Uplifting the Lives of Filipino Children

World Vision Philippines, an nongovernmental advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and social injustice, organized the National Stakeholder’s Summit on the Well-Being of Children (NSSWC) last Aug. 3–5.

The summit gathered individuals and groups from different branches of governments, civil societies, media, faith-bases organizations, and religious congregations for an in-depth look at the current situation of Filipino children.

Ms. Elnora Avarientos, executive director of World Vision Philippines, said in an interview that they are currently working with the Department of Health and the Department of Education with some of their projects, including some nutritional programs.

According to Ms. Avarientos, taking care of the children means that their futures are already defined and that they (World Vision) “hope to urge other institutions to do their part so we can lessen the burden of the children.”

Ms. Avarientos has already worked with the Ethiopian chapter of World Vision, and she said that she was “aghast” upon seeing the television segment of broadcast journalist Ms. Karen Davila on ABS-CBN about the plight of malnourished children in the Philippines.

For her part, Ms. Davila, a World Vision ambassador and child sponsor herself, said that education is an integral part of upholding children’s welfare and that if the children could not understand and absorb the lessons taught in school, then that is already a telltale sign of malnutrition. Ms. Davila also stressed the importance of synergism between the media and organizations such as World Vision to better inform the public of the current state of Filipino children and what they could, as citizens, do to help.

Aside from poor nutrition, topics covered in the three-day summit included the lack of early childhood care services, limited access to quality education, degradation of moral values, little participation of children in governance and community development, exposure to hazardous environments and health threats, and increasing cases of domestic violence and exploitation.

Also discussed were the ways and means to identify these major threats and how to address and/or eliminate these situations, as well as finding ways to work together for the benefit of children.

For more information regarding the NSSWC, please visit the World Vision website or call telephone number (02) 372-7777.