Living in the slums along the congested Quezon Boulevard east of Davao City is a daily struggle. Every evening, “Aida”, not her real name, who turned 19 has to go fishing with her father at the Davao Gulf or else they have to starve the following day. They share a one-room makeshift house with her pregnant sister “Angel”, 16. Her mother left for Saudi to work as domestic helper when Aida was 14 where she sent about P4,000 from her monthly salary of P8,000. Their lives became hard when their mother stopped sending them money after two years for unknown reason.
Aida’s father was severely affected by the situation that he turned to alcohol and gambling while Aida and little Angel were forced to stop schooling and had to tend for themselves. Income from fishing was barely enough for their daily needs so Aida had to augment their income by selling cigarettes, candies, bottles and Sampaguita flowers in the streets of the city. She learned how to smoke cigarettes, steal, sniff solvent and fight with other gang members. No day was complete without riots and gang wars that involved Aida. Later Angel joined the fray.
One night a leader of a rival all-female gang came to offer a truce. She invited Aida and her members to join them have fun with their video games and Internet surfing instead of fighting. They were told that money was easy in the Internet by just showing their private parts in front of the camera. They went inside a dimly-lighted computer café in the downtown area and into a tiny cubicle with a computer unit. She was told that many café had such types of cubicles and were frequented by young students. For sometime her sister Angel and some members of her gang had made computer café as their hideout.
In 2006, Aida joined the NAKAMATA, an organization of street girls under the Tambayan Center for the Care of Abused Children in Davao which had a community organizer in the area. “At first I was hesitant because I thought Tambayan would scold me and turn me over to the police for being a gang leader,” Aida said. NAKAMATA staged a theater presentation during the launching of the anti-child pornography campaign in the city on December 12, 2006 where Aida was a cast. Later she attended a seminar for children in conflict with the law (CICL) about child pornography sponsored by Tambayan and Anti-Child Pornography Group Davao which discussed the extent of the dangers of the Internet to children, among other topics.
Aida said, “Through the seminar I was able to connect my first experience with the Internet to our campaign against child pornography that is happening undetected in many Internet café in the city and to help inform the children about its dangers.” The clamor for the Internet Service Providers and café owners to address the issue of child pornography had been great that the Internet Café Association of Davao (ICAD) voluntarily dismantled their cubicles and posted anti-pornographic signs in their establishments. The campaign also encouraged the city government to tighten their watch against unscrupulous businessmen selling pornographic materials in the streets that were visible to youth and children. The nearby cities of Panabo, Tagum and IGACOS slowly followed suit also.
“I’m very grateful to Tambayan and UNICEF for giving me an opportunity to change my life and in protecting children from being victimized in the Internet and hi-tech cellular phones”, she concluded.
Aida became a delegate to a children’s educational exchange program in Colombia, South America in 2007 and now a volunteer children organizer for Tambayan Center.
Tambayan Center is a member of the Anti-Child Pornography Group-Davao that is spearheading the anti-child pornography campaign in the city and other selected areas of Mindanao under the support of UNICEF.
Prepared for the ACP Group Davao by: Emmanuel C. Roldan, Kabataan Consortium, Inc.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Project Implementation Report Dec. 2007-Oct. 2008
Executive Summary
This report covers the implementation of the project from December 2007 to October 30, 2008. It is unfortunate that only a few activities were held in the early part of the year because the fund for the project was released in September 2008 only. Moreover, there was a twist in the project because Kabataan Consortium was requested by UNICEF to act as conduit of funds for eight CNSP projects of NGOs in Davao City in the middle of the year. Before, such projects went through the local government unit of Davao City. As such, the Project Cooperation Agreement between UNICEF and Kabataan was amended to download the sum of Php 596,500 for these projects of four NGOs, namely: Tambayan Center, Talikala, UCCP Pag-ugmad sa Kabataan and Kaugmaon Foundation. Incidentally, three of these NGOs are members of the consortium and the protection committee of the Council for the Welfare of Children of Davao City.
The campaign on anti-child pornography is initially for two years and carries two main components, namely: Prevention-Advocacy Action, and Intervention-Protection Action. With the addition of Davao-NGOs’ CNSP projects for 2008, this report therefore covers also the results of the implementation of these projects.
In summary, the project main anti-child pornography component was only about 40 percent implemented due basically to the late release of funds. Those projects being implemented by members using their own funds for the period included: education seminars for the education and LGU sectors; and, monitoring/assessment and evaluations. When funds for the project were available another education seminars were conducted for CNSP and education sectors.
On the other hand, the CNSP component of the project garnered a 50 percent accomplishment rate during the period. Only three of the six projects due for implementation were carried out because also of the delay and the heavy schedule during the Children’s Month celebration. Activities had to be postponed to later dates as a result to this.
Aside from the usual inputs on the situation and content of child pornography, the education seminars also delved into the discussion of the proposed pending anti-child pornography bill in congress that was furnished by UNICEF. About 700 participants composed of barangay officials and functionaries, teachers, students and school workers attended these seminars during the period. Scheduled for future implementation are area forums in cities, education seminars for barangays, CNSP, church and FBOs and with the business sector.
These seminars had provided them insights into the ongoing campaign and the seriousness of the problem of child pornography in the country and in the whole world. It also raised their interest in supporting the passage of anti-child pornography law in congress as a new protection issue of children. On the other hand, it was discovered in the course of studying the situation of pornography in the city, that Davao City had an ordinance against pornographic materials way back in 2000. Consequently, an amendment of such ordinance was even introduced in 2002 to include other offenses to be penalized under it. This ordinance will be integrated also in the future education activities for various sectors not only in Davao but to other cities in Mindanao as well. It is most likely that the Anti-Child Pornography Group-Davao will continue implementing the project until the first quarter of 2009. It may also be supporting the summit of internet service providers and establishments and the Internet Café Association of Davao (ICAD) that is scheduled in November.
Moreover, the CNSP projects also provided better prevention and protection services and initiatives to children from further abuse and exploitation. A total of 80 participants composed of barangay officials, and prostituted youth and children attended the BCPC-related activities such as awareness and commitment building, community leadership, etc., and the life skills education seminars conducted by Tambayan and Talikala, respectively.
Main Achievements
A. Prevention Advocacy Action
1. Area Forums and Meetings - Two (2) sets of area forums were conducted in Davao City during the period in October 2008 attended by 50 participants from various barangays and officials. Most of the participants were from women-parents and health sectors with the aim raising their interest on the issue of child pornography in the country and in their respective communities. Such forums were a sort of waking call for them because practically most of the participants were not aware of the issue. Some of them thought that going to internet cafes was safe for their children as well as the usual practice of exchanging pictures of their children in scantily clothing or in the nude with their Kumares, relatives and friends. Not only after these forums that they realized to be careful for letting their children to internet café. In short, they have become more responsible and we hope that they will share their learning to other parents and women. One set of forum will be implemented in November to meet the target of the project for 2008.
