The Philippines team has been implementing the Focus on Global South regional programme in the Philippines since November 2001, with corporate-led globalization, trade and investments, poverty and social-economic justice, the commons, power and democracy, and climate change and justice as main themes/issues. But Focus Philippines has also evolved into more than just a country implementer—it has been developing campaigns, initiatives, platforms, and outputs that are grounded on Philippine issues while still reflecting the regional thrusts.
Focus Philippines undertakes policy research and engages government agencies on national policy-making; it organizes campaigns and generates alternative information and critical analyses in aid of national and global debates and to enrich social movement discourse; it builds networks and alliances, and contributes to grassroots capability building.
Its main country initiatives revolve around the following advocacies: agrarian reform, land and water rights, women’s and indigenous peoples’ rights, self-determination struggles, free trade agreements, investments, climate change and environmental protection (anti-mining, dirty energy, and REDD as key advocacies), US military presence, freedom of information, defense and protection of rights defenders.
