Poverty has always been a prevailing problem in the Philippines, with more than 16% of the country's population living under the poverty line. Our partnership with Gawad Kalinga (GK) was fostered on the call to improve education, health and livelihood in the country, starting with certain GK communities.
We set five key strategies to be able to reach our goals. The first was the development of capability building programs, which involved a three-fold approach to satisfy the communities areas for improvement — education, health, and livelihood. The efforts in relation to education was exhibited through raising at least 500,000 pesos to provide assistance to 64 high school students in GK Kalayaan in Gabaldon Nueva Ecija, another 10 high school students with the help of Soo Chow University. Additionally, the Ateneo facilitated 2 individuals from GK Del Rosario-Cox education in the DualTech Training Center in Canlubang and organized the distribution of educational assistance to 34 sponsored students in Cabiao. All-in-all, these efforts were guided to improve the implementation of the Kalayaan COED and to provide education assistance to other villages. In terms of health, three Health Hubs were put up in 3 GK communities — GK Blue Eagle, AAA Molave, and Del-Rosario Cox. All of which were maintained by medical students from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health who also served approximately 800 individuals from both GK and contagious communities in two health hubs in Payatas. With regard to livelihood, the community pharmacy in GK Del Rosario-Cox and the GK St Joseph store distributed dividends to at least 32 member families. Alongside the allocation of funds was the initiative to revive and start new businesses in the fields of rice retailing, photocopying services, shirt printing, dishwashing and fabric conditioner production and selling, farming and sewing projects, and the bag production with and for ADMU alumni businesses. Together, these efforts gave families in GK communities the opportunity to provide for themselves and attain their basic necessities.
The second strategy entailed building the capacities of community leaders to address their community needs not only in education, health, and livelihood, but also in leadership formation. This strategy would be attained through developing a certificate course for Community Leadership to be cascaded in other GK areas alongside the GK Foundation Team and by establishing a community governance structure of a GK Village in Culion in collaboration with "Simbahang Lingkod". For the course in Community Leadership, the Ateneo identified, organized, and oriented the first batch of 15 leaders from GK Quezon City for the pilot run in 2019. Furthermore, the university supervised development interventions of 2 Kalinga Leaders Training Program (**KLTP)** graduates who were deployed in Culion and assisted in formulating and implementing community development plans. These accomplishments led to the enhancement of the skills of community leaders and the revision of modules, which would serve as a tool for other GK communities.
The third strategy revolved around building and sustaining GK's institutional partnerships with ADMU units and strategic partners for the programs of the communities. To strengthen the relationship with GK programs, the Ateneo worked with GK QC and GK NE to run the revised community leadership program for 50 leaders from the respective communities. As to develop new partnerships for GK, the Ateneo forged the partnership between GK communities in Cabiao and two new partner schools — St. John Parochial School and Cabiao National Senior High School. On the other hand, our university's internal goal for this specific strategy was to sustain its support to GK communities and programs. This was exemplified in the university's institutionalized partnership with OSCI with MOA for student community engagement activities in GK communities. For instance, students in the Ateneo Grade School continuously support "GK Gabaldon: Paskuhan" and raise funds for GK programs. Ateneo Athletics also developed a sports program for GK communities around QC, while the PE department generated a wellness program for GK Dasmariñas. Lastly, CELADON, a student-led organization, adopted GK Pinag-isang Palad, which involves providing financial support as well as social and physical capital among others.
The next plan of action was to provide opportunities for community-based service learning and community based volunteer opportunities to promote love for God and country. For example, students in MECO, ECO, Information Design, MAC, Leadership & Strategies, ASMPH, and Senior High School conducted their own studies on GK such as the incubation of small livelihood and business projects and the audit and analysis of existing community livelihood in GK communities. Moreover, 35 Ateneo staff and students participated in building houses for Ignatian builds in GK Dasmariñas and another 50 students participated in building houses as well as facilitating activities for children in Munting Pamayanan. We also formalized the partnership with GK in building a community college in GK Enchanted — the SEED (School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development) in Angat, Bulacan, where 27 students graduated from Social Entrepreneurship and social enterprises are being conceptualized and incubated by the students at SEED.
The last strategy was centered on being able to document templates for community development and implement and replicate working models for developing empowered & sustainable communities. This was accomplished through writing the Kalayaan COED annual report and the KnK manual. We also lead in the program development of First 1000 days, including the ground work for LGUs and preparation of the communities for the pilot run in Makilala, North Cotabato & Davao City.
All things considered, these initiatives are aimed to bring the country one step closer to alleviating poverty through GK communities, which could later on be implemented in many more communities in the Philippines.