2. Education Seminars
During the period, three (3) LGU-Barangay education seminars were conducted in Davao City with a total of 330 participants mostly barangay officials and functionaries. This is about 60 percent achievement considering that the target for the year is five seminars. Participants came from various identified disparity barangays of the city as well as those in far-flung barangays of District 2 of Davao City whose children either study or migrate to the city to find work and become at risk from various forms of violence. They fled their barangays because of poverty, lack of job opportunities and to escape from poor peace and order situation. Just like in forums, the seminars also discussed more lengthily on the proposed anti-child pornography bill now pending in congress. All barangay officials who joined the seminars promised to pass their own local resolutions in support to the said bill. They also expressed appreciation to the organizers and to UNICEF for giving them materials and rare opportunity to help in curbing this once “hidden” protection issue of children. They are now aware also of the risk of their children being abused in the cyberspace and vowed to monitor the operations of internet café within their juridical boundaries. Only a few days ago, the city government of Tagum also made a move to dismantle the cubicles of internet café because of reported cases of abuse inside these establishments. This is what we call ripple effect of our advocacy against child pornography because some officials and NGO workers of that city and adjoining cities of Panabo and Digos attended in some of our previous forums and given some IEC materials about the issue. In retrospect, mid last year, law enforcers confiscated all lewd DVC, VCD and magazines sold in the major streets of Davao City. Until now such situation continues although we hear rumors every now and then about x-rated CDs, DVDs being sold discreetly all over the city.
On the other hand, two (2) education seminars were conducted for the education sector participated in by about 275, principals, teaching and non-teaching staff in the city. One was in December 10 in time for the celebration of the international human rights day and the other in August 2008. Such seminars for the education sector are very important because the teachers, aside from being an effective communicator on the issue, are the ones giving research assignments to their students that require the use of the internet. After the seminars, teachers have become more careful in giving instructions for the use of the internet and have given inputs as to the dangers of abuse in the internet. In fact, some schools with IT department encouraged their students to use their schools’ computers for research work. They also warned the parents to be vigilant of the actuations of their children to prevent them from being victimized in the net. Some teachers even mentioned of updating their school manuals to include the issue of the dangers of the use of new technologies, not only computers but also digital cameras, cell phones, etc., as well as the issue on corporal punishment in school as mentioned in the UN global study on VAC.
3. CNSP projects
Three (3) out of six (6) projects for implementation until October 30, 2008 were implemented. These were:
a) Awareness and Commitment Building Session – This was the first of a series of three-phase training to raise the capability of selected BCPC and to become effective tool to protect the rights of children in the barangay. This was held on August 2008 and attended by 30 barangay officials and functionaries in five (5) disparity barangays in Davao City. This was conducted by Tambayan Center and the module being used was the Child Hope Curriculum. Tambayan and Kabataan Consortium attended the trainer’s training sponsored by Child Hope in 2006. Such curriculum was also proposed to the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) in Davao City as a strategy to strengthen BCPC.
b) Community and Leadership Enhancement Skills Training – This was the second of the series of the training for BCPC members of five (5) disparity barangays attended by 30 participants. This was held in the early part of October 2008. This particular phase helped in enhancing the skills of BCPC members in various work and initiatives for children so that they would be ready to handle cases of children in their own barangays. The training was conducted by Tambayan Center.
c) Life Skills Education for Prostituted Youth and Children – This was held in the end of October 2008 and participated by 20 children in the situation of prostitution in Davao City and members of Lawig Bubai. Some of them were daughters of survivors of prostitution while the others came from other provinces of Davao region. The participants who were all females learned techniques and ways to be active participants for their own protection, avoiding and responding to risks and promotion of their rights. This was conducted by Talikala.
4. Network Building
ACP Group-Davao was intact until the middle of 2008 when the Executive Director of Balay Pasilungan (BAPAS) was recalled by his superior in Canada. Because of this, the direction of BAPAS seemed to return back to its residential services for orphan-boys in Davao City. However, while waiting for the funds from UNICEF for various anti-pornography activities, the group has been active in the formation of the Mindanao Convenor’s Against Corporal Punishment (MCCoP) which also carries a similar important and emerging protection issue of children. The group also tries to link with the Internet Café Association of Davao (ICAD) and the ICA Board that have special roles in the proposed anti-child pornography bill. An Internet Café Summit is scheduled in November 14 and hopefully, the said bill would be discussed in this forum or other gathering of internet providers and establishments.
5. Monitoring and Evaluation
The group was able to conduct a year-end evaluation in February 2008, one assessment and evaluation in March-April and mid-year evaluation when the new Agreement was about to be signed in July. Such activities enabled the group to discuss its strengths and weaknesses and to revise its plans for the year. Aside from these, informal meetings with members of the group were done every now and them especially with regard to the status of the project with the UNICEF and in other campaigns and activities for the year that members were involved in.
Constraints and Opportunities
As what was observed during the first quarter of implementation of the project, the main constraint was the delay in the release of funds. The delay was more pronounced during the period under review because of various reasons at the national level which were beyond the control of the ACP Group-Davao. Such delays caused the postponement of the original timetable of the project and even choice of areas, schools and sectors covered by the same. Furthermore, some local partners who participated in the previous year’s activities were not already there or were busy with their own advocacy agenda on children and other sectors. The group failed also to monitor them so there may be a need to conduct a TOT again, to integrate other new findings and strategies, for the future campaign plans.
Another constraint was the dissociation of Balay Pasilungan to the ACP Group-Davao because of the recall of Bro. Richard. All their activities would be shared to other members thus the need to re-schedule and to re-enforce themselves to cover the areas assigned to BAPAS.
On the other hand, an opportunity that cropped up was the passage of a bill against child pornography that guided the group and other stakeholders in the better understanding of the issue on child pornography. The passage of local ordinances or resolutions in support to the national law is a visible indicator of their participation in the campaign. The delay of the release of funds also helped the group in giving attention to the anti-corporal punishment campaign in Mindanao which based its action also from the UN global study on VAC by Prof. Paulo Pinhiero.
Lessons Learned
The group could not identify substantial lessons learned from the activities conducted during the period. The activities went well as planned, albeit with constraints, due to the skills, dedication and active network of the implementing members.
Future Activities
The following are yet to be implemented until the end of the year and/or early next year:
Activities**
Concerned Member
Proposed Schedule*
CNSP Projects
Project Dev’t/Project Proposal Preparation Skills Enhancement
Tambayan
Nov. 2008
Life Skills Education for Prostituted Youth and Children
Talikala
Nov. 19-20, 2008
Life Skills Module Training for CAR and CNSP
UCCP-PKC
Nov. end
Life Skills Education among Child Laborer
Kaugmaon
Nov. 3-5
Community Education on Anti-Child Trafficking
Talikala
Nov. end
ACP Projects
Area Forums and Meetings (1)
Kabataan
Education Seminar-LGU Cities and Municipalities
Kabataan
Education Seminar-LGU Barangays
Kabataan, Tambayan, Talikala
Education Seminar-Education Sector
Talikala
Education Seminar-CNSP (1)
Kabataan (BAPAS)
Education Seminar-Church Sector (1)
Tambayan (BAPAS)
Education Seminar-Business Sector (1)
Kabataan
* to be planned
** to be further verified
Prepared and submitted by:
EMMANUEL C. ROLDAN Date: 30 October 2008
Executive DirectorKabataan Consortium, Inc.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
This report covers the implementation of the project from December 2007 to October 30, 2008. It is unfortunate that only a few activities were held in the early part of the year because the fund for the project was released in September 2008 only. Moreover, there was a twist in the project because Kabataan Consortium was requested by UNICEF to act as conduit of funds for eight CNSP projects of NGOs in Davao City in the middle of the year. Before, such projects went through the local government unit of Davao City. As such, the Project Cooperation Agreement between UNICEF and Kabataan was amended to download the sum of Php 596,500 for these projects of four NGOs, namely: Tambayan Center, Talikala, UCCP Pag-ugmad sa Kabataan and Kaugmaon Foundation. Incidentally, three of these NGOs are members of the consortium and the protection committee of the Council for the Welfare of Children of Davao City.
