The Organic and Natural Food Movement in North America, Asia, the Philippines and Community Participation
For industrial relations to move forward as an academic discipline in the 21st century, it must uniquely contribute to the multidisciplinary theory of work. This paper aims to draw attention to the importance of rethinking work that shapes societal changes in a profound way in the context of the unprecedented growth and significant gains of the organic and natural food movement in the global economy, in general, and the Philippines , in particular. The movement can be conceptualized as a social relation in which the context of work is emphasized towards seeing the world as shaped by social networks, norms, institutions and socially constructed power relations. Organic agriculture mitigates climate change, it brings together a broad range of issues relating to health, natural disasters, food and water security, natural resource management, technology innovations and has become center stage in international development circles. The country’s indigenous people have lived in and with nature for generations. Their culture allows them to utilize resources properly. This paper explores the social relations at work in the process of strengthening Philippine organic industry, the conservation of natural resources diversity and in transforming social structures that underpin various forms of vulnerability and inequality with various service providers, developmental partners and stakeholders.
Seminar 14 Slides
SGRA is a non-profit, non-government organization. We need your help by properly acknowledging any benefit you might have obtained from downloading materials from this website. SGRA E-MAIL .
Virginia A. Teodosio, Ph.D.
Phd in Economics, M.I.R. (Master of Industrial Relations) AB Economics
Professor
email: [email protected]
Dr. Maria Virginia Alon Teodosio is a Ph.D. graduate of the University of Sydney major in Political Economy in 1990. She was awarded three scholarships while studying: The University of Sydney Postgraduate Research Award, 1983-1988; the Frank Coaldrake Traveling Scholarship, 1985 and the Rotary Club of Blacktown City, NSW Bursary Recipient, 1984. Dr. Teodosio received an Alumni Award for Achievement from the International House (IH), The University of Sydney in 1992. She was IH president in 1984. She finished her first degree in Economics at the UP School of Economics. Two recent fellowships include the World Bank E-Learning Courses on Gender, Economic Development and Poverty Reduction, April 2007, and Trade and Gender, February 2008.
Currently, Dr. Teodosio is Professor at the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations. She taught previously at Maryknoll College, 1982, as Senior Lecturer; Professorial Lecturer, at the Ateneo de Manila , 1991, and at the UP Department of Political Science., 1988 to 1991.
Dr. Teodosio served as board member of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), 2005-2008. She was founding Director of the Philippine Cooperative Center, 1990, and Director, Women in Shelter and its Environment, 1997-2000. Presently, she is Chairperson of the UP Employees Housing Cooperative (UPEHCO), which she founded in 1990, the country’s first housing cooperative registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA). UPEHCO is the only primary cooperative that is a member of the National Housing Cooperative Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Committee. UPEHCO chairs the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) National Steering Committee, Ways and Means. UPEHCO will also chair the country’s First National Housing Cooperative: Forum: Building for a Sustainable Environment in June 2012.
Dr. Teodosio was a member of the United Nations Group of Experts on Cooperatives in April 2009 held in New York who drafted the UN resolution for the 2012 IYC.
In 2000, Dr. Teodosio was appointed Member of the Board of the Cooperative Development Authority as a Presidential Appointee. During her term, she was convenor of the First National Summit of Women in Cooperatives in 2003 and in the various regions in succeeding years.
The publications of Dr. Teodosio are in at least 500 libraries worldwide. Her most recent publications are in renewable energy, social capital, agricultural cooperatives, women and the world of work and the organic food movement. In 2008, she got a grant from UNESCO Paris to research and write about Cooperatives, Social Capital and the Shaping of State Transformation. Her public seminars are on microfinance, motivation, older workers, women in HR, work-life balance, transformational leadership, team building, wellness, cultural intelligence, advocacy techniques and on cooperative enterprise building.
Dr. Teodosio represented the country in 22 nation states and was Vice-Chair of the Network for the Development of Agricutural Cooperatives in Asia-Pacific in 2005-2008. The network is chaired by India.
In the next 12 months, Dr. Teodosio’s team will be at the forefront in building agro-industrial estates that are majority owned by farmers’ cooperatives in post conflict areas. The business is to export pickled gherkins and coconut water. Some 3.5 million farmers are dependent on the coconut industry whose upsurge in the market is worth US$ 20 billion. Hundreds of thousands of farmers will benefit in the scheme. Finally, the Office of the President has endorsed UPEHCO’s environmental youth camps in 25 provinces. The structures that will be built are made of rammed earth and will be a major agenda for the celebration of the International Youth Day in August 2012