Sustainable development opportunities

Following their participation into the seminar on sustainable development, the City engineers and Virlanie-Bacolod team have been discussing the opportunity of developing technologies using renewable energies to address the requirements of the future Youth Home. Last week, they conducted a visit of a designer and manufacturer of pumping solutions, Eco Agri, located in Bacolod City. This was a major opportunity for the participants to discover the equipment and its features. As an example, the windmill pictured below, allows to pump ground water and it could be used as a community-based water system.

Seminar on green empowerment in Bacolod City

Amélie, volunteer trainer, is receiving the appreciation certificate from
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia.

Throughout the month of June, several workshops have been held on sustainable development at the National Government Center (NGC) in Bacolod City. Mainly designed for the team of managers and engineers of the City Engineering Office, the training focused on the major urban and environmental challenges happening in the Philippines: climate change, global strategy of dealing with environmental, social and economic factors, water management, waste water treatment, energy management and production of renewable energies.
Study classes and practical workshops have been proposed to allow a better application of these concepts to the Youth Home project, which is programming the creation of a rehabilitation center for the children in conflict with the law (CICL) aged 15 to 18 years old. In particular, it has been planned to develop a natural waste water treatment plants system (irrigation purposes), to recover rainwater to limit pumping of ground water, to design architecture adapted to the climate in order to guarantee comfortable facilities while reducing energy consumption, and to produce solar energy to prevent increasing energy costs. These technical choices are expected to help reducing the operating costs of the facilities. 
It has also been planned that the Social Development Center (SDC) will benefit from these sustainable technologies, which are to become actual standards for all the future projects managed by the City.
The Youth Home project is a pilot project initiated within the frame of the People-Private-Public-Partnership (PPPP) concept. The assessment phase should lead to the construction of the center in September. The Virlanie-Bacolod team is currently providing organisational and technical support, and helping the City to find partners to financially contribute to the development of the project.

In English, please!

Within the frame of the integrated educational program implemented at the SDC, activities dedicated to promote English language have been launched at the beginning of June. In addition to the tutorial sessions held by the students from Riverside University, the children and youth have now access to English lessons held three times a week by a French volunteer. The learning program is emphasizing on developing the children's abilities to communicate in English, on both oral and written basis. The first sessions allowed them to learn or review the basics : how to introduce oneself and one another in a simple yet effective language. The children were encouraged to express themselves without any shame in front of the class. Upon the first month, they were more and more enthusiastic to speak out in English during and also outside the study sessions. Every activity lasts about an hour and a half and includes exercises focused on grammar, pronounciation, conjugation, as well as recreational activities such as games or songs, and the use of any interactive way to stimulate individual creativity and encourage the children's participation. From July onward, the English activities will be held twice a week according to the availability of the volunteer.