MAIN TASK

The main task of the Coalition is ADVOCACY. We define advocacy to mean the process of promoting alternatives and working for changes to policies, programs, structures, and relations. FDC addresses national and local issues in various arenas at all levels, including international arenas.

Our advocacy work serves the following objectives:

1. Promote public awareness and critical understanding of the economy and economic issues.
2. Disseminate and popularize FDC’s framework and principles on the economy and economic development, FDC’s critique and position on key economic policies and FDC’s alternative agenda, program and policies.
3. Build a strong and vibrant constituency that will actively pursue FDC’s agenda for economic development at various levels and arenas of engagement.
4. Achieve immediate as well as long-term policy, institutional and structural changes.
5. Expand participation and intervention of grassroots communities, NGOs, people’s organizations and private citizens and strengthen their power and influence in public policy formulation, monitoring and implementation at the national as well as local levels.
6. Deepen and broaden coalition unities, and enrich FDC’s framework, experience, skills and tools for greater effectiveness, efficiency and gender-responsiveness in advocacy work.
7. Draw international support for and solidarity with campaigns and struggles in the Philippines.
8. Contribute to the building of regional and global movements addressing common issues and goals; Strengthening people’s resistance and challenges to regional and global policies and institutions, and engagement and intervention in regional and global arenas.

Advocacy work ranges from short-term activities to sustained, intensive processes. For programmatic and operational purposes, the Coalition distinguishes between two modes of advocacy work that it engages in:

CAMPAIGNS – which are advocacy efforts that involve intensive and sustained efforts, conducted over a period of time, combining various forms of actions (media, lobby, popular-education, mobilizations, etc.), with specific objectives and targets.

POLICY ADVOCACY – which are advocacy efforts on specific issues that are short term and involve mainly lobby and media initiatives.

DEVELOPING SERVICE PROGRAMS

The Coalition shall develop certain services as distinct programs that can be offered to our members and the public at large. These are:

RESEARCH AND DATA-BASE SERVICE

While the Coalition gathers data and resource materials primarily to serve its advocacy work, the Coalition shall also make available these data and materials for its members and broader network for their own needs and purposes. Gather resource materials from members and partners.

PROVIDING VENUES FOR STUDY AND EXCHANGE OF VIEWS on critical issues on the economy – As new and complex economic issues confront FDC’s membership and the larger public, many express the need for information, insights and discussions not necessarily for the immediate purpose of forging consensus and taking action. In addition to organizing in-depth discussions as well as popular education activities for its advocacy efforts, the Coalition shall organize other venues for study and exchange of views primarily for the purpose of assisting in learning, development of insights and synthesis of new ideas, sharpening and clarifying positions, and getting updated on issues.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

While the Coalition conducts education and training among its members and chapters primarily to serve its advocacy work, the Coalition shall maximize and develop this capacity in order to extend education and training services on the economy and on advocacy work to a larger network.