Medicine for Alternative Healthcare Systems Philippines, Inc. (INAM), and the Alternative Law Research and Development Center, Inc. (ALTERLAW).

The CHRP takes the lead in transforming government institutions into human rights and gender responsive bodies.   The Commission likewise sees the need to increase the level of awareness of government institutions of the human rights concepts, standards and the constituent elements of the RBAD.   It thus, assists government institutions in crafting human rights orientations and trainings with emphasis on international and national human rights standards and RBA which are applicable to the regular operations of the institutions.   Of the nine (9) programmes of the Governance Portfolio, six have already been provided an orientation/workshop/training on the RBAD.   These Programmes are: the Right to Development (CHR) , Judicial Reform (SC) , Anti-Corruption (CSC) , Decentralization and Local Governance (DILG) , Civil Service and Economic Management (DBM) , and Governance Review (DAP) .   Aside from the RBAD orientation/workshop/training for the different programmes of the Governance Portfolio, the CHRP had also coordinated the conduct of the following: the RBAD Executive Orientation; RBA Orientation Seminar for CHR Employees; the Multi-Sectoral Forum on RBA: Popularizing the Paris Principles in the Context of the Rights-Based Approach; Writeshop on Teaching of RBA to Governance and Development; and the Orientation on the Rights-Based Approach in Government Program Planning Focusing on the Right to Adequate Food and Water.

For the year 2004, the on-going projects that have been approved and funded are the following:

• Development and Production of Prototype RBA Materials , which is under the NCSMCO-CHRP;

• Advocacy and Commitment Building on Priority RBA Processes , under the GCO-CHRP;

• Pilot Study: Rights-Based Indicators on Selected ESC Rights , under the IMO-CHRP;

• Media Community Action on Mainstreaming RBA at the Local Level , which is under the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD);

• Trainors ' Training on RBA in Development for HR Groups and other Civil Society Organizations , under the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP); and the

• Search for Gender-Sensitive Judges (Gender Justice Awards Project) , which is under the UP-Center for Women Studies.