THE HOUSEHOLD DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

Discussions on the Household Development Approach (HHDA) started in the early 1990s. With decades of community organizing experience, questions were being raised on the impact of the development work was reaching the family level.  Observations were made on community leaders being effective in organizations but being alienated in their own family.  While changes were being made in the people’s organization level, the same was not observed in the household level.  The depth of empowerment was questioned since situational analysis was confined to society as a whole while leaders and other family members cannot critically analyze their own state of poverty and the dynamics within the family. However, such thinking was not popular in the social development circle since it criticized the popular community organizing approach that was instrumental in movement building.

The HHDA was developed through discussions between like-minded non-government organizations and  the Fastenopfer Consultant for Development Projects in the Philippines,  Ervin More.  Based on Mr. More’s orientation presentation, “The household development approach is basically an organizing tool with the family as the primary target as opposed to the conventional organizing which is targeting the community at large.  The approach builds on the existing development paradigm of the families and maximizes their available resources to achieve a commonly agreed result.  The main intention of the approach is to develop the critical thinking of the people so that they can make decisions for themselves freely, be prepared to take the consequences for such decisions and ultimately, chart their own destiny as persons with dignity and integrity.  It is also aimed at creating opportunities for the families to dream dreams and to enable them to see realities beyond the confines of their current environment.  It is rooted on a firm belief that the problems besetting the Filipino families can only be solved by the Filipino families themselves.” Tools were developed to aide families analyze their household context.

The Household Development Approach (HHDA) is an organizing tool with the household as the primary target, as opposed to the conventional organizing which is targeting the community at large.  The program interventions revolve around the household/family’s vision, aspirations and plans. The approach builds on the existing development paradigm of the families and maximizes their available resources to achieve a commonly agreed result. 

The HHDA intends to develop the critical thinking of the people. This allows them to make decisions for themselves freely, be prepared to take consequences for such decisions, and chart their own destiny as persons with dignity and integrity.  It also creates opportunities for the families to dream dreams and to enable them to see realities beyond the confines of their current environment. 

The following principles guide the HHDA:

• The family is the first social institution that molds the individual’s system of beliefs and values.
• The individual’s system of beliefs and values shape the structures that prevail in a society.
• Change is sustained when it impacts on the family.
• The family is the basic unit of society.  It is the small government.  It is the small church.  Governments may change.  Organizations may come and go.  But the families stay.
• Democracy is first learned in the family.  Transparency is a belief and value formed out of the cumulative practice in the family.
• The strength and stability of an economy is dependent on the purchasing capacity of the family.
• The inherent goodness of the individual to share is cultivated and lived in the family.