Our field partner in the Philippines, HONOR 1000, interviewed another batch of beneficiaries for our Manila Slum Program. To identify the second batch of beneficiaries, we visited two schools near the area. One of the Principals, Dr. Ryan, was very eager to partner with us especially when he learned that we are helping families from Ronas Garden. He shared that he himself and some of their teachers even did an enrollment campaign in Ronas Garden, where they went house to house in order to encourage parents to enroll their kids.
Dr. Ryan confirmed that students haven’t been attending school. When able, they would set a meeting with the parents to ask for reasons for the children’s absences, but often, they would get discouraged by the parent’s lack of involvement. He shared that when some children experienced earning, for example, 20 pesos in a day ($AUD .54), they tend to be content with that and choose to skip school.
Dr. Ryan and his teachers tried to “adopt a student”, ”where each teacher would give small snacks to a student of their choice to somehow help and encourage the child to consistently go to school. This didn’t last long though. Currently, Project 3 elementary school has a 16% dropout rate. This is considered very high given that public schools in the Philippines seldom fail a student except in extreme cases like zero attendance throughout the school year. Dr. Ryan believes that our educational program, coupled with parenting training, would significantly help solve this problem.
From these interviews, we found 7 girls that fit the criteria, bringing the total beneficiaries of our program to 147. (Batch 1: 70 Batch 2: 77)
As we provide monthly support for their children’s education, we want the parents to have an active role in encouraging their children to go back to school. We believe that aside from the financial help, equipping the mothers and strengthening their families through seminars and training will be a more long-term help for the community. Some of our topics for parent seminars are in line with DSWD’s Parent Effectiveness Service (PES) such as: Understanding the dynamics of the Filipino family, Parent’s Self-esteem, and Parenting Styles.
Our Partners
Lolita smiles brightly as she shows us her stock of clothes to sell. She is one of the members of our microfinance program in the Philippines.
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When we first met Jemhaima and her mother, they were loitering on the streets, begging and scavenging for food from garbage cans.
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In our commitment to extend our online awareness campaign to the Visayas region, we established a strong partnership with the Philippine National Police (PNP).
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March 8, 2024, is an eventful day for us and our Manila team as we celebrate 20 new signups to our Honor 1000 Microfinance Program!
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In light of the rising incidence of human trafficking and cybersex crimes in the Philippines, our implementing team — Honor 1000 — continues to run Cybersex and Trafficking Awareness programs throughout the country.
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We continue to empower more women through our microfinance program in the Philippines. We opened a new microfinance group in Bayan-Bayanan, one of the barangays in Dinalupihan, Bataan.
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