A Project Officer from the Columban Fathers agro-forestry project in Bacolod in the Philipines, and Misean Cara Porject Officer Colette Nkunda plant a tree in their farm. Photo: Misean Cara.

Recently Misean Cara Project Officer Colette Nkunda conducted a monitoring visit in Philippines. This country was chosen on the basis of the concentration of funding received by members, time elapsed since the last monitoring visit and learning potential.

Consultant Eamonn Casey, and I conducted a monitoring visit in the Philippines. The visit had a twofold objective – firstly to assess which projects have achieved their objectives as set out in their applications, and secondly, to understand and learn from members’ practice.

This monitoring visit also culminated in the first ever meeting of members in the Philippines, on Tuesday 27 January 2015. Twenty six members attended representing eleven religious congregations. This meeting was useful as it enabled us to present Misean Cara to the members, by going through its mission, the funding schemes and guidelines, the deadlines and the frequently asked questions. Members also took part in a brainstorming session on the Vision and Strategy that will guide Misean Cara for its medium and long term future.

To date, Misean Cara funding to projects in the Philippines is over €1.19million, and the last monitoring visit was carried out in 2006. The team visited 19 projects (both development and emergency) implemented by the following members in the Philippines: Columban fathers, Society of the Divine Saviour, Salesian Sisters, Divine Word Missionaries, Presentation Sisters, Redemptorists, Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary (Chigwell), Good Shepherd Sisters.

The team looked at the progress, performance and focus of projects targeting the poor and marginalised people in the Philippines. We were eager to learn from the projects and we listened and collected stories from the beneficiaries. We visited the Parola and Payatas Slums of Metro Manila, and talked to the youth taking courses in alternative Education. By graduating from this programme young people will use this opportunity to end the structural poverty affecting them. We also spent a whole day with young girls recovering from abuse and exploitation and family abandonment. The Salesian sisters provide them with a refuge where they receive psychosocial help, valued guidance and technical training.

More stories stayed with me but this one was powerful: a mother involved in the social transformation project for abused children in Quezon City in Manila took in two sisters who were living on the street with their father. They used to sleep rough in a box. She brought them to the Salesian Sisters and now the two girls are looked after and they are in mainstream education. They told me of their ambition to study hard and become engineers. I saw hope and confidence in them with the social transformation they have gone through.

I will end by expressing my heartfelt thanks to all members in the Philippines who allowed us to visit their projects, and talk to the stakeholders during the monitoring visit. They were always ready to answer our numerous questions and their help in facilitating interviews was very much appreciated.

Special Report from Misean Cara Project Officer Colette Nkunda.