LANDBANK’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are focused on four main thrusts summarized as LEED or Livelihood, Education, Environment and Disaster relief and mitigation. The Bank ensures that needs in these aspects are met, and impact is measured and accounted for.
LIVELIHOOD
Gawad Kabuhayan Program
Since its implementation in 2013, the Gawad Kabuhayan Program has evolved into a natural farming program in line with the Bank’s Gawad Sibol Program and in partnership with the LANDBANK Countryside Development Foundation, Inc. (LCDFI). It focuses on farm industry promotion, complementing the Bank’s social mandate of promoting the well-being of marginalized sectors of society by equipping communities with skills vital to accessing and developing opportunities for livelihood.
In 2019, the Bank completed the third and final phase of the Program with the three-pilot program availers: San Isidro Upland and Lowland Farmers’ Association (SIULFA), Buot Livelihood Association (BULAI) and Talubek Unified Development Association (TUDA).
EDUCATION
Gawad Patnubay Scholarship Program
The Gawad Patnubay (Gawad PAg-aaral TuNgo sa MaUnlad na BAYan) Scholarship Program continues to support underprivileged but deserving students specializing in the field of agriculture and related courses. In 2019, the Program was funded through voluntary contributions of Landbankers nationwide with a 50% Bank counterpart.
The Program provides scholarship to children of small farmers and fishers with 100% subsidy covering tuition fees, monthly stipend, yearly book allowances, research grant or thesis funding, and financial awards of P30,000 to P50,000 for honor students.
In 2019, a total of 104 scholarships were extended by the Bank through the Gawad Patnubay. Among the 67 scholars who graduated in 2019, 13 graduated with honors and 45 out of 58 licensure examinees passed the exam including the 2018 Education-to-Employment Internship Program.
Education to Employment (E2E) Internship Program under the Gawad Patnubay Scholarship Program
To provide holistic educational support to the Gawad Patnubay scholars, the Bank has established the E2E Internship Program through which the following benefits are extended to them after graduation:
In 2019, 66 graduates participated in the E2E Internship Program. They were employed in the following partner institutions after their internship:
Gawad e-Dukasyon Program
LANDBANK, in partnership with Knowledge Channel Foundation, Inc. (KCFI) and the Department of Education (DepEd), launched the third season of Gawad e-Dukasyon Program which introduces the significance of agriculture to today’s youth and encourages them to pursue agriculture-related courses in college through an educational video series titled “AgriCOOLture”.
For its last and final season, AgriCOOLture included a livelihood takeaway in each module. Episodes were about crop production and harvest, hog raising, and aquaculture and fisheries to inspire the viewers to pursue business opportunities through agriculture.
The videos are aired over Knowledge Channel and the e-modules are available on the internet. The videos are also shown over all Knowledge Channel-connected public schools nationwide and serve as a supplement for the students’ Agriculture subject.
ENVIRONMENT
Manila Bay SUNSET Partnership Program, Inc.
The Bank’s flagship CSR program for the environment, the Manila Bay SUNSET (Socially Responsible and United in Nurturing and Sustaining the EnvironmenT) Partnership Program, Inc. (MBSPPI), is a public-private collaboration of institutions which implements sustainable approaches that help clean and protect the Manila Bay area.
In 2019, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) signed-up as members.
Among the activities organized and accomplished in 2019 were monthly clean-up activities of shores and estuaries or inlets connected to the Bay joined by 2,000 LANDBANK volunteers. For the waste recovery and collection activity, 86 truckloads of trash were collected, which is 19 truckloads more than the 67 truckloads of trash collected in the previous year.
Apart from the monthly coastal clean-ups, a total of 321.14 kilograms of polystyrene waste materials were collected by participants from the LANDBANK Head Office, which increased by 79.5 kilograms from last year. The collected polystyrene waste materials were utilized in the information, education and communication (IEC) arm of the campaign for proper solid waste management and were upcycled into rulers with the help of the Polystyrene Packaging Council of the Philippines—an MBSPPI partner.
Other IEC efforts included campus tours to spread environmental awareness and share proper solid waste management know-how among schools. Dubbed as the “Binion School Tour,” 12 tours were facilitated in public high schools in Metro Manila, particularly the City of Manila and Las Piñas City. For 2019, an in-depth discussion on liquid waste management and discipline on water usage was included. A total of 2,176 students participated, who each received an upcycled ruler.
In 2019, the Eco-brick Program was sustained through the conduct of the Monthly Eco-brick Day, an offshoot of the 2018 undertaking for waste management. This Program aimed at instilling environmental consciousness among LANDBANK eco-brickers as they become more aware of their consumption of single-use plastics. A total of 2,175 pieces of eco-bricks (approximately 556 kilograms) were turned over to the Plastic Solution to be used as planter boxes for their identified public school in San Felipe, Zambales.
Gawad Sibol Program Phase III
To ensure the promotion of environmental protection through reforestation, LANDBANK partnered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and established the Gawad Sibol Program (GSP), formerly known as the “Adopt-A-Watershed Program.” The Program completed the turn-over of 13 adopted sites to the respective People’s Organizations (POs) which managed and cultivated the areas, affording them additional livelihood and financial opportunities for a three-year period from 2016 to 2019.
The DENR has pegged GSP’s carbon sequestration potential to approximately 359.14 metric tons per hectare in 2019. The agency has determined and computed the GSP rate of the sites based on land use and land cover.
In 2019, the 60,000 trees planted in the 60 hectares of adopted land was equivalent to a 55% reduction of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions from the 800.50 metric tons of GHG emission—both diesel and gasoline—reported by the LANDBANK Head Office.
In summary, the GSP achieved the following:
DISASTER RELIEF
Gawad Angat BAYan (GABAY) Program
LANDBANK, in partnership with the Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc. (BMFI), created the Gawad Angat BAYan (GABAY) Program as a CSR Program to contribute in healing the wounds of the 2017 Marawi Siege survivors.
The GABAY Program is managed by LANDBANK, implemented by BMFI, and fully funded by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau-Interest Differential Fund (KfW-IDF) through the Department of Finance (DOF).
Launched in January 2019, the Program supports Malacañang Administrative Order No. 3, s. 2017 which created an inter-agency task force for the recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of the City of Marawi. The GABAY Program addresses the psycho-social needs of internally displaced persons (IDP) by giving psycho-social support (PSS) activities to children, youth, and adults in select communities in Marawi.
The PSS activities include processing and debriefing; post-activity support communication; and other interventions needed by the participating IDPs such as organic farming as eco-therapy. Further, the Program trains the participants to conduct PSS activities for them to cascade to their fellow IDPs. In its first year of implementation, the GABAY Program has achieved the following:
Gawad KATUBIGAN Program
The Gawad KATUBIGAN (KAakibat na TUlong sa Bayan para sa Inuming KailanGAN) Program is a disaster preparedness and response initiative that provides access to clean drinking water to disaster stricken and hard-to-reach communities. Apart from providing water filtration systems, the Program includes a knowledge transfer training implemented in partnership with an international non-profit organization, Waves for Water (W4W).
In 2019, the Program achieved the following:
The program also aims to reduce waterborne diseases. Each water filtration system can filter up to one million gallons of water which can benefit 100 individuals per day. With proper maintenance, the system can last from five to 10 years.
