...the Pinay farmer turned UN Nutrition Ambassador

This Pinay farmer Is Now A UN Nutrition 

Ambassador

Cheeky Albay
Cosmopolitan Philippines
03 November 2019

We first featured Cherrie D. Atilano earlier this year for her mission of “Making Farming Sexy”—encouraging young Filipinos, women especially, to go into farming like she has. But it wasn’t just that catchy slogan that got us hooked.

Cherrie’s inspiring story makes her life peg material: She grew up working on a sugarcane farm in Negros Occidental, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in agriculture from the Visayas State University, gave up a Fulbright scholarship in the US so she could stay in the Philippines and help local farmers, and founded AGREA, an award-winning Marinduque-based social enterprise which aims to help eradicate poverty for farming and fishing families, alleviate the effects of climate change, and help establish food security in the Philippines.

Impressed yet? There’s more. The 33-year-old Pinay has just been appointed by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres as a Lead Group member of the UN’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, the goal of which is to ensure a world free from malnutrition by 2030.

As a SUN Lead Group member - one of only 27 from around the world and only Southeast Asian on the list! - Cherrie is now a high-level ambassador for the UN , a role she will hold until 2021.

Below, Cherrie tells us how her trip to the UN Headquarters in New York went, how she'll serve as a newly-minted UN Nutrition ambassador, and how YOU can make your own mark like she has.

What she’s been up to since her last Cosmo interview:

"We launched AGREA programs in Siargao—both More Love for Women Farmers, which makes the island the first women-led agriculture island in the Philippines; and The Garden Classroom Program for public elementary schools, which will allow pupils to learn how to grow their own food, harvest organic vegetables for their feeding program, and love nature at the same time. We will be replicating the AGREA Farm School and Farm Business in the island by next year. 

I grew much wisdom, I must say. So many beautiful things have happened and most of them had me overcoming challenges and waking up every morning with so much hope."

How she and AGREA got the attention of the UN:

"AGREA received the UN Global Compact Agriculture Business Excellence Award in 2017. I also met some people in the UN when I spoke at the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture event in Switzerland in 2014. I’ve also been invited several times to UN events in New York and Rome, and also to sustainability conferences around the world.

However, the main reason they chose me is my 21-year advocacy in agriculture, one I’ve had since I was young. As the SUN secretariat said to me, my movement of “Making Farming Sexy” should reach every corner of the world.

I also embody what it’s like to be a female leader in a male-dominated industry, I’m young, and I’m from the ASEAN, which has been called the next frontier."

About the SUN Movement:

"The principle of the SUN Movement is that everyone has the right to food and nutrition, and these two should go hand in hand. The movement addresses the problem of 149 million children who are suffering from malnutrition—which has devastating consequences for health, learning, future earning potential, economic development, resilience, and security. The mission is to work towards a world
free from malnutrition, in all forms, by 2030, nourishing people and planet together."

Her responsibilities as a SUN Movement Lead Group member:

"I support the 60 member countries and five Indian States as they pursue their goals to scale up nutrition. I will also provide strategic oversight on the movement, encouraging coherence and collective accountability for results. With this, I can influence in strengthening both policy and action in terms of solving malnutrition across the globe, while focusing and giving emphasis on our policy and efforts here in the Philippines and the ASEAN region."

What she’s excited to contribute to the SUN Movement:

"I made my commitment to secure nutrition by securing food sufficiency and security. I always make farming sexy by mentoring a lot of young people to venture into agriculture, empower women in agriculture to make sure proper nutrition starts from home, work on multi-stakeholder partnerships in making sure nutrition will be a serious business to lower stunted growth and boost our human capital productivity, and invest in impactful agri-foods."

How it feels to be one of 27 global leaders in the SUN Movement:

"It’s humbling. At the same time, I am so grateful for the privilege to be among them as they are amazing leaders whom I look up to. They created bold changes in their sphere of influence and inspired the world by their great accomplishments. They bring a wealth of experiences that I can learn from, and I am so fortunate to have that network of people I can collaborate with to expand my advocacy and work in the future. It is so good to brainstorm in a room full of intellectuals who are humble enough to solicit your ideas and open-minded enough to collaborate."

How her time at the UN Headquarters in New York went:

"It was the experience of a lifetime. For me, it was not about the special treatment, which was a bonus, but more of recognizing the fact that you are with a group of people who are so hardworking and passionate about creating positive changes in the world. New York during the UN General Assembly was a bustle of brains, hearts, and hands working together to make the world a better place to live in. You come out exhausted from all the events, but with a heart full of inspiration and a lot of concrete steps for taking action."

