Supporting Community Health Through an Indigenous Healing Centre

A Community-Led Innovation Case Study from the Philippines

In Barangay Pandan in South Upi is Lawi Fetinanaan (“Rest House”), an indigenous and natural healing centre, providing healing programmes and services to the community at reduced cost, set up and run by five indigenous women leaders from the Teduray and Lambangian tribes, and supported by the Mindanao Tri-people Women Resource Centre (MTWRC), an NGO based in Cotabato City. The barangay (local district) has limited access to health care services because of its remote location, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, community members were further discouraged from visiting the hospital because they feared they would be diagnosed with COVID-19. The healing centre utilises plants that occur naturally in the local area to make herbal medicines, and, since its establishment, has branched out to include soap making and other activities. The innovation now has more than 30 members, who joined upon being invited by the community innovators, of which 15 are active and involved in strategic decisions. The most active members attend the training sessions and seminars provided by CDP, for example on producing herbal medicines or on reflexology.

The idea of producing herbal medicines came up when community members were displaced due to armed conflict, and a lot of them started getting sick. Medicinal plants were abundant and could be utilized to treat some symptoms. When the opportunity to apply for the CLIP came about, the community members decided to propose the establishment of the healing centre with additional support from the barangay, which donated the land that the centre is built on. The initial budget of PHP 500,000 (USD $9,100) was spent on the building, including labour costs and materials, as well as on training and supplies to start making the medicines. The ingredients for most products are found in the vicinity of the centre.

Now that the innovation has properly taken off, the members have gained additional skills and are able to provide extra income to support their families, besides being able to provide their fellow community members with medicines. One of the members shared: “We learned from the activities of the organization. We are also able to help their families through the herbal medicines that we make, and we learned how to do reflexology. Because of our participation in the organization, we were able to experience all of this, and our knowledge also improved.” Additionally, both the members and the community leaders have noticed that the members of the project have become more active in the community and participate more in community activities. Multiple interview respondents have mentioned that the women are supportive of one another and enjoy meeting their peers through the project.

The innovation is not yet financially self-supporting because most of the women don’t earn sufficient income, but it is preferable to the alternative: remaining at home without any additional income. In 2020, they were encouraged by one of the MTWRC staff to establish an organization. Since then, the barangay encouraged them to register with the Ministry of Labor and Employment so that they can access government programmes and services. This ongoing support from the barangay indicates the value that the innovation provides to the community, which they have even extended to other communities, teaching community members about soap-making. The primary barrier to further scaling and duplication is a lack of funding.

The Community-Led Innovation Partnership is a joint initiative between Elrha, Start Network, Asia Disaster Reduction and Response Network, Asociación de Servicios Comunitarios de Salud in Guatemala, Center for Disaster Preparedness in the Philippines, and Yakkum Emergency Unit in Indonesia, which supports the emergence and development of locally-driven solutions to humanitarian problems. It is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

This case study forms part of the CLIP Programme Evaluation 2020–2023, undertaken by Catalystas Consulting in March 2023.

Evaluators: Judith Vollebregt, Aviva Stein, Paula Kantor and Sofía Paredes.
Contributors: Arya Bagus, Alejandra Gonzalez and Jemiema Dagadas.