VSO CEO meets volunteer icons in the Philippines

15/07/2011 09:00:00

VSO CEO Marg Mayne recently met with VSO Bahaginan’s partners and friends to further strengthen ties with some of the leading volunteer icons in the country’s public, private and development sectors.

In an effort to continually engage VSO Bahaginan’s supporters and communicate VSO’s new global strategy of putting people at the center of our work, Mayne addressed a crowd of around 25 heads of NGOs, government and private corporations over dinner at the Sky Lounge of the Export Bank building at the heart of Makati’s central business district.

“We are in the business of changing people’s lives… Our strategy is to grow and expand, to network with the business community as well as friends in other sectors because we believe it is necessary to partner to make a better world,” said Mayne.

She added, “The very heart of what we do is that we believe to achieve social progress, to fight poverty, we have to change what people do. We need to push people to do something different to make a better world. And the only way to influence this kind of change is if they are inspired, if they are encouraged by another person.”

Attended by industry leaders including AO Capital CEO Jaime Gonzalez who is a strong supporter and consultant of VSO Bahaginan; National Movement for Free Elections chairman Jose Concepcion, Jr. also known as the grandfather of Philippine volunteerism; Metro Manila Development Authority general manager, Undersecretary Corazon T. Jimenez; Mark Dia of Greenpeace and Gianna Montinola of Hands On Manila, the event also highlighted VSO Bahaginan’s contribution to nation-building for the past ten years.

VSO Bahaginan executive director Malou Juanito underscored the organization’s role in promoting ‘brain gain’ as opposed to the public’s earlier perception of ‘brain drain’ due to the international volunteering program.

Juanito shared, “At the onset, VSO Bahaginan’s international volunteering program was perceived as promoting ‘brain drain’ as we send skilled Filipinos overseas to help other developing countries instead of our country. Now, after ten years, we’re proving detractors wrong as we see our returned volunteers back in the Philippines, engaged in their communities and more equipped with new learning and confidence gained from engaging with various cultures.”

Juanito ended with a call to VSO Bahaginan’s friends and partners to continue to work together to build a stronger Philippines empowered by volunteers.

The evening also featured two short videos produced by VSO Bahaginan’s resource generation unit showcasing the benefits of volunteerism and highlighting the call to engage with VSO Bahaginan and other organizations in promoting volunteerism as a means to end global poverty.

The first video showed various volunteering icons in the country talking about their reasons for and thoughts on volunteering. This was produced and directed by Jay Abello under 7th Films.

The second 3-minute video produced by Campagins & Grey features in great creative detail VSO’s work as generating a ripple effect in the world of international development. Both films may be viewed on VSO Bahaginan’s YouTube channel.

Mayne concluded, “We share skills and we continually raise expectations to inspire, to push others to take charge of their life and to make a difference in this world. We stay relevant—changing with the time and developing different ways of working with communities. And we make this sustainable by putting people at the center of our work.”