The campaign on anti-child pornography is initially for two years and carries two main components, namely: Prevention-Advocacy Action, and Intervention-Protection Action. With the addition of Davao-NGOs’ CNSP projects for 2008, this report therefore covers also the results of the implementation of these projects.
In summary, the project main anti-child pornography component was only about 40 percent implemented due basically to the late release of funds. Those projects being implemented by members using their own funds for the period included: education seminars for the education and LGU sectors; and, monitoring/assessment and evaluations. When funds for the project were available another education seminars were conducted for CNSP and education sectors.
On the other hand, the CNSP component of the project garnered a 50 percent accomplishment rate during the period. Only three of the six projects due for implementation were carried out because also of the delay and the heavy schedule during the Children’s Month celebration. Activities had to be postponed to later dates as a result to this.
Aside from the usual inputs on the situation and content of child pornography, the education seminars also delved into the discussion of the proposed pending anti-child pornography bill in congress that was furnished by UNICEF. About 700 participants composed of barangay officials and functionaries, teachers, students and school workers attended these seminars during the period. Scheduled for future implementation are area forums in cities, education seminars for barangays, CNSP, church and FBOs and with the business sector.
These seminars had provided them insights into the ongoing campaign and the seriousness of the problem of child pornography in the country and in the whole world. It also raised their interest in supporting the passage of anti-child pornography law in congress as a new protection issue of children. On the other hand, it was discovered in the course of studying the situation of pornography in the city, that Davao City had an ordinance against pornographic materials way back in 2000. Consequently, an amendment of such ordinance was even introduced in 2002 to include other offenses to be penalized under it. This ordinance will be integrated also in the future education activities for various sectors not only in Davao but to other cities in Mindanao as well. It is most likely that the Anti-Child Pornography Group-Davao will continue implementing the project until the first quarter of 2009. It may also be supporting the summit of internet service providers and establishments and the Internet Café Association of Davao (ICAD) that is scheduled in November.
Moreover, the CNSP projects also provided better prevention and protection services and initiatives to children from further abuse and exploitation. A total of 80 participants composed of barangay officials, and prostituted youth and children attended the BCPC-related activities such as awareness and commitment building, community leadership, etc., and the life skills education seminars conducted by Tambayan and Talikala, respectively.
Main Achievements
A. Prevention Advocacy Action
1. Area Forums and Meetings - Two (2) sets of area forums were conducted in Davao City during the period in October 2008 attended by 50 participants from various barangays and officials. Most of the participants were from women-parents and health sectors with the aim raising their interest on the issue of child pornography in the country and in their respective communities. Such forums were a sort of waking call for them because practically most of the participants were not aware of the issue. Some of them thought that going to internet cafes was safe for their children as well as the usual practice of exchanging pictures of their children in scantily clothing or in the nude with their Kumares, relatives and friends. Not only after these forums that they realized to be careful for letting their children to internet café. In short, they have become more responsible and we hope that they will share their learning to other parents and women. One set of forum will be implemented in November to meet the target of the project for 2008.
2. Education Seminars
During the period, three (3) LGU-Barangay education seminars were conducted in Davao City with a total of 330 participants mostly barangay officials and functionaries. This is about 60 percent achievement considering that the target for the year is five seminars. Participants came from various identified disparity barangays of the city as well as those in far-flung barangays of District 2 of Davao City whose children either study or migrate to the city to find work and become at risk from various forms of violence. They fled their barangays because of poverty, lack of job opportunities and to escape from poor peace and order situation. Just like in forums, the seminars also discussed more lengthily on the proposed anti-child pornography bill now pending in congress. All barangay officials who joined the seminars promised to pass their own local resolutions in support to the said bill. They also expressed appreciation to the organizers and to UNICEF for giving them materials and rare opportunity to help in curbing this once “hidden” protection issue of children. They are now aware also of the risk of their children being abused in the cyberspace and vowed to monitor the operations of internet café within their juridical boundaries. Only a few days ago, the city government of Tagum also made a move to dismantle the cubicles of internet café because of reported cases of abuse inside these establishments. This is what we call ripple effect of our advocacy against child pornography because some officials and NGO workers of that city and adjoining cities of Panabo and Digos attended in some of our previous forums and given some IEC materials about the issue. In retrospect, mid last year, law enforcers confiscated all lewd DVC, VCD and magazines sold in the major streets of Davao City. Until now such situation continues although we hear rumors every now and then about x-rated CDs, DVDs being sold discreetly all over the city.
On the other hand, two (2) education seminars were conducted for the education sector participated in by about 275, principals, teaching and non-teaching staff in the city. One was in December 10 in time for the celebration of the international human rights day and the other in August 2008. Such seminars for the education sector are very important because the teachers, aside from being an effective communicator on the issue, are the ones giving research assignments to their students that require the use of the internet. After the seminars, teachers have become more careful in giving instructions for the use of the internet and have given inputs as to the dangers of abuse in the internet. In fact, some schools with IT department encouraged their students to use their schools’ computers for research work. They also warned the parents to be vigilant of the actuations of their children to prevent them from being victimized in the net. Some teachers even mentioned of updating their school manuals to include the issue of the dangers of the use of new technologies, not only computers but also digital cameras, cell phones, etc., as well as the issue on corporal punishment in school as mentioned in the UN global study on VAC.
3. CNSP projects
Three (3) out of six (6) projects for implementation until October 30, 2008 were implemented. These were:
a) Awareness and Commitment Building Session – This was the first of a series of three-phase training to raise the capability of selected BCPC and to become effective tool to protect the rights of children in the barangay. This was held on August 2008 and attended by 30 barangay officials and functionaries in five (5) disparity barangays in Davao City. This was conducted by Tambayan Center and the module being used was the Child Hope Curriculum. Tambayan and Kabataan Consortium attended the trainer’s training sponsored by Child Hope in 2006. Such curriculum was also proposed to the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) in Davao City as a strategy to strengthen BCPC.
b) Community and Leadership Enhancement Skills Training – This was the second of the series of the training for BCPC members of five (5) disparity barangays attended by 30 participants. This was held in the early part of October 2008. This particular phase helped in enhancing the skills of BCPC members in various work and initiatives for children so that they would be ready to handle cases of children in their own barangays. The training was conducted by Tambayan Center.
c) Life Skills Education for Prostituted Youth and Children – This was held in the end of October 2008 and participated by 20 children in the situation of prostitution in Davao City and members of Lawig Bubai. Some of them were daughters of survivors of prostitution while the others came from other provinces of Davao region. The participants who were all females learned techniques and ways to be active participants for their own protection, avoiding and responding to risks and promotion of their rights. This was conducted by Talikala.
