Demystifying Climate Adaptation Finance for Rural Agricultural Communities: The Case of the People’s Survival Fund in the Philippines

The People’s Survival Fund (PSF) is the Philippine government’s flagship climate adaptation finance program. Publicly financed, the fund is designed to integrate adaptation activities to resilience building, disaster risk reduction, and poverty alleviation in poor and vulnerable local communities. Since the signing into law of the PSF (Republic Act 10174) on 16 August 2012, only a few local government units have been able to access  the fund. Institutionally linked barriers and governance gaps in the implementation and disbursement of the fund seem to negate the benefits accruing from the direct access nature of the fund and the decentralized implementation of adaptation activities at the local level. Using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, this study assessed the legal-policy framework upon which the PSF operates and mapped out the barriers that hinder its implementation.

At the macro level, the PSF Law is not a policy in isolation but a policy that is embedded in an existing policy constellation. The PSF Law, along with its surrounding legal-policy framework, is generally compliant with all the principles of good governance on climate finance delivery (i.e., implementability, coherence, and legitimacy). Moreover, fundamental institutional architecture and processes are in place at the national level. Barriers identified for the effective implementation and delivery of the PSF include those on policy, institutional, and operational. 

Improving the PSF’s governance and institutional architecture is still a work in progress. The findings of this study deduce policy implications that strike at the heart of fundamental governance and institutional policy areas.