Kabayans building communities:

Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation Inc.

The Philippine economy is highly dependent on remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers. According to data from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, it is estimated that 10 percent of the population (around 10 million people) are working overseas as temporary workers at any given time. They are deployed as domestic workers, medical professionals, construction workers, maritime workers, and IT experts.

In a study by the World Bank (WB), the Philippines is named the second largest recipient of remittances in Asia. In 2014, these remittances reached $26.93 billion, exceeding the BSP growth target of five percent for the year with a 6.2-percent increase. The figure represented 8.5 percent of the total 2014 gross domestic product (GDP).

The economic power of overseas Filipinos has great potential to uplift the lives of local communities back home. In 1996, overseas Pinoy Maria Angela Villalba founded Unlad Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation, Inc., a non-government organization (NGO) that supports homegrown social enterprises. By combining unlad (to develop, progress or prosper) and kabayan (fellow Filipinos abroad), the organization focuses on migrant workers and social entrepreneurship in the Philippines by channeling migrants’ savings into business and enterprise development in the poorest municipalities. That year, Unlad Kabayan was officially registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a nonprofit NGO.

The founder

Unlad Kabayan founder and now executive director Maria Angela Villalba graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of the Philippines Diliman; a Masters in Management in UP Mindanao and finished a short course in Strategic Perspective on Non-Profit Management (SPNM) at the Harvard Business School.

While working in Hong Kong, Villalba was struck by how the country was not able to develop economically, driving millions of our countrymen into dangerous, dirty and difficult jobs abroad. In 1996, she started Unlad Kabayan with the aim of linking migrants and their economic resources toward developing communities and building a sustainable local economy.

Key projects

In 2001-2005, Unlad Kabayan expanded into entrepreneurship by mobilizing savings and investments to ramp up social enterprises into commercial operations. During this time, Unlad Kabayan entered into key projects in food production and processing, as well as developing environment-enhancing products, including innovative farming techniques. Unlad also partnered with other progressive NGOs, local government units and academic institutions.

Among the first enterprises created through Unlad Kabayan was the BBHK School Supplies and Bookstore ( Cagayan), Passinhon General Merchandise (Iloilo) and Ubi Processing and Free-range Poultry (Bohol) in 1998. In 2002, it established larger enterprises, FAMDev Integrated Agribusiness Farm (Bukidnon) and Matin-ao Rice Center (Surigao del Norte). In 2004, it founded the SEEDS Center in Lanao del Norte with the Linamon Municipal Government and Coco Coir processing (DOCHSE) in Davao Oriental, in partnership with Kalumonan Development Center (KDC). It was followed by collaborating with PhilNet-RDI that resulted in starting SEEDS Center Davao. In 2008, Unlad Kabayan united with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to form the 14th Business Assistance Center (BAC).

Main thrusts

Almost two decades later, Unlad Kabayan still continues its advocacies by focusing on three main thrusts. First, through savings mobilization and investment, migrants are assisted and organized into savings groups. Once money is saved, migrants can invest in existing or new businesses back in the homeland through the Migrant Savings for Alternative Investments (MSAI) Program. Second is training and education that gives comprehensive training to migrant communities, including courses in savings strategy, investment, management, and social entrepreneurship. Third is a credit program that provides supplemental capital and production loans. Unlad Kabayan also assists other cooperatives and organizations to establish their own credit and financing programs. By doing so, the NGO kick- started more than a thousand micro- and small enterprises that in turn, created more than 15,000 jobs. To date, around 87 percent of Unlad Kabayan’s beneficiaries are women.