4. Network Building
ACP Group-Davao was intact until the middle of 2008 when the Executive Director of Balay Pasilungan (BAPAS) was recalled by his superior in Canada. Because of this, the direction of BAPAS seemed to return back to its residential services for orphan-boys in Davao City. However, while waiting for the funds from UNICEF for various anti-pornography activities, the group has been active in the formation of the Mindanao Convenor’s Against Corporal Punishment (MCCoP) which also carries a similar important and emerging protection issue of children. The group also tries to link with the Internet Café Association of Davao (ICAD) and the ICA Board that have special roles in the proposed anti-child pornography bill. An Internet Café Summit is scheduled in November 14 and hopefully, the said bill would be discussed in this forum or other gathering of internet providers and establishments.
5. Monitoring and Evaluation
The group was able to conduct a year-end evaluation in February 2008, one assessment and evaluation in March-April and mid-year evaluation when the new Agreement was about to be signed in July. Such activities enabled the group to discuss its strengths and weaknesses and to revise its plans for the year. Aside from these, informal meetings with members of the group were done every now and them especially with regard to the status of the project with the UNICEF and in other campaigns and activities for the year that members were involved in.
Constraints and Opportunities
As what was observed during the first quarter of implementation of the project, the main constraint was the delay in the release of funds. The delay was more pronounced during the period under review because of various reasons at the national level which were beyond the control of the ACP Group-Davao. Such delays caused the postponement of the original timetable of the project and even choice of areas, schools and sectors covered by the same. Furthermore, some local partners who participated in the previous year’s activities were not already there or were busy with their own advocacy agenda on children and other sectors. The group failed also to monitor them so there may be a need to conduct a TOT again, to integrate other new findings and strategies, for the future campaign plans.
Another constraint was the dissociation of Balay Pasilungan to the ACP Group-Davao because of the recall of Bro. Richard. All their activities would be shared to other members thus the need to re-schedule and to re-enforce themselves to cover the areas assigned to BAPAS.
On the other hand, an opportunity that cropped up was the passage of a bill against child pornography that guided the group and other stakeholders in the better understanding of the issue on child pornography. The passage of local ordinances or resolutions in support to the national law is a visible indicator of their participation in the campaign. The delay of the release of funds also helped the group in giving attention to the anti-corporal punishment campaign in Mindanao which based its action also from the UN global study on VAC by Prof. Paulo Pinhiero.
Lessons Learned
The group could not identify substantial lessons learned from the activities conducted during the period. The activities went well as planned, albeit with constraints, due to the skills, dedication and active network of the implementing members.
Future Activities
The following are yet to be implemented until the end of the year and/or early next year:
Activities**
Concerned Member
Proposed Schedule*
CNSP Projects
Project Dev’t/Project Proposal Preparation Skills Enhancement
Tambayan
Nov. 2008
Life Skills Education for Prostituted Youth and Children
Talikala
Nov. 19-20, 2008
Life Skills Module Training for CAR and CNSP
UCCP-PKC
Nov. end
Life Skills Education among Child Laborer
Kaugmaon
Nov. 3-5
Community Education on Anti-Child Trafficking
Talikala
Nov. end
ACP Projects
Area Forums and Meetings (1)
Kabataan
Education Seminar-LGU Cities and Municipalities
Kabataan
Education Seminar-LGU Barangays
Kabataan, Tambayan, Talikala
Education Seminar-Education Sector
Talikala
Education Seminar-CNSP (1)
Kabataan (BAPAS)
Education Seminar-Church Sector (1)
Tambayan (BAPAS)
Education Seminar-Business Sector (1)
Kabataan
* to be planned
** to be further verified
Prepared and submitted by:
EMMANUEL C. ROLDAN Date: 30 October 2008
Executive DirectorKabataan Consortium, Inc.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
June-November 2007 AC Porno Summary Report
Executive Summary
This report covers part of the first semester’s implementation of the project which started on 1 June 2007. It summarizes the main achievements of the project in terms of changing people’s perception and attitude toward the issue of child pornography, a slowly rising protection issue in the country from June 1 to November 15, 2007.
The project comes as a result of the Mindanao Regional Conference on Child Pornography held on June 22-23, 2006 in Davao City sponsored by UNICEF. Four local organizations, namely Talikala, Tambayan, Balay Pasilungan and Kabataan Consortium took the challenge of spearheading a campaign to combat child pornography in Davao City and other selected areas in Mindanao. The campaign is initially for two years and carries two main components, namely Prevention-Advocacy Action, and Intervention-Protection Action.
By and large, the project was about 40% implementation level despite the delay in the actual release of funds due to some technical constraints. All of these activities had reached a total of 1,067 participants from the target sectors, namely; child rights advocates and workers, children and young people, education and professional sectors, LGU officials and functionaries, church and other sectors. Some activities are on-going as of this writing and may reach up to 70% by the end of November.
The trainings on ACP have provided the participants with enough inputs to become effective advocates for children’s rights, particularly on child pornography. Likewise, participants acquired skills and strategies in handling the campaign on their own with their peers and respective groups and communities.
On the other hand, the various types of seminars and area forums have indeed raised the level of awareness of participants, particularly those who are not particularly knowledgeable on children’s rights issue. These somehow sparked some interest to commit their time and resources for the campaign in their areas or sectors.
Policy advocacy and networking have not been attended to during the period although some efforts were made on crafting a local legislation on ACP and a report format for members of ACP Group-Davao and eventually for the ACPA. Meanwhile, membership of ACP Group-Davao has expanded to include participants of various activities.
Direct services by members of the ACP Group-Davao continued. They provided care and support to about 100 children, young people and women and assisted in strengthening their respective organizations like sponsoring their field trips, study sessions, general assemblies and cultural presentations.
The project was not smoothly implemented though because of some constraints such as the delay in the release of funds, conduct of the barangay elections, reluctance of early graduates of TOT to become resource persons, etc. However, the situation also provided opportunities for the ACP Group-Davao to devise strategies to respond to these difficult challenges.
Main Achievements
Kabataan Consortium and project implementing organizations after submitting the project proposal to UNICEF have formed themselves into Anti-Child Pornography Group-Davao (ACP Group-Davao) to differentiate them with other children advocacy networks existing in Davao City. This group has been the main implementor of the project and responsible for its performance.
It is worthwhile to note that some activities such as the barangay and school forums and table discussions were conducted from June to July 2007 prior to the arrival of UNICEF’s funds in September. This was done because of the clamor of participants of the January 2007 trainer’s training on ACP and requests of various sectors who attended the campaign launching in December 2006. Below are the highlights and comments of the programs and activities of the project during the period under review:
A. Prevention Advocacy Action
1. Training of Trainer (TOT) -- Four out of eight trainings slated for June-December 2007 were conducted among children and young people, and child rights advocates and workers. These involved a total of 115 participants mostly from Davao City and provinces. The remaining unimplemented TOTs as of this moment are for barangay officials and functionaries that would be handled by Balay Pasilungan and for the education and professional sectors by Kabataan Consortium. BAPAS had to postpone the training because of the October 29 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections that led to many changes in personalities and functionaries in the barangay. On the other hand, another TOT is presently conducted as of this writing by Kabataan Consortium.