What she wishes more young Filipinos knew about nutrition and agriculture:

"Every day, 95 children in the Philippines die from malnutrition. 27 out of 1,000 Filipino children do not get past their fifth birthday. A third of Filipino children are stunted, or short for their age. Stunting after two years of age can be permanent, irreversible, and even fatal, according to UNICEF.

Additionally, the right food is not easily accessible, especially to our poor fellow men. We have 12 million hectares of underproductive lands, farmers are getting old, there is a declining interest among young people to go into agriculture, and our population is exponentially growing.

With all these, I think we have enough reasons to knock on the hearts of our young Filipinos and encourage them to help in boosting our agriculture sector. It will greatly help in establishing food sufficiency and security in the country, which could help in solving our malnutrition problem."

Her advice for other women who want to make a mark in their advocacies:

"Focus! I have been in this advocacy for 21 years, never disturbed by all other great opportunities. I was lucky to find my passion and purpose in agriculture.

Practice excellence and be authentic in what you choose to advocate. Immerse yourself in the community and have the humility to realize that at the end of the day, we are not superheroes who can solve all their problems; we are mere facilitators who can open opportunities for them or guide them in unleashing their potential so they can be the solutions to their own problems.

And at the end of every good job, the sweetest thing to do is pamper yourself. Self-love is a necessity."

...the PH report in UN's Sustainable Development Goals

The Philippines reports substantial progress in achieving UN mandated SDG's

By Roy Mabasa
Manila Bulletin
24 October 2019

On the occasion of the United Nations Day, the Philippines on Thursday expressed its support and a renewed commitment to the call of UN Secretary-General António Guterres to find solutions and accelerate efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In its second Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the SDG which is 10 years away from the deadline, the Philippines has shown progress in achieving the global goals based on the report of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Adopted by all UN member-states in 2015, the SDG is a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

“The country has achieved a near-universal primary enrolment rate of 94.2 percent in 2017 under Quality Education or SDG 4, and improved access to education for vulnerable groups. There were also significant increases in completion rates for primary and secondary education by more than 8 and 10 percent in the past two years,” according to a joint statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the UN.

On decent work and economic growth or SDG 8, the Philippines noted a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of over 6 percent and the lowest national unemployment rate in almost 15 years.

It noted that the Green Jobs Act further promoted decent jobs that are environment-friendly, protect the ecosystem and biodiversity, and help reduce waste generation and pollution.

While the Philippines rank third in the world as “most vulnerable to hazards,” data, however, showed a decrease in persons directly affected by disasters from 2015 to 2018.

It also cited the roles of the private sector in bringing inclusive business models and value chains, while the disadvantaged groups availed of livelihood support programs to lift communities out of poverty.

On gender issue, the Philippines has expanded maternity leave benefits and extended its conditional cash transfer to poor families in order to promote social protection and to narrow the gap between male and female labor force,

Significantly, private companies now hire more persons with disability, and poor communities were also empowered through a community-driven development approach.

On peace, justice, and strong institutions, cumulative initiatives including those by the international community resulted to the Bangsamoro Organic Law to address the conflict in Mindanao. The National ID System, the government’s digital identification platform, is under implementation to facilitate access of the marginalized to government assistance, among others.

In the statement, both the DFA and the UN recognized the whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach as “crucial” to sustain the progress that has been made to address remaining challenges, realize aspirations, and ensure that no one is left behind.

Yearly, the DFA and the UN office in the Philippines co-hosts the UN Day celebration in pursuit of common goals.

As one of the founding members, the Philippines was among the first signatories of the UN Charter in June 1945 along with 49 other countries. October 24 has been celebrated globally as UN Day since 1948.

...the PH ranking in global trade facilitation

Philippines boosts global ranking in trade facilitation

Louella Desiderio
Philippine Star
24 September 2019

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines saw its trade facilitation score go up in this year’s United Nations (UN) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation amid improvements in four out of five categories tracked by the report.

This year’s report showed the Philippines got a trade facilitation score of 80.65 percent, up from 69.89 percent in 2017.

Covering 128 economies, the UN report looks at trade facilitation measures being implemented in relation to the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, digital trade, small and medium enterprises, agriculture and women, and trade finance.

