ecsom primer

8/12/2019 Ecsom Primer

1/4

ECSOMECOSYSTEM - BASED COMMUNITY-CENTRED SUSTAINABDEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEME

Each cluster, consisting of a wholesale town, a group ofsmaller market towns which relate to it, and the barrios thatare served by each market town, comprises a watersheddistrict with a habitat and a communal hierarchy evolvedover many years. In that sense, it is natural organization. Itis also the unit, which is almost meaningful for themanagement of the development process. This for severalreasons:

1. The different microhabitats provide a variation ofresources that permit internal specialization anddiversification.

WHAT IS THE WATERSHED DISTRICT?

BACKGROUND

In classical economics, theultimate unit of analysis is the

business firm and the individualperson. The concept of the firmproducing a homogenousproduct makes it possible toelaborate the whole elegants t ruc tu re o f p roduc t ionschedules, cost curves, supplycurves and supply prices. Theconcept of the utility-maximizingindividual enables us to derivethe corresponding demandcurves and demand prices,which together determinemarket prices.

The pa rad igm unde r l i e sdeve lopment economics .Business enterprise has becomethe primary unit of thedevelopment process and theexemplar for all developmentp r o j e c t s . D e v e l o p m e n tmanagement has becomeidentified with enterprisemanagement. In the real worldthen , t he p ro to t ype o fdevelopment is the displacement

of the natural community withthe company town with thelogging, the mining town, or thesugar district.

These past modalities ofdevelopment have not had thedesired impact on reducingpoverty and providing adequatelivelihood for the greaterproportions of the populationboth in the rural areas and inthe small towns and in thelarger urban centers. With nomore re sou rce f ron t ie ravailable to absorb thepopulation, the deepening

poverty has caused seriousdamage to the nation'senvironment and naturalresources. There is a massivepressure to emigrate or to takeup arms and join the rebelforces in the mountains.Reforms are required as muchto solve these problems as toprovide a domestic market basefor industrial development.

attain goals of increasingagricultural productivity andreal incomes for the farmers,a n d g e n e r a t i n gcomplementary, interlinked,profitably interesting agro-i n d u s t r i a l b u s i n e s sopportunities for the farmersand non-tilling land-owners.

It is also a scheme forintegrating government and

private sector projects in thefield where they are designedand phased to become mutuallyre inforc ing. The ECSOMtherefore is a potent localresource management systemthat provides a way by whichprojects, that singly might notbe s e l f - l i q u i da t i n g , i ncombination are placed in acost-recovery mode.

PURPOSET h e E c o s y s t e m - b a s e dCommunity-centred SustainableDevelopment Organization andManagement (ECSOM) isproposed as the appropriate fieldorganization and managementsystem at the sub-provinciallevel (using a Watershed Districtas the unit of production,accounting, planning andanalysis) for the implementationof government programs to

2. The population is large enough to achieve some scaeconomies and to stimulate internal trade. There should anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 people in each of tdistricts.

3. At the same time, it is good organization to balance witthe same economic organization the communities that haa stake in resources, which are ecologically symbiotic: eriver valleys, brackish water foreshore areas and uplawatersheds.

LUBANG

LOOC

PALUAN

MAMBURAO

STA. CRUZ

SABLAYAN

CALINTAAN LINT N

RIZALIZ L

SAN JOSE N JOSE

MAGSAYSAY GS YS Y

ABRA DE ILOG

ECSOM


2/4

We must view each of thesewatershed districts as if it were acountry since even in classicaleconomics, one integrates at thelevel of the country. Theimplications are:

1. You define the constituency ofeach district a notion of districtcitizenship, and even barrio andtown domiciliaries. The citizens at

each level have primacy at thatlevel in the benefits from theresources of the community at thatlevel.

2. You establish a principle of

subsidiarity. You want maximumself-reliance at each lowest level ofcommunity and look to the nextlevel when there are cleareconomic advantages from thetrade-off (terms of trade).