The TOT has been an effective tool for participants to become active advocates not on the general issue of child abuse, but more so in this particular protection issue of child pornography. It has been observed that many realizations cropped up after the TOTs that somehow changed the mindset of participants. Before the training, most participants usually lumped up child pornography as part of trafficking and child abuse that could be remedied by existing laws. Participants became more analytical in understanding child abuse and realized that they had neglected child pornography as a pressing legitimate protection issue of children in the country. The vital statistics and data on the issue helped them understand the extent and breadth of the problem and their role as child advocates to solve, if not to contain it. On the part of children and young people themselves, the TOT somehow gave them competence they needed to be conversant on the issue. Moreover, it also provided them with a sense of fulfillment to be part of the campaign knowing that they and their peers might become victims of child pornography and other forms of abuse. “This is a way of exercising our right to participation in solving our own problem”, said one of the participants. On the other hand, almost all child rights advocates and people in the education and business sector were very interested in taking part of the campaign especially because of its “pioneering” nature and the “preventability” of such crime. Although it is true that tracking the criminals and even identifying victims of child pornography is a problem, the challenge it poses is so great and worth the effort. Many advocates agree that this advocacy indeed needs a new strategy especially on technological aspect in order to succeed. Police work on combating child pornography is also appealing to them. Lastly, some participants from the women sector were already preparing and scheduling plans for re-echo seminars of their organizations.
2. Area Forums and Meetings -- Only one out of five area forums/meetings attended by 53 participants was conducted from September to November 15, 2007. The other four forums were scheduled in the later part of November for Iligan City, General Santos City and other parts of South Cotabato. The forum in Davao in October 29 was seen as an extension of various meetings, informal discussions and conferences by various ACP Group Davao members in their respective areas after the December 12, 2006 ACP Campaign Launching at Grand Menseng Hotel.
This activity showed to the public that the campaign was in full swing not only in the city but also in other cities and provinces as well. Perhaps the biggest indirect positive effect of these awareness-raising activities by the ACP Group-Davao was the move of the City Government of Davao City to confiscate and to prohibit the sale of lewd VCD/DVD and other pornographic materials in the streets of Davao City after the May 2007 national and local elections. Before the massive operations by joint members of the Crime Intervention and Detection Group (CIDG), Women and Children’s Desks of the Davao City Police Office, pornographic materials were openly sold in the streets of the city. While it is true that such deplorable billion-peso trade cannot be solved overnight, the action of the LGU is an inspiration to all child-rights advocates that running after big pornographic traders may not be impossible after all. It may not have given a dent to the operations of those who profit from pornography but the message is clear enough for them to worry about further exploiting children in this part of the country.
3. Education Seminar (LGU City, Municipalities and Barangay and Education and Other Sectors) – Eight out of 17 education seminars were conducted with a total of 899 participants during the period. Two of the biggest crowds were the seminars in Davao City and Tulunan, North Cotabato, with 181 and 179 participants, respectively. In attendance were the Municipal Mayor, members of Sangguniang Bayan and representatives of schools, PNP, social welfare office, barangay officials and women’s organizations. Other nine (9) education seminars are scheduled in the later part of November and December 2007.
Majority of the participants of these seminars agreed that the topic was indeed new to them. Some of them realized that it was high time to put a stop to child pornography and to police or to regulate the operations of internet cafes, VCD/DVD suppliers, visiting tourists, recruitment agencies and individuals that might be soliciting the services of children for pornography. Moreover, the government sector representatives had vowed to look into their local legislations to further prevent child abuse especially on child pornography. The church sector also committed their respective churches to work for the education of families about the issue and integrating child abuse and pornography in homilies, church instructions and Evangelization activities of their respective churches. On the other hand, the education sector had seen no problem of integrating the issue of child pornography along other protection issues of children such as corporal punishment, sexual abuse, trafficking, child prostitution and the like. By and large, the education seminars had opened new doors and possibilities of bringing child pornography to the consciousness of a greater number of people in the target areas of the campaign.
4. Policy Advocacy – There was no tangible results yet as regards local legislation on child pornography in Davao City. The most that the project had achieved so far was the discussion of the Anti-Child Pornography Bill now pending in congress at seminars, training and conferences. The said bill was discussed during the meeting in Manila on the proposed ACPA and the ACP Group-Davao had given its commitment to work in the local level for the early passage of the said proposed law.
Another point that was raised on policy advocacy was to come up with a draft of a localized version of the national bill. This was mentioned because of the idea that perhaps the passage of a local ordinance or a resolution on child pornography by an LGU, say Davao City, might trigger a ripple effect for the early passage of the national law. The idea came just after the May 2007 election when Sara Duterte became Vice-Mayor of Davao City who gave indication of pro-children stance of her administration and Davao City being a CPC-6 area.
Documentation was also an issue raised as regards advocacy. The ACP Group-Davao is now trying to device a kind of a reporting form or intake sheet on child pornography that can be used by all campaign partners. This form may also be recommended for use by all ACPA members.
5. Network Building – So far the ACP Group-Davao has not expanded to other areas but its membership in the city is increasing after the TOT’s and other seminars. It is projected that a Mindanao Multi-Sectoral ACP Alliance may be realized at the middle or last quarter of 2008. By then the ACPA-National shall have been operational also.
6. Monitoring and Evaluation – Evaluation is always done after each activity. The ACP Group-Davao also meets every month to look at the development of the project vis-à-vis its objectives and expected outcomes for the period. A six-month assessment shall be scheduled at the end of December or during the first two weeks of January 2008 to determine the main achievements and failures of the project’s first semester implementation.
B. Intervention-Protection Action
1. Direct Services – During the period, implementing organization-members and partners of the ACP Group-Davao continued to give direct services to children who were victims of abuse, exploitation and neglect. Such services include:
(a) Rescue and counseling – At least 6 children where reportedly given counseling services by Talikala and Tambayan. Most of them were CSEC and CICL in Davao City.
(b) Medical and legal care – Kabataan through its member organizations had facilitated medical and dental services that benefited 25 children under their care. Balay Pasilungan had also provided medical services to children at Barangay 5-A and other barangays they operate while Luna Legal Resource Center had continued assisting about 10 CICL and 5 women-victims of abuse during the period.
(c) Half-way centers – All ACP Group-Davao members with half-way home care continued to provide services to at least 58 children and young people in Davao City.
2. Organizational Development – ACP Group-Davao members had also helped in strengthening the organizations of children and young people. Such organizations included the NAKAMATA of Tambayan, Lawig Bubai of Talikala, HOPE of METSA, and Teen Center of FPOP, among other members. The group supported their general assemblies, training, meetings, camping and mobilizations during the period.