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The measures are grouped into five categories which are cross-border paperless trade, paperless trade, institutional arrangement and cooperation, formalities, and transparency.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines had a better trade facilitation score than neighbors Indonesia (80 percent), Brunei Darussalam (77 percent), Cambodia (71 percent), Vietnam (61 percent), Myanmar (60 percent) and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (59 percent).

The Philippines, however, was behind Malaysia and Thailand which both got 83 percent, and Singapore which had a score of 94 percent.

Results of the survey showed the Philippines had higher scores in all the categories except in institutional arrangement and cooperation, where its rating was unchanged at 55.56 percent.

In the cross-border paperless trade category, the Philippines got a score of 55.56 percent this year from just 33.33 percent in 2017.

The Philippines’ score also rose to 77.78 percent this year from 70.37 percent in 2017 in the paperless trade category.

In terms of the formalities category, the Philippines had a rating of 100 percent this year from 87.50 percent last year.

The Philippines also had a 100 percent score in the transparency category this year, up from 93.33 percent in 2017.

In conducting the survey, the UN aims to help countries benchmark and reduce the time and cost of trading across borders.

It likewise seeks to provide information for policy makers to take advantage of trade in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which aims to put an end to poverty.

...the Philippine president

Aquino Takes On World Heavyweight

 

 

By William Pesek, (Bloomberg)

Repost: Manila Bulletin

January 29, 2013

MANILA, Philippines --- Say what you want about President Benigno S. Aquino III, but the Philippines top official has some brass.

First he arrested former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on corruption charges and ousted her Supreme Court chief justice Renato C. Corona. Then he took on the powerful Catholic Church, shepherding free-contraception laws that enraged the Vatican. Next he ran afoul of the local tycoons by backing higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. By tackling these issues along with economic reforms, Aquino’s country is on the way toward an investment-grade credit rating.

Now Aquino is taking on an immeasurably bigger target: China. The Philippines will challenge China’s maritime claims before a United Nations-endorsed tribunal. This isn’t going over well in China, and it’s sure to raise tensions as Asia vies for oil, gas, and fisheries resources and a ruling on competing views of history in contested waters.

Much of it really is an argument over China’s controversial “nine-dash” map. First published in the late 1940s, the map extends China’s territorial claims as much as 800 miles from Hainan Island to the equatorial waters off the coast of Borneo. China says the map proves its “indisputable sovereignty” over more than 100 islands, atolls and reefs that form the Paracel and Spratly Islands. The rest of Asia disagrees.

Geopolitical Risk
This dispute represents something more for political scientists, such as Ian Bremmer. As leaders and investors alike try to navigate a world they no longer understand, they are turning to Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group in New York, and his ilk for perspective. And when Bremmer considers the biggest threats in the year ahead, East Asian brinkmanship is near the top of the list.

“At risk here is the decades-long pattern of East Asia as a zone where positive-sum commerce and economics trumps zero-sum geopolitical tension,” Bremmer says.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta are right to worry about military conflict. The intensifying spat over a group of tiny islands that Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Diaoyu is the most dangerous flash point.

Strains rose last year after Japan effectively nationalized the islands. At first, it was just about fishing rights and coast guard vessels squaring off. From April to December, there was a disturbing trend: Tokyo’s Self-Defense Force scrambled fighter jets 160 times against Chinese aircraft approaching Japanese airspace. That’s the highest number of aerial contacts since Japan began releasing such data and is a significant proxy for escalating tensions.

Markets seem convinced that pragmatism will rule the day. China needs rapid growth to ensure the Communist Party’s grip on power, and Shinzo Abe, Japan’s new prime minister, aims to revive his nation’s moribund economy. The primacy of commerce, the conventional wisdom says, will prevail. This sunny view ignores how nationalism clouds Asia’s judgment.

China doesn’t deserve all the blame. Japan, too, has a disproportionate number of territorial quarrels – with Russia, South Korea, and Taiwan. Abe, a nationalist, wants to alter Japan’s pacifist Constitution. But China’s assertiveness and fast-growing military apparatus, which now includes an aircraft carrier, is generating concern throughout the region as well as the US.

Asia has never been closer economically, yet it’s growing further apart diplomatically. It lacks a credible forum where disagreements can be aired, a void that strengthens China’s hand. China has been adept at using its economic leverage over tiny nations such as Cambodia and Laos to block multilateral talks or actions. This forces the US into the uncomfortable position of balancing competing economic and security priorities with a fast-rising rival.

Something Bigger
By resorting to international law, Aquino is taking a positive step. The way to address and resolve the dispute is through diplomacy, not with navy ships or hot tempers that risk turning minor confrontations into something much bigger.

