In the Philippinnes, under the Indigenous Peoples Support Fund (IPSF), small grants continue to support Indigenous Peoples' initiatives which contribute to the three general areas of focus for Samdhana: Recognizing and protecting Indigenous Peoples rights, leading to increased access to and control of natural resources, and enhancing community natural resource management.

Three grants to GEMPA TKNK, Legal Rights and Natural Resource Center (LRC-KSK), and to the Mindanao Peoples Peace Movement focused on sustaining Congressional lobbying for the recognition and upholding of Indigenous Peoples rights in the creation of the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Last year's sustained effort of pro-active policy lobbying and educational drives in campaigns involving local, regional and national networks ensured the presence of IP groups advocating for full recognition of IPRA were maintained in Congressional hearings and remain a national issue, safeguarding a dynamic process in Congressional commission hearings and Bill drafting. These efforts ensured IP rights were not derogated, protecting equal recognition of rights and equity of all Mindanao cultural groups, so sharing of prosperity, access to and control of natural resourc- es within the ancestral domains of Indigenous Peoples in the core area of the proposed Bangsamoro domain are protected.

A new component of small grants livelihood support introduced during this period is the IP community learning exchange, to foster learning and insights on community-managed enterprises. On the rst exchange, Higaonon and Tagbanua partners visited the Mangyan tribe in Oriental Mind- oro at the Tugdaan Mangyan Center for Development to learn about the Mangyan experience of establishing and managing their social enterprise, producing various food products sourced from their community.

The second learning exchange provided opportunities for Tagbanua sea- weed farmers in Calamianes, Palawan to learn about the seaweed farming technology developed by non IP, community-managed enterprise in Hinat- uan, Agusan del Sur. The grant also supported community technicians of Hinatuan to visit the seaweed farms in Coron and provide recommenda- tions as to how to improve the resilience of their seaweeds. This resulted in Tagbanua farmers learning about natural seaweed fertilizers, planting structures and disease management to improve their own seaweed farming industry.

Samdhana supported the community business planning of Pamalihi Tribal Council and also facilitated linkages with two institutions that could potentially support full scale enterprise development for indigenous communities.

The Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADS- DPP) is a document that guides Indigenous Peoples in governance and resource management of their territory. A small grant was provided to the Subanen tribes in the ancestral domains of Kumalarang and Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur for resource mapping and digitization to complete their ADSDPP. Through their ADSDPP, Subanen tribes will better grasp their resources for informed decision-making and planning, in the face of on going mining expansion, and geothermal energy development projects in the region.

Small grants has proven relevance in the Urgent Action Grants that Samdhana was able to facilitate to support IP communities affected by natural disasters and conflict situations such as the emergency relief assistance provided to Teduray families displaced by in fighting of government and non state armed groups. A fact finding mission on massive IP communities' evacuation in CARAGA was conducted by Lumad Mindanaw Peoples Federation. Typhoon-affected IP communities in Cordillera and Oriental Mindoro were also reached by emergency relief assistance partly supported by small grants. The importance of acting counterpart to emergency relief operations is in enabling local organizations to take the first mile, literally, to reach isolated indigenous communities. This makes a huge difference to affected families receiving emergency food assistance in a span of 48 hours, as compared to government or humanitarian delivered assistance that takes several days before reaching farflung communities.

See more at The Samdhana Instituite Annual Report 2015