AFI launches projects for its 4 program pillars on its 53rd year

In celebration of its 53rd anniversary last March 23, the Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI) brought to Cagayan de Oro City several projects that encompass its four program pillars — Education, Youth Leadership, Sustainable Livelihood, and Arts and Culture.

Bringing all four pillars to Cagayan de Oro City is in keeping with AFI’s commitment to providing integrated solutions for its communities. A series of events, held in key locations in the city last March 26 to 27, served as an opportunity for the foundation to thank donors, partners, and other supporters who have contributed to the success of its projects in Mindanao. 

These projects are strongly defined by partnerships and the active participation of the public and private sector — a concrete expression of AFI’s tagline, “As One We Can.”

Text2Teach in hundreds of schools

Last March 27, AFI celebrated the connection of an additional 39 public elementary schools to Text2Teach, a project that uses mobile technology to provide educational materials in English, Math, Science, and Values Education. To date, 100 percent of CDO’s 70 public elementary schools are Text2Teach-enabled. The Text2Teach alliance — composed of Nokia, the Department of Education, various participating local government units, Globe Telecom, Toshiba, Pearson Foundation, and AFI — is scheduled to bring Text2Teach to 170 schools in Mindanao this year.

Meanwhile, the Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education (CENTEX), which hopes to provide high-quality education for bright children from poor families, introduced its teacher-training program in Mindanao. The teacher-training program aims to strengthen the capacities of public school teachers and principals through a series of training sessions and year-round mentoring sessions, with focus on pedagogy, teaching methodology, and values integration. The training program will officially begin during the summer break.

Youth empowerment

For Youth Leadership, Ayala Foundation launched the Leadership Communities (LeadCom) program in Cagayan de Oro last March 26. AFI reached out to the youth of 10 barangays in Cagayan de Oro through LeadCom, which seeks to empower community-based youth to identify the problems of their respective areas and formulate solutions in the form of imaginative and sustainable projects.

One unique feature of LeadCom Cagayan de Oro is the active participation of Ayala Young Leaders Congress (AYLC) alumni, who will help facilitate workshops and mentoring sessions — a way for program beneficiaries to “pay forward” the lessons they learned through AYLC. LeadCom Cagayan de Oro is supported by a grant from Mitsubishi Corp..

Sustainable livelihood,arts and culture promotion

AFI also convened stakeholders from various sectors in Cagayan de Oro on March 27 to identify and develop Sustainable Livelihood projects for families in five barangays in the city. The project ideation workshop and forum, said Ayala Foundation President Luli Heras-de Leon, hopes to bring “a better perspective and understanding on how to make sustainable livelihood a reality.”

The Arts and Culture component of AFI’s CDO events was “Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined,” a traveling exhibition featuring reproductions of the works of National Artist Francisco “Botong” Francisco. On display at the Centrio Mall until April 25, this traveling exhibition hopes to show the breadth and depth of Botong’s artistry and imagination. “Botong Francisco: A Nation Imagined” is presented by the Ayala Museum in partnership with Ayala Land Inc.

Cagayan de Oro has a special place in AFI’s history, since it was where the foundation implemented its first major project. When AFI was still known as Filipinas Foundation Inc., it implemented the Sumilao Cattle Research project in 1964 in partnership with CDO’s Xavier University College of Agriculture.

To learn more about Ayala Foundation, visit www.ayalafoundation.org  or e-mail [email protected]