Yet this is only the beginning. Last year marked a turning point as an economically dominant China shifted from charm-offensive mode to political and military assertiveness. This is playing out against the backdrop of the ascension of Xi Jinping as China’s leader, and what that will bring in 2013 and beyond.

Confronted by a daunting list of domestic challenges, Xi will focus on consolidating domestic power. It is farfetched to think he would yield ground on diplomatic issues if it risks an internal backlash.
“If Beijing faces a foreign policy test, Xi will have a strong incentive to demonstrate his foreign-policy mettle and avoid being seen as capitulating to outside interests,” Bremmer says. “That dynamic suggests less chance of compromise from Asia’s emerging strategic powerhouse and heightened risk throughout the region.”

Tests could come from many places – a new Japanese government anxious to flex its muscles; US President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia; provocations from North Korea that put the onus on China, Pyongyang’s crucial supporter; or nations like the Philippines taking diplomatic frustrations to the UN.

Aquino is the first Asian leader willing to call China’s bluff and risk economic retaliation. How he navigates this showdown will be instructive for others when their turn comes.

...the EU's outlook

EU cites PH’s improved disaster preparedness

By Volt Contreras
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sunday, December 9th, 2012

 

 

BRUSSELS—Despite the high death toll of Typhoon “Pablo,” the European Union’s coordinating body for humanitarian aid lauded the Philippines’ preparedness for the latest killer storm to hit the country.

Officials of the European Community Humanitarian Office (Echo) on Friday cited an improvement in the government’s response, noting that it “saved a lot of lives,” compared to what was seen a year ago when Tropical Storm “Sendong” devastated parts of Mindanao, also days before Christmas.

Echo officials in the Belgian capital, host city of EU institutions, also said a team from its Bangkok office flew to Davao on Friday to assess how it can help in the emergency relief effort. The team is expected to make a report to Brussels on Sunday.

“When ‘Bopha’ (the typhoon’s international name) or Pablo hit, I think the government was more prepared than it had been in the past,” said Jenny Correia Nunes, Echo’s team leader for Southeast Asia.

Nunes was referring mainly to the preemptive evacuation of residents in areas that were in Pablo’s path.

Dominique Gryn, Echo’s desk officer for the Philippines, added: “Today the technology is so sophisticated that we can actually predict very precisely when and where the landfall will hit. And in the Philippines we’ve seen that the preparations the government made in anticipation of the storm in Mindanao were extraordinary. And that saved a lot of lives in itself.”

“And we have a clear comparison that we can draw with last year’s ‘Washi’ (international name of Sendong) which hit very similar areas and the devastation caused was much larger. Of course we’re still seeing what the impact of Bopha is. We have to be careful not to underestimate the damage. But still, we can already say that the disaster awareness and preparedness had saved a lot of lives,” she added.

Asked how she could still make this positive assessment despite Pablo’s death toll climbing to over 300 and with about an equal number of people still missing as of Friday, Gryn explained:

“Yes, the death toll is rising, nobody is countering that. What we’re only saying now is that the government has taken certain measures that probably saved a lot of lives. We know this because a year ago the death toll was a lot higher.”

The United Nations had made a similar observation.

Gryn also said Echo’s partner nongovernmental organizations in the region had also “prepositioned” themselves before the storm made landfall in the areas expected to be hit, and had begun assessing where the EU could help.

She said the EU’s assistance could fill “gaps” in the government-led relief effort.

The Echo officials spoke in a briefing with Southeast Asian reporters who were in the Belgian capital on a EU-hosted press tour.

The EU poured in some 7.6 million euros to assist storm- or flood-affected people in the Philippines in 2011. This year, it released 700,000 euros for communities affected by the floods that hit Luzon in August.

...the VP for Asia in UN body

PHL envoy elected vice president for Asia in UN industrial dev't body

December 10, 2011

GMA News

Philippine Ambassador Lourdes Yparraguirre was elected vice president for Asia of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN body that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction.

Yparraguirre was elected at the 14th Session of the UNIDO's General Conference in Vienna from November 28 to December 2, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

"In her statement, Ambassador Yparraguirre underlined the crucial contribution of the industrial and manufacturing sector to the strong Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.3 percent in 2010, and called for green industry and green growth in support of sustainable development and poverty alleviation," the DFA said.

Chairing the conference was Ecuadorean Industry Minister Veronica Sion.

