Post Covid-19 Insights: Building an Economically Sustainable and Resilient Ati Community in the Philippines through CommunityBased Participatory Action Research (CBPAR)
Leo Andrew B. Biclar
The Ati are indigenous peoples of the Philippines who live in Sitio Tagaw, Tamulalod, Dumarao, and Capiz. In this community, there are 353 Ati whose sources of livelihood are farming crops, raising animals, and selling their arts and crafts, which the middlemen bought at a meager cost during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. With these, the researcher conducted Community-based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR). This study aimed to empower the Ati community by building an economically sustainable and resilient individual amidst the pandemic. Specifically, it aimed to assess the needs of the Ati farmers in managing and marketing their farm their needs in the management and marketing of their farm products, and ascertain the impacts of the intervention activities on the lives of the Ati beneficiaries. Community immersion, informal interviews, and observations were conducted while ethical considerations and health protocols were observed. The results showed that the participants encountered challenges in the value chain of their products and their children's education during this time of the pandemic. To address the issues on the value chain, the researcher implemented capacity-building activities on the management and production of their crops and animals and created social media to market their products on the digital platform. These intervention activities created positive socioeconomic impacts on the lives of the Ati community. Innovative marketing models are proposed to be adopted by other marginalized communities during and even beyond the pandemic. The strategies in this study that utilize social media platforms could also be applied to other marginalized and remote communities that need help accessing potential customers to improve their livelihood and income, even during calamities on a global scale.
Keywords: Agricultural value chain, Indigenous people, Community participatory, action research, Social impact, COVID-19