Constraints and Opportunities
One of the main constraints of the project implementation was the late release of funds from UNICEF. The group expected that the funds would be available starting June or July or even earlier but the assistance was finally received in September which led to the review and revision
of activities of most members of the ACP Group-Davao. As every child rights advocate knows, the second semester of the year is a very hectic one. The year 2007 was no different from the previous years so many ACP activities had to be done double time until the end of the year.
The second constraint was the reluctance of some graduates of the first batch of trainer’s training for ACP Group-Davao members in January 2006 to facilitate their activities on their own, especially on the TOTs. This was so because of the time gap between their training and the actual “re-echo” of what they learned from that training in January. As a consequence, the convenor’s head of office and key staff had to take the podium and stage as facilitators and resource persons of TOTs and big gatherings. However, it is worthwhile to note that the new graduates of TOTs, including those participated in by children, young people and women were eager to do the activities on their own.
The third constraint that led to many postponements and adjustments of schedule was the conduct of the barangay and SK elections. Many of the activities of the project involved barangay functionaries and communities so some of them had to be moved to the later part of the year.
However, all of these also opened some opportunities for the ACP Group-Davao to be more effective in the actual conduct of the campaign in the future. For one thing, it was realized that many groups such as those in the academe and the church sector were just waiting for a group to spearhead such a campaign to be involved. They thought that pornography only took a backstage against trafficking, prostitution and other “well-known” protection issues of children. Furthermore, many local officials also showed interest on the issue that was they say “hidden” in the closet by cultural and other reasons.
Another opportunity was the conduct of the barangay election giving fresh mandate to LGU officials, especially in the barangays that ensures continuity of the discussion and action on the issue for the next three year of their term.
Lessons Learned
Some lessons can be derived from the results of the activities. One is the conduct of the TOT as stepping stone of the campaign. The first batch of TOT involving members of the ACP Group-Davao in January 2007 somehow prepared everyone for the big task ahead although it was not certain then what would happen if such kind of activities be conducted with various sectors and communities. Of course there was a certain reluctance of some graduates of the said TOT to be on board in big activities, but the result of the succeeding TOTs was promising.
It is also a lesson for the ACP Group-Davao to have involved the children and young people in the campaign. Knowing them to be energetic, albeit more vulnerable to abuse, their acquired knowledge and attitude have made them more credible advocate on the issue of child pornography.
Furthermore, the sharing of responsibilities and resources among members of the ACP Group-Davao is a good experience to be replicated in similar campaign in the future. Each member takes care of its responsibilities according to its capacity and process without veering too much to the objectives and expected outcomes of the project.
Moreover, the decision to expand the campaign to other key cities and municipalities in Mindanao is just proper considering economic crisis of the country and the rapid advancement of information technology of the world that increases the vulnerability of children from abuse. The extent of rapid advancement goes beyond Davao City so bringing and raising the awareness of the people of other places on the issue is sensible step towards prevention. The sweeping education activities and seminars conducted by graduates of previous TOTs in these areas have made the expansion work easier.
Future Activities
By the end of the year, the project shall have finished another four Area Forums/Meetings, two batches of TOT, nine Education Seminars for LGUs and other sectors, and three activities on policy advocacy and assessments. (PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED TABLE OF ACTIVITIES AND STATUS).
With this development, the ACP Group-Davao, through Kabataan Consortium seeks the release of funds for the remaining activities scheduled for October-December 2007. The Group also plans to continue with the implementation of the project in 2008.
Inventory of Supplies Received
During the period, the ACP Group-Davao had received a box of ACP leaflets, stickers and posters. These items were added to the books, CDs and other reading materials earlier given by UNICEF last year. All of these materials were distributed to the participants of ACP and child-related activities during the period.
More materials, especially the leaflets, stickers and posters are needed for next year’s implementation in many places of Mindanao.
Financial Report
(PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED TABLE OF ACTIVITIES AND STATUS).
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
This report covers part of the first semester’s implementation of the project which started on 1 June 2007. It summarizes the main achievements of the project in terms of changing people’s perception and attitude toward the issue of child pornography, a slowly rising protection issue in the country from June 1 to November 15, 2007.
The project comes as a result of the Mindanao Regional Conference on Child Pornography held on June 22-23, 2006 in Davao City sponsored by UNICEF. Four local organizations, namely Talikala, Tambayan, Balay Pasilungan and Kabataan Consortium took the challenge of spearheading a campaign to combat child pornography in Davao City and other selected areas in Mindanao. The campaign is initially for two years and carries two main components, namely Prevention-Advocacy Action, and Intervention-Protection Action.
By and large, the project was about 40% implementation level despite the delay in the actual release of funds due to some technical constraints. All of these activities had reached a total of 1,067 participants from the target sectors, namely; child rights advocates and workers, children and young people, education and professional sectors, LGU officials and functionaries, church and other sectors. Some activities are on-going as of this writing and may reach up to 70% by the end of November.
The trainings on ACP have provided the participants with enough inputs to become effective advocates for children’s rights, particularly on child pornography. Likewise, participants acquired skills and strategies in handling the campaign on their own with their peers and respective groups and communities.
On the other hand, the various types of seminars and area forums have indeed raised the level of awareness of participants, particularly those who are not particularly knowledgeable on children’s rights issue. These somehow sparked some interest to commit their time and resources for the campaign in their areas or sectors.
Policy advocacy and networking have not been attended to during the period although some efforts were made on crafting a local legislation on ACP and a report format for members of ACP Group-Davao and eventually for the ACPA. Meanwhile, membership of ACP Group-Davao has expanded to include participants of various activities.
Direct services by members of the ACP Group-Davao continued. They provided care and support to about 100 children, young people and women and assisted in strengthening their respective organizations like sponsoring their field trips, study sessions, general assemblies and cultural presentations.
The project was not smoothly implemented though because of some constraints such as the delay in the release of funds, conduct of the barangay elections, reluctance of early graduates of TOT to become resource persons, etc. However, the situation also provided opportunities for the ACP Group-Davao to devise strategies to respond to these difficult challenges.
Main Achievements
Kabataan Consortium and project implementing organizations after submitting the project proposal to UNICEF have formed themselves into Anti-Child Pornography Group-Davao (ACP Group-Davao) to differentiate them with other children advocacy networks existing in Davao City. This group has been the main implementor of the project and responsible for its performance.
It is worthwhile to note that some activities such as the barangay and school forums and table discussions were conducted from June to July 2007 prior to the arrival of UNICEF’s funds in September. This was done because of the clamor of participants of the January 2007 trainer’s training on ACP and requests of various sectors who attended the campaign launching in December 2006. Below are the highlights and comments of the programs and activities of the project during the period under review:
A. Prevention Advocacy Action
1. Training of Trainer (TOT) -- Four out of eight trainings slated for June-December 2007 were conducted among children and young people, and child rights advocates and workers. These involved a total of 115 participants mostly from Davao City and provinces. The remaining unimplemented TOTs as of this moment are for barangay officials and functionaries that would be handled by Balay Pasilungan and for the education and professional sectors by Kabataan Consortium. BAPAS had to postpone the training because of the October 29 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections that led to many changes in personalities and functionaries in the barangay. On the other hand, another TOT is presently conducted as of this writing by Kabataan Consortium.
