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August 2011
Last school year, Singapore American School donated 85 computers, monitors and keyboards to help promote the rights of children in the Philippines. After months of working tirelessly to get through the bureaucratic red tape, the computers have finally arrived!
On May 30th, 2011 SFI handed over computers to 35 police precincts in Metro Manila. These computers will be placed in the Women and Children Protection Desks to be used as a much needed technical resource in handling the daily workload of the Women and Children Protection Desks.
During the ceremony at the Philippine National Police National Capital Region(PNP NCR) headquarters, SFI director, Lars Jorgensen, stressed the importance of investing into the protection of women and children to promote and support the country’s development. While some of the computers will be used in Stairway's IT training and in the Puerto Galera and Manila offices, a majority of them will be donated to other SFI partners, government and non-government. All will be in positions where they will benefit children in need.
Thank you, Singapore American School, Stairway Club, and others who have invested time and effort in this worthwhile endeavour. |
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August 2011
Imagine yelling “Stop!” in the middle of a theatre performance, getting up from your seat in the audience and making your way down to the stage, replacing the protagonist and changing the course or the outcome of the play? This is the innovative theatre technique pioneered by Augusto Boal, a Brazilian dramatist who developed the techniques of Theatre of the Oppressed.
Gualandi Volunteer Services Project (GVSP) from Cebu City and NGO Support and Empower Deaf Abused Children (SEDAC) from Metro Manila are 2 of the latest partners under the Break the Silence Network. Both organizations work with and partly consist of Deaf people, and they all can vouch for the urgent need to create awareness on the issue of sexual abuse and exploitation amongst Deaf children.
Last July 1-3, Deaf and hearing participants from GVSP and SEDAC participated in a three-day intensive theatre workshop that explored Forum Theatre technique. Initially beginning with exercises and games aimed at activating the five senses and creating an atmosphere of trust, fun and creativity, the objective was to create a couple of pieces of theatre derived from the experiences of the participants of which an oppression or a problem is the focus. The last day resulted in a presentation of two devised theatre pieces in which audience members took an active part. Performing for the first time on stage, the Deaf experienced a profound new way of expressing issues confronting the Deaf community. |
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August 2011
The recent arrests of 72 people from 13 different countries, that included the Philippines, on charges of Internet child pornography, has further stressed the urgency to safeguard children against a most unexpected and most horrifying crime. The Silang Network for Children, a local network of child rights advocates trained under SFI, is lobbying for regulation of Internet Cafes for the protection of children. The draft ordinance in Silang, Cavite is on the regulation of Internet Cafes for the protection of children with regards to exposure to pornography, usage of children in the production of child pornography, access to any form of pornography and gambling inside the Internet cafes.The ordinance is in support of RA 9775 or the anti-child pornography law, which has a specific provision on the regulation of Internet café’s by local government units. |
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August 2011
Ideally, the Women and Children Protection Desks should be the structure for addressing all abuses of women and children. The staff under the WCPD should have the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitude in order to cater to victims of abuse. In addition, they should have the necessary facilities in order to provide a safe environment for communicating with victims. Not all police stations have a separate WCPD room, or even a separate space allocated to them. The minimum privacy required to establish an atmosphere of trust and calm is rarely there.
Since last June, Stairway began work in various precincts around Metro Manila. Based on recommendations from the chief of the National Capital Region WCPD, 15 precincts have been chosen as pilot sites for the project. The main criterion is that the precinct should have a separate room for the WCPD Officer and the that the Chief Commander and the head of the WCPD at the station commit to the totality of this project. We hope to complete the 15 stations targeted within 2011. |
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April 2011
It is fascinating how a single box downstage center can transform into an other world where mesmerizing stories long hidden away are brought to the light of the surface.
Deaf students from SEADC of Metro Manila and GVSP of Cebu have completed their first training block to become CSAP advocates for the Deaf community. A part of the training blocks includes sessions in creative drama which are designed to stimulate creativity, imagination and theatrical inventiveness that will be useful in educating children in CSAP as well as for developing innovative forms of creative advocacy. Click here to view images |
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March 2011
On average, deaf children are exceedingly more vulnerable to sexual abuse than hearing children. Further, the institutions mandated to deal with child sexual abuse cases are poorly equipped to handle cases involving Deaf children. Moreover, advocacy materials on child protection addressing Deaf children are practically non-existent. The above mentioned facts have propelled Stairway to extend our advocacy efforts to the Deaf community putting special attention on the protection of Deaf children.
With the help of De La Salle College of Saint Benilde - School for Deaf Education and Applied Studies, as well as the US Peace Corp, we have now provided our CSAEP animation toolkits with sign language video insets. This undertaking represents a huge leap forward in terms of investing in protection of a particularly vulnerable minority of special children with physical challenges. This monumental development will not only benefit Deaf children in the Philippines, but it will surely spread to other parts of the South- and Southeast Asian Region.  Click here to view images
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