3. You optimize the use of socialoverhead cost at each level ofcommunity. This is somewhat

revolutionary and gives you resultsthat are quite different from

optimizing overhead on anenterprise basis. It also means anindustry development that isdriven by buying rather thanselling economics. You do notspawn a chicken growing industry

from the need to develop captivemarkets for a large feed mill. Youspawn feed mills from the need ofchicken growers to source feed at alower cost. You reduce the cost ofsugar cane growing by spreading

farm overhead costs over multiplecrops through intensive use of theland; rather than by reducing labor

and overhead costs per unitthrough extensive cultivation andmechanization.

4. This mode of thinking hasnothing to do with the polemicbetween private or free enterpriseand socialism. The system does notpose private against state or free

against planned. It posescommunity against enterprise asthe DOMINANT mode of organizingeconomic life. It does not eliminateenterprise. It merely viewsenterprises as being subordinate to

community. You don't want townsthat are owned by companies. You

want companies that are owned bytownspeople. In other words youdon't want company towns. You dowant community companies.

5. This mode does not forswear

markets. It views communities asfree bargaining agents in asystem of free markets. You

introduce somewhere betweenself-seeking individual interestsand an obscure national interest,a more clearly perceived andexplicitly articulated communalinterest in the economic use of

natural and capital resources. It is

important to define a communaltenure over resources in whichthere is communal as opposed tomerely individual interests lakeand rivers, foreshore and

nearshore areas, forest stands onwatersheds. Communities enterinto a l l iances with othercommunit iesfor commoninterest joint

ventures inp r o c e s s i n gplants, in watermanagementprojects, intransport and

communicationsys tems, inm a r k e t i n gfacilities.

6. Finally this

m o d e o fthinking willr e c o n s t r u c ts o c i a laccounting on atotally different

b a s i s .C o m m u n i t ybalance sheetsthat measurecommunity net

worth, community incomestatements that measure currentp r o d u c t i o n a n d i n c o m egenerating transactions become atrue measure of communitywelfare. National accounts that

are consolidations of communityaccounts will measure nationalwelfare the way current GNPaccounts do not.

UNITS/ SUB-UNITS WITHIN

THE WATERSHED DISTRICT

The smallest unit of organizationand management (and the basicunit of production and analysis) is

the Household. From theHousehold, the successivelylarger units of organization andmanagement (up to theWatershed District) are:

HOUSEHOLD

PRODUCTION TEAM (FOR RURAL)

NEIGHBORHOOD (FOR URBAN)

PRODUCTION NETWORK

(FOR RURAL)

NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORK(FOR URBAN)

MARKET DISTRICT

ECONOMIC DISTRICT

UNITS/ SUB-UNITS BEYONDTHE ECONOMIC DISTRICT

From the Watershed District, thesuccessively larger units oforganization and management (upto the country as an organization/

management unit) are:

WATERSHED DISTRICT

PROVINCE

REGION

AREA

COUNTRY

Each def ined organization/management unit would have itsco r r e spond ing manage r i a l

positions and span of control. Althese defined managerial positionsactually exist and their functionsare being performed. However, theperspective is line managementthe management technology being

utilized is enterprise-based and themanagement is politically drivenrather than through norms oeffective/ efficient management.

The first organizational levels from

the household are the ProductionTeams in which the managemenpyramid stands.

In the rural areas, groups o

households traditionally bandtogether to perform tasks (relatedto primary production) that aremore efficiently/ effectivelyundertaken by a group rather thanby an individual household (e.g

alayon in Cebu, etc.). Thesegroupings have evolved over timeand have a natural leader. This iswhat makes up the Production

Team (on the average composed o20 households).

A group of Production Teams (whorelates to each other more thanwith other Production Teamswould form a Production Network(a group of about 7 Production

Teams) A group of ProductionNetworks (about 22) relate to thepoblacion of a market town andform a Market District. MarketDistricts (about 4 to 5) form aWatershed District.

