World Renew has been responding to super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines since November 2013.  While this initial response was expected to conclude in December, World Renew has just received $1,774,293 from the Canadian government to expand its response into an additional three-year livelihoods restoration program.

“We are so grateful for this funding” said Senior Manager, Grace Wiebe. “We are grateful to the Canadian government but also to our supporters who donated so generously to World Renew right after Typhoon Haiyan hit.

At that time, the Canadian Government promised to match all of the donations made by  Canadians in response to this disaster. It put those match dollars into a special fund, to which World Renew applied, and we have now successfully received some of those funds. Your donations have come to fruition for World Renew to do deeper and longer term livelihood work to bless the people of the Philippines.”

Since the Typhoon struck the Philippines in November 2013, World Renew has been active in emergency response, transitioning to longer-term reconstruction, and most recently rehabilitation.

In this new project, World Renew is partnering with fellow Canadian Churches in Action (CCA) member the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to help 48,062 people from farming and fishing households rebuild their livelihoods.

The three-year program, called “Restoring, Empowering And Protecting Livelihoods” (REAP), began in September and will continue until March 2019.  It will assist Typhoon Haiyan-affected families on the island of Panay in northern Iloilo Province. 

This program will not only help replace some of the livelihoods lost during the typhoon, but will also help address some of the deeper, systemic issues that prevented people from escaping poverty even before the typhoon hit. While people previously had functioning farms or fishing businesses, many were  trapped in chronic poverty as a result of poor agricultural techniques, lack of access to capital, inadequate small business training and support, and other reasons.

World Renew and ADRA will attempt to address these larger issues and will coordinate its work with the local and national government of the Philippines.

It is also partnering with the University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV), Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Together, they hope to provide farmers and fishing families with training and supplies to restart and improve their businesses. They will also explore alternative livelihoods to reduce pressure on fishing and farming resources.

Ainel Apostol is a fisherman who was part of World Renew’s Cash-for-Work activities. He received fishing gear to regain his fishing livelihoods after Typhoon Haiyan.

“I want to thank World Renew for the items to help me fish again. I want to show others that what has been given to me is a big help,” he explains.

Now he and fellow fisher folk in his community will benefit from the fishing livelihoods work for the next few years, where they will be able to better market their sales to further benefit their families.