Our newest development partner this year for the program, Culture-based Education for Indigenous Sama-Bajau Children, is Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation – a dynamic non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the well-being of at-risk children and families in the Philippines.

Together, Consuelo Foundation and Cartwheel will be working to ensure a safe learning environment for the Sama-Bajau community of Barangay San Dionisio, Parañaque City, beginning with context-based education that fosters their cultural identity and well-being.

 

The Sama-Bajau partners

The Sama-Bajau are a Moro indigenous ethnic group from Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, they are traditionally from Southwestern Mindanao. Since the 1980’s, many of their families have migrated from Mindanao to Luzon, to flee the continuing conflict in their area.

In Barangay San Dionisio specifically, there is an estimated 20 families residing in a transient site within the barangay. Among them are at least 25 children, aged 3-14 years old. These children, together with their parents and guardians, comprise of the cohort for whom the program is designed and implemented.

 

Development partners

The program aims to complement existing initiatives of Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) and the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) of Parañaque City in protecting at-risk Sama-Bajau children. Under Task Force Sama-Bajau, both government offices collaborated in setting up an activity center where Sama-Bajau children from San Dionisio can attend classes from Monday to Friday. In previous years, volunteer teachers from the community have been conducting the daily classes. The present collaboration aims to build on the existing efforts and making it into a more programmatic and culturally-relevant endeavor.

Teachers’ training, learning modules development, birth registration facilitation, and the establishment of a permanent learning space have been identified as potential interventions that can help ensure that Sama-Bajau children come to class instead of begging in the streets, and find genuine value and enjoyment in learning.

 

The pilot run of the program will be from January to December 2019.

Over the long-term, it is envisioned that the culturally-relevant, rights-based education model piloted with the Sama-Bajau may be replicated for the benefit of other indigenous communities across the country.

With much excitement, we look forward to co-creating impactful work with our new partners in our continuing journey with Filipino Indigenous Peoples!