THE PROBLEMS
The group organised
community meetings and this gave a deeper understanding of the problems
of the people and threats to the environment.
The high rate of
deforestation due to illegal logging and swidden or 'kaingin' farming
threatened the stability of the resource base. Declining soil fertility
reduced harvests and incomes. This in turn has led to the intrusion
of farming into forest areas.
Rivers dry up in the summer and become swollen during the rainy season.
Landslides and eroded dirt roads or mountain paths make transporting
goods to market difficult and expensive. The tribals also had limited
access to health and education and lacked the skills to obtain better
sources of income. Also traditional cultures and indigenous ecological
knowledge were being eroded.
There was poor security of land tenure. There was an urgent need to
form an organisation to effectively respond to the problems affecting
the tribal communities. From this core group would emerge two organisations
with separate boards of directors and staff. Each organisation would
manage its own funds and programmes.
THE TRICORD CO-OPERATIVE
Responding
to the need for economic interventions the TRICORD Co-operative was
organised and registered in 1992. This co-operative arm specialises
in community organisation, credit assistance and education services.
The need to organise
and train people to impliment and manage development projects gave birth
to the Tribal Co-operation for Rural Development Inc., a non-profit,
non-stock, non-government organisation which was registered with Securities
and Exchange Commission on Oct 13th 1993.
The TRICORD logo
captures symbolically the beliefs and aspirations of the founders of
the organisation based on their faith in Christ. The logo symbolises
the physical and spiritual nature of human beings and the organisation's
commitment to responsible stewardship of the environment. It also captures
the organisation's desire to rekindle the sense of cultural pride and
preserve the positive indigenous traditions and practices among the
tribes the organisation works with.
The mission of TRICORD
is to:
- promote social
justice
- improve the quality
of education
- promote adherence
to good moral values
- improve the ecology
of the region through the restoration of forest resources
- promote stable
economic self-sufficiency
- encourage an
awareness and sense of pride in the cultural heritage of the region
and a respect for tribal leadership and traditions.
ORGANISATIONAL
STRUCTURE
The operations
of TRICORD are vested in the corporate leadership of the seven members
of the Board of Trustees who are elected by the representatives of the
member organisations.
The day-to-day activities are carried out by the management and staff.
Institutional capacity building, staff training, planning and programme
evaluation are conducted regularly to improve the output ans services
of the organisation.
Training and education
programmes are organised to enable communities and groups to establish
their own
co-operatives and enable them to reach a situation that will enable
them to seek credit assistance from the TRICORD Co-operative.
When community associations
are ready to undertake livelihood projects technical support is provide
by TRICORD.
TRICORD has received development funding from several overseas donor
organisations.
