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Ako Ang Panday! | |||||||||||||||||
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Beyond nurturing the physical and emotional well-being of its client children, UHF envisions their becoming a part of a caring society composed of mature, productive, and empowering communities. To enhance the children's and their mothers' ability to take charge of their lives, this program was conceived as a practice in developing, planning, and executing projects that have a clear and measurable impact on the environment or the community. "Ang Panday" is the blacksmith who forges iron to make various tools and tempers the steel that is used to make strong swords. "Ang Panday" is also a hero of folk lore who has come to be associated with the savior who will bring the poor out of poverty. "Ako Ang Panday!" refers to myself as the blacksmith. It recalls that I am responsible for my life and will take charge of my own destiny. The Challenge UHF's children and mothers have been issued a challenge to respond to an identified need in their community. The process began with a series of discussions facilitated by UHF's Center Heads during which the children and the mothers were asked to review what UHF has meant to them, what it has accomplished, and what they thought still needed to be done. Additionally, they were asked what problems existed in their community and what were their ideas on how these might be resolved. At UHF's Welfareville & Calbayog Centers, the children proposed: a. In the tutorial sessions, the older or more advanced children should be asked to help those falling behind. b. A neighborhood clean up is needed. The canals should be cleared and the garbage picked up. c. There should be more sports activities and greater opportunities for play. At Bahay ni San Francisco, the children said: d. There should be no beggars on the street. e. They (the children) must stop sniffing rugby. In the meeting with the mothers, the following suggestions were made: f. The sports and play activities should include activities that the mothers can join. g. Livelihood programs were needed. UHF then met with smaller groups comprising of representatives of the children and the mothers and asked them to think about the suggestions that had been made and plan how to make these possible. The Challenge Process The children and the mothers have been organized into groups of 7 to 10 members with each group tasked to take care of a problem area, develop a solution, plan how this will be carried out and execute the same. Each plan is required to have a statement of objectives, a clear implementation plan with a specified set of outputs and, finally, measurable outcomes. Written plans were submitted by February 28, 2004. These are now undergoing review and will be formally presented by the children and the mothers to institutional stakeholders in a pledging session in March 2004. Plans are to be implemented between March 1 to August 31, 2004. In order to keep the participants' interest in the challenge process at a high level, awards will be given at various intervals during the plan implementation period: o Best Conceptualized Plan to be given out in April with plans to be judged on clarity, practicality, and stretch, i.e., ambitiousness. o Best Working Team to be given out in June to the team that best displays cohesiveness, evenness of work assignments, and team spirit. o Best Executed Plan to be given out in September with points awarded for the completion of specified outputs, the achievement of desired outcomes, the generation of community support, and the creation of institutional linkages. Monitoring System To ensure that the challenge results in a positive experience for the participants, the program includes the following other components: Training Sessions. Training workshops will be organized to hone participants' organizational and analytical skills. Focus will also be given to learning to work together, as well as, to communicating effectively. Mentoring System. A mentor will be assigned to each working team to provide coaching assistance and help keep things on track. Mentors will come from among UHF's staff and volunteers. In addition, Coaching Meetings will be organized to serve as venues for teams to learn from each other and help each other resolve problems. Pledging Sessions. Formal meetings with members or agencies of the local government units and with private sector representatives who are among the other stakeholders in the community will be arranged. These sessions will serve to broaden awareness of the projects being implemented and obtain public and private sector support for the same. Awards System. The awards system (discussed in the earlier section) seeks both to keep interest in the Challenge high and reward performing groups. Judges will be chosen from among the friends of UHF. |
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One of the children at "Bahay ni San Francisco", our day center for streetchildren presenting his group's plan. | |||||||||||||||||
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Taking Kids Off The Streets | |||||||||||||||||
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Name: | The Executive Director | ||||||||||||||||
Email: | |||||||||||||||||
uhf_manila@tri-isys.com | |||||||||||||||||
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