Youth Home Ground Breaking

SDC Center Head Gina Castro, Bacolod City Police Office Director Ricardo De la Paz, Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia

Early August, a ground breaking ceremony was held on the construction site of the future rehabilitation center for the children in conflict with the law in Bacolod City. This landmark event is giving birth to the Youth Home, which is the first project to be implemented within the People-Private-Public Partnership (PPPP). 
The construction of the center should start in 2013 in the Vista Alegre - Granada district located in the outskirts of Bacolod City. It falls in line with a relocation program launched by the City for the underpriviledged communities suffering from critical housing and living difficulties. It will offer rehabilitation opportunities to the vulnerable children of these families, who are often affected by delinquency issues.

In Bacolod City, there is indeed no available public infrastructure dedicated to specifically treat and rehabilitate young offenders in Bacolod City. The Social Development Center (SDC) is currently the only institution catering for the children in conflict with the law and the street children. It will function as a processing center prior to the transfer of the children, who will benefit from the rehabilitation program offered by the future Youth Home.

All relevant actors were present on that special day to show their enthusiasm. The City Mayor adressed the guests and the members of the neighbouring communities with a confident and hopeful message. The volunteers' team from Virlanie-Bacolod and HOST-NGO also attended to witness the success of their collaboration with the local authorities. It is safe to conclude that everyone is looking forward for the building to start...

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.

Mudpack spirit at SDC

Following the mudpack festival organized every year in June in Mambukal, an hour away from Bacolod City, the children recreated the spirit of this celebration within the SDC !
On June 26th, the young people, staff members and volunteers from Virlanie-Bacolod took the opportunity to paint themselves and wear some eco-friendly outfits, made of cardboard and other recyclable materials. The activity topic of the day was the making of cameras from cardboard with the help of Amélie, one of the volunteers. The children learnt how to make the camera from scratch, cutting and assembling the different pieces, and incorporating a silver film within each small boxes. Upon the finalization of these home-made cameras, the children spent the whole afternoon posing in their outfits and make-up. This was actually a very special experiment from the children as they had to stay still for at least 10 seconds in order to avoid blurred and fuzzy pictures... which was not so easy to do! Here are the results of this fun and educational activity...

Updates on People-Private-Public-Partnership program in Bacolod City

PPPP workshop with Bacolod City Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus A. Sayson.

On June 11th, two representatives from DELGOSEA (Partnership for Democratic Local Governance in Southeast Asia) came to Bacolod to assess the implementation progress of the People-Private-Public-Partnership program conducted by the City with the support from Virlanie Foundation. Bacolod City was indeed elected in 2010 to become a pilot city for the implementation of the PPPP concept. This model of best practices, originating from Cambodian example, is aiming at enhancing the cooperation between the public and private sectors and the participation of the civil society in local governance.

The DELGOSEA national representative and the consultant deployed in South East Asia, take advantage of this visit to meet with the City's team, as well as Virlanie Foundation's volunteers. Significant topics related to the sound management of the program were addressed over this one-day seminar.

The first workshop was dedicated to specific issues related to the implementation of the Youth Home project (rehabilitation center for children in conflict with the law aged 15 to 18 years old): budget planning, operational specifications, financial tools, etc. The official launching of the construction of the rehabilitation center is expected to start in September and Virlanie-Bacolod team is currenlty calling for potential partners and donors. Bacolod City Mayor has already committed to partly fund the construction and operational costs. The remaining expenses are to be covered by private partners approached by Virlanie Foundation (corporate foundations, local non-profit organizations, professional groups, NGOs, institutional funding, etc.).

Following a working lunch, the participants visited the Social Development Center (SDC) and the construction site of the future Youth Home. The seminar ended with a friendly dinner dedicated to highlight the achievements and congratulate all stakeholders involved in the management of Bacolod City Community Development program, including Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus A. Sayson, and Hon. Counselor Em L. Ang.

Involvement of Bacolod City Livelihood Department at SDC

Virlanie-Bacolod has been working in collaboration with the City of Bacolod to support the vulnerable children within the Social Development Center (SDC). It was then justified to contact some of the city departments to suggest their involvement for the benefit of the children at risk. It is indeed the strategy to call for every type of partner, private and public ones, as well as the civil society, to be committed to rehabilitate and train the children and youth, for a successful community integration and empowerment.

The City Cooperation and Livelihood Department Office has decided to join this intervention and proposed to organize training sessions at the SDC. In May, the children were offered to learn how to make jewelry (earings, necklaces, bracelets and rings) thanks to the city employees from this department.
The training has a double objective: providing them with skills and knowledge, which could be used in their adult life, and also empowering the children to increase their self-esteem and personal confidence. This is a critical asset to be considered in terms of individual development and life accomplishment.