The TOT has been an effective tool for participants to become active advocates not on the general issue of child abuse, but more so in this particular protection issue of child pornography. It has been observed that many realizations cropped up after the TOTs that somehow changed the mindset of participants. Before the training, most participants usually lumped up child pornography as part of trafficking and child abuse that could be remedied by existing laws. Participants became more analytical in understanding child abuse and realized that they had neglected child pornography as a pressing legitimate protection issue of children in the country. The vital statistics and data on the issue helped them understand the extent and breadth of the problem and their role as child advocates to solve, if not to contain it. On the part of children and young people themselves, the TOT somehow gave them competence they needed to be conversant on the issue. Moreover, it also provided them with a sense of fulfillment to be part of the campaign knowing that they and their peers might become victims of child pornography and other forms of abuse. “This is a way of exercising our right to participation in solving our own problem”, said one of the participants. On the other hand, almost all child rights advocates and people in the education and business sector were very interested in taking part of the campaign especially because of its “pioneering” nature and the “preventability” of such crime. Although it is true that tracking the criminals and even identifying victims of child pornography is a problem, the challenge it poses is so great and worth the effort. Many advocates agree that this advocacy indeed needs a new strategy especially on technological aspect in order to succeed. Police work on combating child pornography is also appealing to them. Lastly, some participants from the women sector were already preparing and scheduling plans for re-echo seminars of their organizations.
2. Area Forums and Meetings -- Only one out of five area forums/meetings attended by 53 participants was conducted from September to November 15, 2007. The other four forums were scheduled in the later part of November for Iligan City, General Santos City and other parts of South Cotabato. The forum in Davao in October 29 was seen as an extension of various meetings, informal discussions and conferences by various ACP Group Davao members in their respective areas after the December 12, 2006 ACP Campaign Launching at Grand Menseng Hotel.
This activity showed to the public that the campaign was in full swing not only in the city but also in other cities and provinces as well. Perhaps the biggest indirect positive effect of these awareness-raising activities by the ACP Group-Davao was the move of the City Government of Davao City to confiscate and to prohibit the sale of lewd VCD/DVD and other pornographic materials in the streets of Davao City after the May 2007 national and local elections. Before the massive operations by joint members of the Crime Intervention and Detection Group (CIDG), Women and Children’s Desks of the Davao City Police Office, pornographic materials were openly sold in the streets of the city. While it is true that such deplorable billion-peso trade cannot be solved overnight, the action of the LGU is an inspiration to all child-rights advocates that running after big pornographic traders may not be impossible after all. It may not have given a dent to the operations of those who profit from pornography but the message is clear enough for them to worry about further exploiting children in this part of the country.
3. Education Seminar (LGU City, Municipalities and Barangay and Education and Other Sectors) – Eight out of 17 education seminars were conducted with a total of 899 participants during the period. Two of the biggest crowds were the seminars in Davao City and Tulunan, North Cotabato, with 181 and 179 participants, respectively. In attendance were the Municipal Mayor, members of Sangguniang Bayan and representatives of schools, PNP, social welfare office, barangay officials and women’s organizations. Other nine (9) education seminars are scheduled in the later part of November and December 2007.
Majority of the participants of these seminars agreed that the topic was indeed new to them. Some of them realized that it was high time to put a stop to child pornography and to police or to regulate the operations of internet cafes, VCD/DVD suppliers, visiting tourists, recruitment agencies and individuals that might be soliciting the services of children for pornography. Moreover, the government sector representatives had vowed to look into their local legislations to further prevent child abuse especially on child pornography. The church sector also committed their respective churches to work for the education of families about the issue and integrating child abuse and pornography in homilies, church instructions and Evangelization activities of their respective churches. On the other hand, the education sector had seen no problem of integrating the issue of child pornography along other protection issues of children such as corporal punishment, sexual abuse, trafficking, child prostitution and the like. By and large, the education seminars had opened new doors and possibilities of bringing child pornography to the consciousness of a greater number of people in the target areas of the campaign.
4. Policy Advocacy – There was no tangible results yet as regards local legislation on child pornography in Davao City. The most that the project had achieved so far was the discussion of the Anti-Child Pornography Bill now pending in congress at seminars, training and conferences. The said bill was discussed during the meeting in Manila on the proposed ACPA and the ACP Group-Davao had given its commitment to work in the local level for the early passage of the said proposed law.
Another point that was raised on policy advocacy was to come up with a draft of a localized version of the national bill. This was mentioned because of the idea that perhaps the passage of a local ordinance or a resolution on child pornography by an LGU, say Davao City, might trigger a ripple effect for the early passage of the national law. The idea came just after the May 2007 election when Sara Duterte became Vice-Mayor of Davao City who gave indication of pro-children stance of her administration and Davao City being a CPC-6 area.
Documentation was also an issue raised as regards advocacy. The ACP Group-Davao is now trying to device a kind of a reporting form or intake sheet on child pornography that can be used by all campaign partners. This form may also be recommended for use by all ACPA members.
5. Network Building – So far the ACP Group-Davao has not expanded to other areas but its membership in the city is increasing after the TOT’s and other seminars. It is projected that a Mindanao Multi-Sectoral ACP Alliance may be realized at the middle or last quarter of 2008. By then the ACPA-National shall have been operational also.
6. Monitoring and Evaluation – Evaluation is always done after each activity. The ACP Group-Davao also meets every month to look at the development of the project vis-à-vis its objectives and expected outcomes for the period. A six-month assessment shall be scheduled at the end of December or during the first two weeks of January 2008 to determine the main achievements and failures of the project’s first semester implementation.
B. Intervention-Protection Action
1. Direct Services – During the period, implementing organization-members and partners of the ACP Group-Davao continued to give direct services to children who were victims of abuse, exploitation and neglect. Such services include:
(a) Rescue and counseling – At least 6 children where reportedly given counseling services by Talikala and Tambayan. Most of them were CSEC and CICL in Davao City.
(b) Medical and legal care – Kabataan through its member organizations had facilitated medical and dental services that benefited 25 children under their care. Balay Pasilungan had also provided medical services to children at Barangay 5-A and other barangays they operate while Luna Legal Resource Center had continued assisting about 10 CICL and 5 women-victims of abuse during the period.
(c) Half-way centers – All ACP Group-Davao members with half-way home care continued to provide services to at least 58 children and young people in Davao City.
2. Organizational Development – ACP Group-Davao members had also helped in strengthening the organizations of children and young people. Such organizations included the NAKAMATA of Tambayan, Lawig Bubai of Talikala, HOPE of METSA, and Teen Center of FPOP, among other members. The group supported their general assemblies, training, meetings, camping and mobilizations during the period.
Constraints and Opportunities
One of the main constraints of the project implementation was the late release of funds from UNICEF. The group expected that the funds would be available starting June or July or even earlier but the assistance was finally received in September which led to the review and revision
of activities of most members of the ACP Group-Davao. As every child rights advocate knows, the second semester of the year is a very hectic one. The year 2007 was no different from the previous years so many ACP activities had to be done double time until the end of the year.