The additional positions, definedspecifically for the alternative and

designed for optimizing optimizingefficiency/ effectiveness, are theWatershed District Manager and

Market District Area Manager. Themanagers are really the collectivebargaining agents of theirespective communities, Theynegotiate on behalf of thecommunities and are thus agents

who seek the optimization of thecommunity's economic, social andecological interests.

THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND TECHNOLOGY

ECSOM

PRIVATE SECTOR

PROGRAMS

NATIONAL

AND LOCAL

GOVERNMENT

NEEDS FROM

GOVERNMENT

TO ACTIVATE

BUSINESSBUSINESS

PROJECTS

TAXES

DELIVERY OF

GOVERNMENT

SERVICES

PUBLIC SECTOR

PROGRAMS

PLANNING AND

BUDGETING

PROCESS

HOUSEHOLDS

IN AN

ECONOMIC DISTRICT

RATIONALE FOR DELINEATION OF UNITS

The alternative organization/ management units emphasize and utilize the natural relationships and interdependence that exist, have developed from thepast, and promise to continue into the future. For example, the Production Team Leader would himself be a farmer who has gravitated to the position of TeamLeader, not by his own seeking of the position but by the habitual looking up to and consultation that his farmer-peers have accorded him over a long period. Iis not suggested that, when the organization/ management unit of Production Team is defined, some selection process is undergone to name the ProductioTeam Leader. Rather, the alternative organization/ management technology only acknowledges the already Production Team Leader, and proceeds with theorganizational and managerial tasks based on what has been the practice.


3/4

ECSOM MANAGEMENT POSTULATES

As necessary conditions to being operative, the Watershed District Management System, establishes a set oorganization/ management postulates:

Postulate A. Citizenship is defined according to organization/ management units (i.e. local levels) rather thanjust national (e.g. one is a citizen of the SAMARICA Watershed District as well as being aFilipino).

Postulate B. Definition of territory of an organization/ management unit is congruent with the politicaboundaries of the juridical units corresponding to the defined organization/ management unit.

Postulate C. The citizens of the community as an organization/ management unit has jurisdiction over athe natural and other resources within the defined territory of the organization/ managemenunit and the Manager is the collective bargaining agent of the community who ensures that thetransactions between the community with its own stakeholders and with non-citizens redoundto the welfare of the whole community as depicted in its Social Accounting Matrix.

Postulate D. The Primary beneficiaries in any utilization/ exploitation of the natural resources of a territory (asdefined in Postulate B) are the citizens (as defined in Postulate A) of the territory.

Postulate E. Decision-making potential is first exhausted at the lowest level efficiently/ effectively feasiblebefore decision-making at a higher level is involved.

POSTULATES A/B/D.Definition of citizenship and territory according to organization/ management unit enables theformulation of Postulate D (definition of primary beneficiaries) and identifies for whose benefieconomic and development management is undertaken all the way down to the mos

fundamental organization/ management units. Congruence of the organization/ managemenunit with political boundaries also facilitates relating of the unit's accounts to fiscal budgets or tolegal requirements.

POSTULATE C. Postulate C establishes that the manager of a defined organization/ management unit haresponsibility for ensuring that the natural and other resources within the defined territory of theorganization/ management unit are used in a manner that optimizes the benefits for thecommunity as a whole as shown by the Social Accounting Matrix. it is also understood that themanager will not have complete control over the resources and that governance is practicedthrough a participatory system..

The manager will be faced with 3 aspects with regard to control (whether the subject of control isa resource, territory, people, etc.):

a) aspects that are fully and directly controllable;

b)aspects that are not directly controllable, but over which some influence may be exercisedand

c)aspects that can neither be controlled nor influenced but affect the effectiveness/ efficiency othe organization/ management unit and its manager.

The non-controllable and non-influential aspects require organizational/ managerial systemsfor generating prognoses and properly evaluating the effects of these aspects on theorganization/ management unit (including its program, strategies, people, etc.) so thaprovisions for appropriately coping with these effects, with the most advantage or the least lossbecome regular operating functions rather than ad-hoc, sporadic, unplanned reactions.

