PhilDHRRA

The Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA) traces its roots to a three-week regional workshop in 1974 held in Swanganiwas, Thailand, where 120 rural development practitioners from 12 Asia-Pacific countries exchanged ideas o­n how NGOs and governments could contribute to the development of the countryside. A significant outcome of the gathering was the definition of the DHRRA strategy for development: "small groups become big groups when linked together by a common purpose; their strong potential is seen within the perspective of small autonomous units pursuing their own development in their own localities and among their own people and communities.

The loose group of NGO workers from the Philippines who joined the DHRRA workshop in Thailand convened a meeting in 1978 that resulted in the establishment of PhilDHRRA, a simple servicing secretariat for the forum of individuals from NGOs, POs, and government.

One of its initial activities was its participation in the Philippine NGO report for the 1979 World Conference o­n Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) held in Rome. Wherein, PhilDHRRA and other rural development organizations throughout the world affirmed the WCARRD program of action that later became PhilDHRRA’s criterion for membership.

In a 1983 meeting in Cebu City, attended by 32 representatives from different NGOs, PhilDHRRA was formally created. It became a network of NGOs registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, non-profit organization.

Today, PhilDHRRA continues to be a national network of non-government organizations committed to sustainable rural development in the Philippines and remains to be part of the DHRRA networks throughout the Asian region, aspiring for a common vision of sustainable rural development. It operates in 70 of the 71 provinces in the Philippines with a national secretariat and three regional secretariats in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, managing the day-to-day operations of the network.