About Us

Twenty-five years of advancing causes and projects for people and the environment and 25 years of promoting mitigating methods to safeguard the watersheds from ridge to reef, the Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) Inc. is 25 years in service!

IDIS was co-founded by a Filipino-Belgian couple, Norma Javellana and Arnold Vandenbroeck, as well as their partner and good friend, Bro. Karl Gaspar to halt the application of pesticides in monocrop plantations close to the Panigan-Tamugan Watershed. Reaching this point has been a significant accomplishment for IDIS, since it began creating a framework in 1999 in Baguio District that encompasses various cross-cutting issues, including culture, gender, environment, and agriculture. Long-term, IDIS keeps on addressing gaps in the social, cultural, and
environmental spheres thru collaborations with different sectors and critical engagements with the government. From an NGO working closely with the protection of the Panigan-Tamugan Watershed, IDIS has come a long way and is now expanding in major cities in Metropolitan Davao and in Koronadal City.

IDIS has been advocating and lobbying for policies that will benefit society based on the research conducted over the years. Ending Poison Rain, Green Spaces and Parks, Urban Wetlands, Lead-Safe Campaign, Bicycle Lane, and many other initiatives and causes were carried out and developed influencing significant policies in Davao City.

Back in 2005, the organization also formed the “Bantayo Aweg” or Water Guardians and Bantay Bukid, to strengthen the protection of the watersheds. With constant lobbying and promotion, they were recognized way back in 2012 in partnership with the City Government of Davao and has since then supported the volunteers.

The success of IDIS lies in the brilliant individuals who molded the organization into a multi-sectoral, diversified, and well-founded place. From its partners, both from urban and grassroots communities, private and government institutions, and civil society organizations. These individuals not only support IDIS’s causes but also become lifelong allies and friends. The organization’s success is rooted in its brains and faces, putting ideas into practice and living up to the vision and mission of protecting watersheds from ridge to reef, which are its enthusiastic team, who have worked hand in hand since 1999 most importantly, its founders.

IDIS is dedicated to advocating and lobbying for watershed and environmental conservation projects in Metropolitan Davao and in Koronadal City.