POSTULATE E. Postulate E is a statement of a principle of subsidiarity and is a reaction to the inefficienciesineffectiveness of a centralized/ hierarchical organization.

Postulate E also enables the alternative management technology to carry out a true

decentralization (a ground-up approach). In contrast to the type of decentralization wherethe center/ top gives up some authorities/ decision-making to lower levels at the peripheries, thedecentralization that Postulates E fosters establishes that a higher level really has no decisionmaking authority unless a lower level had decided that particular decision-making capacities aremore effectively/ efficiently carried at the higher level than at its own level.

In another sense, Postulate E ultimately places the seat of authority in the household. As themost fundamental organization/ management unit, it is also the basic seat of decision-makingwhere all decision-making potentials are first exhausted before decision-making at theProduction Team Level is involved.

Postulate E is also an enabling condition for participatory democracy of the most extensive/intensive kind.

THE SOCIAL

ACCOUNTING

MATRIX

The community's interestis articulated in a pro-fo rma conso l ida tedbalance sheet and incomestatement that accountfor the consolidatedassets of the communitycompr ised by the i rnatural, capital andfinancial resources and

t h e c r e d i t o r a n downership claims of non-community members toshow the community'snetworth or wealth.

The stream of productionand direct and indirectcosts to community in theprocess of productionmeasure the net value ofthe community's incomeafter allowing for capitaldepreciation and therestoration of naturalcapital to its original

state.

T h e o b j e c t i v e o fmanagement then is tomaximize communityincome and augment itsnetworth to ensure anadequate lifestyle for thes t a k e h o l d e r s a n dpreserve the capital forthe future generations.The role of the managersas collective bargainingagents is to ensure thatthe interest of theirp r i n c i p a l s , t h e

c o m m u n i t i e s , a r eprotected and optimizedi n t h e i r i n t e r n a loperations and theirdealings with othercommunities. ,

ECOSYSTEM - BASED COMMUNITY- CENTRED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT O RGANIZ AT ION AND MANAGEMEN


4/4

-local government officials

(governors and mayors) cand e s i g n a n d i n s t i t u t eprovince- and municipality-

wide economic developmentand poverty-combatingprograms, using powers andinstruments already providedin the Local GovernmentCode of 1991, such as thestatutory authority ofmunicipalities and provincesto confederate to undertake

j o i n t p r oduc t i on andinfrastructure projects (BookI, Title 1, Ch.1, Sec. 3(f) ofRepublic Act 9184), or atlocal levels to enter into jointv e n t u r e s w i t h l o c a lcooperatives and private

sector business (Book I, Title1, Ch.1, Sec. 3(l)and (Book I,Title 1, Ch.4, Sec. 35), toraise financing through loansand floating of municipal orprovincial bonds (Book II,Title 4, Sec. 299).

- implementers o f the

Comprehensive AgrarianReform Program can designcompensation for landownersto take the form of substitute

Product ion and IncomePossibility Schedules Defined asEngines of Growth. The explicitidentification of the range of

p roduc t ion and in comepossibilities given by any set ofendowments (natural resource,technological and humanresource) should be couched interms of entire productionsystems. Each of these systemsto qualify as part of thepossibility schedule shouldhave undergone at least a pre-feas ib i l i t y screen ing toestablish a prima facie case fortechnical, economic andfinancial feasibility. At thatpoint they can be consideredamong the range of options of

engines of growth.

The identification and screeningprocess itself dictates a wholet e chn i ca l p ro toco l t ha tcombines four major areas ofanalysis:

a) The natural resourceassessment that derivesthe schedule of technicaland economic productioncapabil it ies with the

ECSOM ECONOMIC MODEL

Simply stated, the organization and management mission is:

MAXIMIZE FUTURE CONSUMPTION OF THE CITIZENS OFORGANIZATION/ MANAGEMENT UNIT WHILE PRESERVINGAND ENHANCING THEIR CONSOLIDATED NETWORTH FOR THEBENEFIT OF FUTURE GENERATIONS.

