USAID's Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Program is implementing a Community Infrastructure Program (CIP) which is aimed at accelerating economic growth and helping bring genuine peace to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and nearby conflict-affected areas. Under the CIP, small-scale infrastructure facilities are being provided to hundreds of villages throughout the region. Infrastructure projects can include water systems, road improvements, small bridges, jetties, community centers, grains or seaweed warehouses, and other similar projects.

Warehouses

The warehouses with adjacent solar dryers that are being constructed are having a strong positive impact on the economic life of the beneficiary communities. These facilities typically benefit former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) combatants who have made the transition from being guerilla soldiers to being productive growers of corn, rice, or seaweed. By enabling them to store and consolidate their harvest, the growers are often able to negotiate better prices for the produce. The warehouses improve the productivity and profitability for the farmers, and thus encourage expansion of agricultural production in the communities.

"Before, our cooperative members were forced to sell un-dried or poorly dried grains at very low prices. With the grains warehouse and solar dryer provided by GEM, they are now able to dry their grains within two or three days, properly store them, and, consequently, obtain much better prices for their efforts. Incomes are higher now" says Hadja Omaima Saripada, Chairperson and founder of the Wao MNLF Women's Multi-Purpose Cooperative, in Barangay Pilintangan, Wao, Lanao del Sur, Mindanao.

These warehouses are "votes of confidence" in the communities where they are located. They demonstrate to residents, visitors, merchants, donors, and potential investors that peace has come to the area, and that new facilities can be constructed and utilized in communities previously considered off-limits because of armed conflict.

GEM hopes to build more than one hundred of these warehouses throughout the conflict-affected area.