As told by John Vincent Gasmin, Municipal Link of Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro

Walk the talk. In doing so, we can show them what we can do.

That is the plan. That is our plan, Team Bulalacao’s plan.

The Pantawid Pamilya staff of the municipality of Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro aims to start anew and fresh. Be more organized, more innovative and the best team or group of servant leaders happily doing their jobs. Staying true to the plan, the team piloted two activities for its beneficiaries, the Youth Development Sessions (YDS) and Radio Development Sessions (RDS).

 Educating young minds

The YDS aims to empower the young people both in and out of school youth. It also aims to increase the compliance of beneficiaries to the program and inculcate the extensive awareness of the services and programs implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to both members and non-members of the Pantawid Pamilya. The initiated activity of Team Bulalacao also serves as a support to the Pag-asa Youth Association of the Philippines, a program for the young Filipinos focusing on the out-of-school youth.

The activity intends to educate and empower the youth through Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and lecture series of important topics such as Teenage Pregnancy, Premarital Sex, Relationships, and education specifically on having a diploma and landing a good job. These needs-based topics were carefully selected by the team in consultation with the parents and partner agencies. The team believes that it is essential for the youth to know these topics so they will have a sense of direction and goals in life.

The YDS is conducted once a month and runs for a couple of hours with 13 to 24 years old as target audience. Since every barangay has its group division, the first YDS was held last November 2013 in Group Gumamela of Sitio Cawacat, Barangay Campaasan with 17 participants. The team discussed the topic, Sino ako sampung taon mula ngayon? On the second month, the team conducted YDS on all Pantawid Pamilya Groups of the said Barangay. From 17 participants, the attendees increased to 132. The topics discussed are What is my New Year’s Resolution? and Bullying. The team aims to implement the Youth Development Sessions to all barangays of the municipality with the Pantawid Pamilya staff and various resource speakers.

In the three months of the implementation of YDS, the team can confidently say that the youth’s compliance to the program increased as well as their parents. The youth also seem to be more active and interested in the sessions now compared before. “We are starting the Youth Development Session step by step. We are optimist that there would always be a youth who will come. And through the word of mouth, eventually more youth will attend this activity,” said Vince Gasmin, Municipal Link from Team Bulalacao.

Education on-air

As if living on a time frame, Team Bulalacao continues to initiate activities that benefit their beneficiaries. The team launched its first radio program or the so-called Radio Development Session (RDS) via MUEWS 96.7 FM from 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon last January 18, 2014.

The debut of the radio program was a success as it receives more than a hundred text messages to the radio portal from the listeners all over the municipality. Vince Gasmin, one of the municipal links serves as the home DJ.

The program will run for four months and will tackle issues for the family and youth such as Disaster Risk Reduction, Environmental Sanitation, Organic Farming as well as Teenage pregnancy, Laws on the rights of women & their children and many more.

The team is very optimistic on the results of the initiated activities. The Youth Development Sessions and Radio Development Sessions is definitely a lot of work “We will not just talk but surely also walk,” agreed by the Pantawid Pamilya staff of Bulalacao.

Going beyond mere practice, Team Bulalacao provides its beneficiaries with a deeper understanding of the word “service”. The team is highly motivated allowing them to function in any setting using the new initiated-activities. Applying their knowledge in community organizing and leadership, as a result, the team’s innovative spirit has created a path for a more interactive and even first class development sessions.