The alternative economic model willserve the following functions:

a) Descriptive The model willconstitute the scientific basis forunderstanding precisely how thehouseholds/ communities operateas organizations and as systems.Just as the economic theory of thefirm provides a schematic picture ofhow the enterprise functions,mobilizes and combines resourceinputs into the most economic mix,determines production volumes/patterns in response to markets;converts product into sales andprofit, and finally determines theoptimum use of profit for growthand diversification, the alternativeeconomic model will serve the same

purpose for household andcommunities: how household/commun i t y r e sou r c e s a remobilized, how the productionprocesses mix (to meet the needs and wants) are determined, howthe optimum modes of transforming resources into incomes aredefined (i.e. direct production for local consumption versusproduction of tradeable commodities to exchange for goods for thecommunity's use), etc.

b) Normative The models can establish the precise roles thaeach agent within the household/ community must play to achievedesired levels of economic performance. (In this function, themodels also serve as the means for communicating to thecommunity how each of the agents/ factor/ sector relates to the

whole system, how the performance of each inthe management of resources within each one'scontrol impacts the whole community, howmutually rewarding benefits from joint/cooperative effort are achieved, etc.).

In their normative function, the models alsomake possible the definition of goals for eachagent/ factor/ sector and the community as awhole, and the targets that are achievable ovedifferent time horizons together with the precisepaths towards these targets. These goals/targets are expressed in precise and measurableterms.

Thus, the models provide the quantitativemeasure for the system's performances at everylevel establish unambiguous standards fo

judging periodic performance of the system andthose responsible for its direction.

c) Evaluative The models can identify thebest/ optimal choices possible given a set ocontrollable factors, constants/ constraintsrelationships.

d) Predictive The models can forecast alternative scenarios(behaviors, performances, outcomes) when a set of policiesstrategies, etc. are implemented.

technical input-outpucoefficients of each type oresource use.

b) The range of processtechnologies required fothe transformation oprimary materials into endproducts of given marketspecifications, with thetechnical input-outpucoefficients of each process.

c) The various markeparameters that translatephys i ca l ou tpu t in t oeconomic values at eachappropriate geographicalevel.

d) The complement oinfrastructure and socialoverhead type capital thawould be required directlyb y t h e p r o d u c t i o n /distribution processes, andthat could be supported as aresult of the primary andsecondary income effects othe production/ incomegeneration resulting fromthe resource usage andsystem installation.

ECSOM AND LIVELIHOOD SYSTEMS

investment projects (as aresult of ECSOM planning)that are more attractivef inanc ia l l y t han land

ownership; and can helpfarmer-beneficiaries with acomplement of investmentsto realize the potential ofintensive cultivation andtranslate these into familyincomes that liberate themfrom the poverty trap.

- planning officials and

agencies (from provincial tonational levels) can be guidedin genuine planning of viable,effective projects from thedistrict upwards to nationalprojects.

-sectoral agencies of the

National Government canplan infrastructure andservices delivery systems in asystematic, coherent, andefficient manner around theECSOM generated andapproved projects, improveds u p p o r t s e r v i c e s f o ragriculture, and derivepotential infrastructureinvestment and tertiary

WITH ECSOM

ECSOM

COMMUNITYOMMUNITYNAT

URALRES

OURCES

N

T

U

R

L

R

E

S

O

U

R

C

E

S

PEOPLE

P

O

P

CAPITA

L

P

I

T

L

DISTRICTISTRI T

PROVINCEROVIN E

REGIONEGION

NATIONTION

MAXIMO T. KALAW INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

1402-A West Tower, PSE Centre, Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City 1605 PHILIPPINES

Phone: (632)631-7989; TelefaOx: (632)6317084; E-mail: [email protected]

ecsom primer

Documents