The second constraint was the reluctance of some graduates of the first batch of trainer’s training for ACP Group-Davao members in January 2006 to facilitate their activities on their own, especially on the TOTs. This was so because of the time gap between their training and the actual “re-echo” of what they learned from that training in January. As a consequence, the convenor’s head of office and key staff had to take the podium and stage as facilitators and resource persons of TOTs and big gatherings. However, it is worthwhile to note that the new graduates of TOTs, including those participated in by children, young people and women were eager to do the activities on their own.
The third constraint that led to many postponements and adjustments of schedule was the conduct of the barangay and SK elections. Many of the activities of the project involved barangay functionaries and communities so some of them had to be moved to the later part of the year.
However, all of these also opened some opportunities for the ACP Group-Davao to be more effective in the actual conduct of the campaign in the future. For one thing, it was realized that many groups such as those in the academe and the church sector were just waiting for a group to spearhead such a campaign to be involved. They thought that pornography only took a backstage against trafficking, prostitution and other “well-known” protection issues of children. Furthermore, many local officials also showed interest on the issue that was they say “hidden” in the closet by cultural and other reasons.
Another opportunity was the conduct of the barangay election giving fresh mandate to LGU officials, especially in the barangays that ensures continuity of the discussion and action on the issue for the next three year of their term.
Lessons Learned
Some lessons can be derived from the results of the activities. One is the conduct of the TOT as stepping stone of the campaign. The first batch of TOT involving members of the ACP Group-Davao in January 2007 somehow prepared everyone for the big task ahead although it was not certain then what would happen if such kind of activities be conducted with various sectors and communities. Of course there was a certain reluctance of some graduates of the said TOT to be on board in big activities, but the result of the succeeding TOTs was promising.
It is also a lesson for the ACP Group-Davao to have involved the children and young people in the campaign. Knowing them to be energetic, albeit more vulnerable to abuse, their acquired knowledge and attitude have made them more credible advocate on the issue of child pornography.
Furthermore, the sharing of responsibilities and resources among members of the ACP Group-Davao is a good experience to be replicated in similar campaign in the future. Each member takes care of its responsibilities according to its capacity and process without veering too much to the objectives and expected outcomes of the project.
Moreover, the decision to expand the campaign to other key cities and municipalities in Mindanao is just proper considering economic crisis of the country and the rapid advancement of information technology of the world that increases the vulnerability of children from abuse. The extent of rapid advancement goes beyond Davao City so bringing and raising the awareness of the people of other places on the issue is sensible step towards prevention. The sweeping education activities and seminars conducted by graduates of previous TOTs in these areas have made the expansion work easier.
Future Activities
By the end of the year, the project shall have finished another four Area Forums/Meetings, two batches of TOT, nine Education Seminars for LGUs and other sectors, and three activities on policy advocacy and assessments. (PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED TABLE OF ACTIVITIES AND STATUS).
With this development, the ACP Group-Davao, through Kabataan Consortium seeks the release of funds for the remaining activities scheduled for October-December 2007. The Group also plans to continue with the implementation of the project in 2008.
Inventory of Supplies Received
During the period, the ACP Group-Davao had received a box of ACP leaflets, stickers and posters. These items were added to the books, CDs and other reading materials earlier given by UNICEF last year. All of these materials were distributed to the participants of ACP and child-related activities during the period.
More materials, especially the leaflets, stickers and posters are needed for next year’s implementation in many places of Mindanao.
Financial Report
(PLEASE REFER TO ATTACHED TABLE OF ACTIVITIES AND STATUS).
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
All Systems Go for 2008
Hi partners! It's 2008 and we are in our second year of implementing a very meaningful campaign to stop child pornography in this part of the country. This is not an easy task for us because of the ongoing political and economic crises we are experiencing. We are also waiting for the release of assistance from Unicef for this year's activities so please bear with us to use your funds for the campaign until the assistance arrives. As we all know Unicef is undergoing some management reorganization and perhaps it will take more time for them to attend to our request. Nonetheless we had met with Beth Gayos early this year and she promised to look into it ASAP. Atty. Ani is still on maternity leave and we hope she is well with her new baby.
We are printing here our report we submitted to Unicef in November for their year-end report. We hope to get your reaction soon.
By the way our ever-dynamic colleague Bro. Richard Joyal, executive director of Balay Pasilungan (BAPAS) was recalled by his superior to Canada. He is replaced by Fr. Pablo. We would be scheduling a ACP Group meeting in April. Bye for now and padayon ta..........
Emi Roldan
Kabataan Consortium
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
We are printing here our report we submitted to Unicef in November for their year-end report. We hope to get your reaction soon.
By the way our ever-dynamic colleague Bro. Richard Joyal, executive director of Balay Pasilungan (BAPAS) was recalled by his superior to Canada. He is replaced by Fr. Pablo. We would be scheduling a ACP Group meeting in April. Bye for now and padayon ta..........
Emi Roldan
Kabataan Consortium
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Training Pix
Dear Colleagues,
Here are some of the pix during the ACP campaign training early this year. This was attended by more than 20 representatives from our partners.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
Workshop
Here are some pix during the ACP Trainer's Training early this year at Highponds Resort, Toril, Davao City. This was attended by more than 20 representatives from our partners and ACP-Group Davao.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
ACP Group-Davao Partner's Fellowship
Hello colleagues and friends! May we update you of our campaign. More than a week ago we presented a revised plan to UNICEF regarding our Davao ACP campaign. Instead of limiting our campaign in Davao City, the ACP Group Davao decided to expand the project's geographical coverage to include 4 other cities of Iligan, General Santos, Marbel and Tacurong. We have also expanded to the municipalities of Lupon, Davao Oriental; Josefina, Zamboanga; Tulunan, North Cotabato; and Polomolok, South Cotabato. We have also included women's groups in our campaign. Other partners that signified their intention to get involved are the Amaya Lay Foundation, Inc., Kaugmaon Foundation, and the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines-General Santos Chapter. We may also tap the Kalitawhan Network (TDH-Germany partners) in some areas in Mindanao in the hope that we can contribute to the move of creating a truly Anti-Child Pornography Alliance (ACPA) in the country. (Please see related story below.)
In view of this new development, the ACP Group shall hold an updating cum fellowship to all graduates of the ACP trainer's training (Davao City ACP Training Pool) in the afternoon of June 6, 2007 at the Balay Pasilungan House, Barangay 5-A, Davao City. We hope to see you there and enjoy the company of our colleagues in children's development work and share the delicious steaming fresh bread straight from the oven of BAPAS 's bakery and cold nature's fruit juice from Tambayan. See you there! Chao.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
In view of this new development, the ACP Group shall hold an updating cum fellowship to all graduates of the ACP trainer's training (Davao City ACP Training Pool) in the afternoon of June 6, 2007 at the Balay Pasilungan House, Barangay 5-A, Davao City. We hope to see you there and enjoy the company of our colleagues in children's development work and share the delicious steaming fresh bread straight from the oven of BAPAS 's bakery and cold nature's fruit juice from Tambayan. See you there! Chao.
If you are interested to help the campaign, please contact acporno@gmail.com
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