Children International in Manila, Philippines has been working in partnership with Aflatoun International for nine years. In 2010, it was launched as an after school programme for 40 high school students using the Aflateen curriculum. Now, the programme has empowered more than 4,000 youth in the area.

During this partnership, Children International Philippines and Aflatoun have targeted out-of-school youth in both urban and rural communities. They have helped youth become regular savers by opening bank accounts and also through the traditional system locally termed as “alkansya” which is the Philippine version of a piggy-bank using a dried coconut shell or bamboo tube.

The organisation, through the Aflateen curriculum, has also encouraged and advocated financial literacy allowing students to become young entrepreneurs and establish small-scale businesses in their communities.

Children International Philippines was also able to develop youth leaders in the Aflatoun programme by training them as ‘Youth Facilitators’ whose main task is to implement Aflatoun workshops. The programme has successfully developed 522 Youth Facilitators in the Philippines.

Rollven Verdan, a 15-year-old active Youth Facilitator, was often described as very shy with a low self-esteem before joining the Aflatoun programme. Since taking on the Youth Facilitator role, Rollven has evolved tremendously being recognized as the ‘Best Aflatoun Facilitator’ in 2016.

By 2020, Children International Philippines aims to expand the programmes’ reach with more than 3,800 new programme completers and 300 newly trained Youth Facilitators.

For more info about Children International Philippines, click here. If you are interested in joining Aflatoun’s Global Movement visit our ‘Join Page’ to learn more.