|PIC1|According to Joaquin since the inception of World Vision in the Philippines in 1957, it has sent over 250, 000 Filipino children to school from mostly remote communities nationwide and that at present the organization is supporting over 120, 000 children.
He said that the organization has for the past 30 years maintained its outreach in a city like Cebu in the South, through its Area Development Projects (ADP), in places like Sogod, Alcantara, Consolaction, Santander etc and is caring for about 9, 000 children there.
"World Vision's approach to development is holistic, community-based and child-focused. We work in providing children access to proper education, good health and nutrition, value formation and children's participation and leadership," Joaquin stated.
It would be noted that just last June, World Vision was able to send some 121,221 children in 33 provinces back to school under its World Vision care, despite the shortage of public schools, tuition fee hikes, and growing economic crises, and out of this number, 106,789 of them are registered under the organization's Child Sponsorship program, while the remaining 14,432 are assisted through Teach Now, a US DOL-funded project aimed at bringing back child laborers to school.
For World Vision to get these children fit and ready for school, they have to undergo an annual dental/medical checkup last summer and just a few weeks before the class opening, they were already provided with school supplies, books and uniforms.
It will be noted that to date, World Vision has continued unhindered its works in 33 provinces nationwide partnering with private, government and non-government groups to make education accessible to all children and keep them in school.
The organization strives to increase educational opportunities for the poorest of the poor children in the Philippines by addressing the causes of poverty and injustice and it believes that the only ticket out of poverty for these children and their families is education.
For this school year alone, World Vision identified some 4,500 children belonging to deeply poor families who wish to have a chance to study too, and out this number, 500 of them are now supported by existing child sponsors who decided to add one, two and even more sponsored kids. The fact remains that it is persistent in finding more sponsors for the remaining 4, 000 yet to be sponsored children.
In a related development, the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), recently partnered with World Vision for a program that articulates its corporate social responsibility vision. The program, known as "Save If Forward", offers qualified PSBank account holders an opportunity to win one of 100 scholarships for their own child or a child of their choice.
Further to that, PSBank will also match this scholarship with a corresponding child sponsorship through World Vision, in the name of each winner. The account holder may also opt to have a visually impaired child benefit from sponsorship.
Stakeholders say that, the Save It Forward campaign is unique as the incentives it offers benefit both PSBank clients and underprivileged children and that it also bridges both parties by presenting a clear and logical opportunity for PSBank customers to reach out to poor children and keep them in school.
World Vision is an international Christian development organization committed to uplift the lives of less fortunate people and communities in more than 90 countries worldwide. World Vision partners with the local people's organizations and other concerned agencies to implement projects that focus especially on the needs of children.
To know more about World Vision and its Child Sponsorship project in the Philippines log on to www.worldvision.org.ph
ASSIST NEWS