ChildFund Philippines
launches intensive & meaningful interventions to support children against
poverty
After four decades of consistently working with local
stakeholders to make a difference in the lives of Filipino children, ChildFund Philippines
has launched the undertaking of its new five-year agenda, with its main thrust
of “building pathways towards a world fit for Filipino children”.
“ChildFund has consistently worked – albeit under the
radar for the past forty years – towards the development of healthy, secure,
confident, educated, skilled and involved Filipino children and youth,” says
Katherine Manik, Executive Director of ChildFund Philippines. “For the next five
years, we aim to reduce poverty among the country’s children and youth through
strong core programs in the poorest provinces in the country.”
The five-year agenda is ChildFund’s renewed response to
problems of poverty that Filipino children face despite the country being among
the fastest growing populations in Southeast Asia.
“Poverty has substantial effects on each life stage,”
Manik shares. “Early on, poverty-stricken mothers of unborn children suffer
high maternal death rates. Upon birth, infants and children aged zero to five
years old suffer from malnutrition and delay in psychosocial and cognitive
development.
“As they grow older, school children have poor learning
outcomes and often develop low self-esteem. Their high dropout rates make them
vulnerable to difficult circumstances and limit their chances at life.
“As they mature towards adulthood, many of them become
out-of-school youths who are vulnerable to unsafe and exploitative work. These
youth grow up with limited life skills, often bringing them in conflict with
the law.”
In response to these issues, ChildFund’s five-year
agenda provides a more meaningful and intensive intervention, through
age-appropriate support programs that respond to children’s needs as they face
poverty-caused deprivation, exclusion and vulnerability issues.
“For the zero to five age group we have a program
called ‘Batang Malusog at Bibo’, which provides greater access to services and
maternal and child rearing education for mothers,” Manik says. “For the six to
fourteen age group, we provide the “Batang Matalino at Listo’ Program, which
trains teachers on child-friendly methodologies, establishes school-based child
protection mechanisms and conducts financial education workshops for children.
For the fifteen to twenty-four age group, we have the ‘Kabataang Aktibo at
Produktibo’ program, which aims to improve competencies in employment and
entrepreneurship, personality and leadership, as well as social involvement.
These three programs are supported by a crosscutting platform called ‘Batang
Protektado’, which focuses on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, emergency
response and situations of armed conflict.”
ChildFund currently has 26 partners covering around 600
barangays in 19 cities and 48 municipalities located in 25 provinces located in
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
“We’ve been here since 1971, and with our renewed
vision, ChildFund Philippines
intends to break bigger barriers and build greater milestones, with the supreme
goal of improving the lives of Filipino children amidst poverty,” Manik
concludes.