Yparraguirre noted the Philippine economy's robust growth was indeed remarkable considering the constraints faced by the global economy.

"Over the next six years, we are looking forward to a sustained strong economic performance. This will be built on strengthened partnerships with the private sector as we shift to an investment-led growth," she said.

Also, she acknowledged the contributions of UNIDO and other international development organizations in ensuring the success of the Philippines' economic development programs.

She particularly cited three UNIDO-assisted ongoing projects in the country, including:

- the construction of a facility aimed at the destruction of persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

- the phaseout of ozone-depleting hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) used in the foam production sector, consistent with the country's commitments under the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

- the Philippine Industrial Energy Efficiency Project that focuses on capacity-building on the use of the new energy management standard ISO 50001

UNIDO is a specialized UN agency whose mandate is to promote and accelerate sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition, and work towards improving living conditions in the world's poorest countries by drawing on its combined global resources and expertise.

In recent years, it focused its activities on poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability.

"Our services are based on two core functions: as a global forum, we generate and disseminate industry-related knowledge; as a technical cooperation agency, we provide technical support and implement projects," it said. — LBG, GMA News

...the leader in disaster preparedness

UN HABITAT CONFERENCE

Philippines hailed as model in disaster response

By Cynthia D. Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

FUKUOKA—The Philippines leads Japan and other countries prone to natural disasters in terms of system preparedness, governance and youth participation in mitigating the impact of climate change on people and property, a disaster risk specialist said here on Tuesday.

Addressing the United Nations Settlement Program (UN-Habitat)’s 6th Asian City Journalists Conference (ACJC), Professor Rajob Shaw of the International Environmental and Disaster Management Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies at the Kyoto University said the Philippine model on disaster response must be replicated in Japan and elsewhere in the world.

“The Philippines has a very good system, particularly in the governance system when it comes to disaster preparedness from the community to the national level, something that is lacking here in Japan and in other countries,” Shaw told a gathering of Asian journalists, UN regional officials, academicians, non-government organizations representatives in this oldest city in Japan.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer is one of the journalists-panelists in the conference which examines media’s role during a disaster and in making disaster-resilient cities.

Calamity fund

Shaw cited the calamity fund allocation, which is about five percent of the development budget, from the national down to the barangay (village) level.

He said the calamity fund had been in place for 20 years and can be used for preparedness measures.

“That’s a very, very important aspect. In Japan, we don’t have that one. We don’t have any specific amount of the city government budget that can be allocated for disaster preparedness,” he said.

Shaw said he had been examining the Philippines’ system of preparedness since he first came into the country in 1998 as an officer of the United Nations Center for Regional Development.

He had worked on several UN projects with officials of the Department of National Defense’s Office of Civil Defense and the National Disaster Coordinating Council, now the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

According to Shaw, a regular funding requirement was “a very important governance structure” that was absent in Japan and elsewhere.

Shaw also particularly cited the high visibility of the Philippine president during relief efforts which could ensure national and international assistance to pour in.

“In the Philippines, you can see the President on television at the forefront of relief efforts and this is very good in the sense that when a president is seen or has very high visibility, it gives hope to the people during a local calamity, it gives a lot of media coverage, and it gives a lot of money especially when it is covered by the press,” Shaw stressed.

“International money would surely come in that kind of situation and we call that the CNN (Cable News Network) syndrome. Unless it is covered by the press, international attention does not come,” he stressed.

Another plus in the Philippine model, he said, is the extent of youth participation in pre- and -post disaster relief operations, as in city planning and decision-making.

He said that Filipino youth belonging to the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) in the villages has a seat in the city council and take part with the city mayor and other local officials in helping a community meet an emergency or make the city grow in the future.

Youth volunteers

Also, the presence of science clubs in Philippine high schools whose members can be tapped as volunteers in information dissemination during rescue efforts and in disseminating information before a disaster strikes was a good thing.

Shaw said the Japanese youth who went to the stricken areas as volunteers for relief operation when the 2011 Magnitude 9 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku struck Japan that triggered a tsunami, did that only for a week.

Then they went back to their homes, waiting for the next disaster to happen, making their participation in diaster relief efforts short-term, he said.

Also unlike their Filipino youth counterparts, young Japanese could not take part in the formal discussion on decision-making in the city.

On the minus side, Shaw noted the lack of specific mitigation projects in the Philippines in post-disaster setting and efforts to change the mindset of the people.

Like other nationals in Asia, he said Filipinos were “stubborn” and would refuse to leave their houses and belongings even in the face of death.