austraLasia #3180
LONDON: 16 January 2013 -- The Laura Vicuña Foundation, managed by the Salesian Sisters in Manila, receives the 2012 STARS IMPACT AWARD in London for the Protection Category in the Asia Pacific Region. The Foundation was chosen out of the 302 short-listed NGOs from over 1,000 applicants in 14 countries.
STARS* founding Chairman Amr Al-Dabbagh conferred the award to LVF represented by Sr. Marivic Sta. Ana FMA in a ceremony at The Orangery at the Kensington Palace last December 15, 2012. Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Enrique Manalo, witnessed the awards ceremony and also attended the dinner to honor the awardees at the State Apartments at the Kensington Palace.
“This is not only a great accolade to the Foundation and to the Salesian Sisters but also to the Philippines as this is the first time a Philippine NGO was given an award by this prestigious body’, says Sr. Marivic.
The 100,000 US dollars award money will be used to help build a bigger home for the healing and recovery of sexually-abused girls as well as a training center and the offices of the Foundation.
The comprehensive work of the Foundation for the protection and development of children particularly its pioneering Child Protection Clinic on Wheels and the three Children of the Canes national conferences convened by the LVF towards a socially responsible sugar industry were the winning cards for the Laura Vicuña Foundation.
LVF helps children to understand their rights and how to protect themselves, and enables many to become rights advocates themselves. It runs a center for the healing and recovery of sexually abused, exploited and trafficked children, two vocational-technical schools, alternative learning system; helps organize the local council for the protection of children in high risk communities in Metro Manila.
“While I was in London, I had the opportunity to tell His Excellency Amr Al-Dabbagh about the importance of reaching out to children in their communities, schools and even homes which is why the mobile protection unit is so effective,” she said. We want to extend the reach of that unit to child laborers in the sugarcane industry. These children are highly at risk from hazardous labor, from trafficking and from sexual exploitation. Taking a second mobile unit out into the plantations where these children are, is the only way that we can intervene now and offer them protection,” Sr. Marivic added.
“I hope that our countrymen will also support our work and enable us to buy that second mobile for the sugarcane children who are at risk every single day. We want to help those children, now,” she said.
This recent achievement of the Foundation is an affirmation of LVF’s mark of excellence in developing and delivering comprehensive and integrated direct services for the vulnerable children and their families, raising public awareness around children and youth issues, and building a network of institutions supporting vulnerable children. LVF’s first international recognition was from Citigroup Foundation and Resource Alliance during the 2005 Asia Pacific NGO Awards in Singapore where LVF was awarded Best NGO in the Philippines and Third in the Asia Pacific Region. In 2011, the Foundation bagged the Maya Ajmera Sustainability Award given by Global Fund for Children (USA).
Every year, millions of families in the Philippines make the journey from their rural villages and towns to Manila, searching for a way out of poverty in the sprawling streets of the capital. For many, the dream ends there.
"Families come to the cities thinking they will have a better life, but many have no skills and no means of finding work," says Sister Maria Victoria Sta.Ana, executive director of Laura Vicuña Foundation, a Manila-based NGO working with some of the Philippine's most vulnerable children.
"Families disintegrate and split apart and, in the process, many children end up abandoned and on the streets where they are extremely vulnerable and unable to fend for themselves," she explains.
There are an estimated 1.5 million street children in the Philippines, about 75,000 of whom are living in Manila, with thousands more ending up homeless every month. Laura Vicuña was founded in 1990, initially to provide a drop-in centre for street children facing assault and violence. Having discovered that many of the street girls are sexually abused, the foundation opened a home, in 1991, to get them off the streets.
"Most of the children who end up on our streets are forced into a life of sexual abuse and drugs, and are rounded up into crime syndicates and often have nobody to turn to," says Sister Marivic. "The girls are often abused by their own peers or by pimps, and become victims of trafficking. They come to us severely traumatised."
* STARS: The STARS Foundation was founded by the Dabbagh Group in 2001, in the belief that local organisations are best-placed to respond to the needs of their communities and the children in their care. An Innovative Approach to Funding STARS’ partnership approach is reflected in the nature of the innovative package we offer our Awards recipients. The package combines US$100,000 of unrestricted funding with tailored consultancy support – offering organisations the flexibility they need to respond to local challenges and plan for the future. Our approach is underpinned by a rigorous selection process, developed with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Awards recipients are selected using eight criteria that reflect the hallmarks of effective practice and all applicants receive feedback on their application
Laura Vicuña Foundation wins STAR 2012 Impact Award
LONDON: 16 January 2013 -- The Laura Vicuña Foundation, managed by the Salesian Sisters in Manila, receives the 2012 STARS IMPACT AWARD in London for the Protection Category in the Asia Pacific Region. The Foundation was chosen out of the 302 short-listed NGOs from over 1,000 applicants in 14 countries.
STARS* founding Chairman Amr Al-Dabbagh conferred the award to LVF represented by Sr. Marivic Sta. Ana FMA in a ceremony at The Orangery at the Kensington Palace last December 15, 2012. Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Enrique Manalo, witnessed the awards ceremony and also attended the dinner to honor the awardees at the State Apartments at the Kensington Palace.
“This is not only a great accolade to the Foundation and to the Salesian Sisters but also to the Philippines as this is the first time a Philippine NGO was given an award by this prestigious body’, says Sr. Marivic.
The 100,000 US dollars award money will be used to help build a bigger home for the healing and recovery of sexually-abused girls as well as a training center and the offices of the Foundation.
The comprehensive work of the Foundation for the protection and development of children particularly its pioneering Child Protection Clinic on Wheels and the three Children of the Canes national conferences convened by the LVF towards a socially responsible sugar industry were the winning cards for the Laura Vicuña Foundation.
LVF helps children to understand their rights and how to protect themselves, and enables many to become rights advocates themselves. It runs a center for the healing and recovery of sexually abused, exploited and trafficked children, two vocational-technical schools, alternative learning system; helps organize the local council for the protection of children in high risk communities in Metro Manila.
“While I was in London, I had the opportunity to tell His Excellency Amr Al-Dabbagh about the importance of reaching out to children in their communities, schools and even homes which is why the mobile protection unit is so effective,” she said. We want to extend the reach of that unit to child laborers in the sugarcane industry. These children are highly at risk from hazardous labor, from trafficking and from sexual exploitation. Taking a second mobile unit out into the plantations where these children are, is the only way that we can intervene now and offer them protection,” Sr. Marivic added.
“I hope that our countrymen will also support our work and enable us to buy that second mobile for the sugarcane children who are at risk every single day. We want to help those children, now,” she said.
This recent achievement of the Foundation is an affirmation of LVF’s mark of excellence in developing and delivering comprehensive and integrated direct services for the vulnerable children and their families, raising public awareness around children and youth issues, and building a network of institutions supporting vulnerable children. LVF’s first international recognition was from Citigroup Foundation and Resource Alliance during the 2005 Asia Pacific NGO Awards in Singapore where LVF was awarded Best NGO in the Philippines and Third in the Asia Pacific Region. In 2011, the Foundation bagged the Maya Ajmera Sustainability Award given by Global Fund for Children (USA).
Every year, millions of families in the Philippines make the journey from their rural villages and towns to Manila, searching for a way out of poverty in the sprawling streets of the capital. For many, the dream ends there.
"Families come to the cities thinking they will have a better life, but many have no skills and no means of finding work," says Sister Maria Victoria Sta.Ana, executive director of Laura Vicuña Foundation, a Manila-based NGO working with some of the Philippine's most vulnerable children.
"Families disintegrate and split apart and, in the process, many children end up abandoned and on the streets where they are extremely vulnerable and unable to fend for themselves," she explains.
There are an estimated 1.5 million street children in the Philippines, about 75,000 of whom are living in Manila, with thousands more ending up homeless every month. Laura Vicuña was founded in 1990, initially to provide a drop-in centre for street children facing assault and violence. Having discovered that many of the street girls are sexually abused, the foundation opened a home, in 1991, to get them off the streets.
"Most of the children who end up on our streets are forced into a life of sexual abuse and drugs, and are rounded up into crime syndicates and often have nobody to turn to," says Sister Marivic. "The girls are often abused by their own peers or by pimps, and become victims of trafficking. They come to us severely traumatised."
* STARS: The STARS Foundation was founded by the Dabbagh Group in 2001, in the belief that local organisations are best-placed to respond to the needs of their communities and the children in their care. An Innovative Approach to Funding STARS’ partnership approach is reflected in the nature of the innovative package we offer our Awards recipients. The package combines US$100,000 of unrestricted funding with tailored consultancy support – offering organisations the flexibility they need to respond to local challenges and plan for the future. Our approach is underpinned by a rigorous selection process, developed with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Awards recipients are selected using eight criteria that reflect the hallmarks of effective practice and all applicants receive feedback on their application
