Volunteer for the Visayans (VFV)

Volunteer for the Visayans (VFV) is a non-profit, [SEC No: CN200427692] non-government organization (NGO) located in Tacloban City, Philippines.

We are dedicated to the on-going growth of sustainable project development efforts in the Philippines, particularly working in the areas of child welfare, education, social welfare and healthcare.

As an organization, VFV is sub-divided into three core programs; the first is what is known as the Volunteer Program whereby we recruit international volunteers to participate in offering assistance to our local community partners. Over the years, VFV has offered vital assistance to orphanages, social welfare institutes, rural health clinics, public nutrition programs, rural elementary schools and city high schools.

Our second program is the Sponsorship Program, which assists children from socioeconomically stressed families to remain in school. The program is supported by the annual donations of international sponsors. More than 150 children are enrolled in the VFV sponsorship program. About 90 of these children attend our Community Center daily for tutoring and enrichment activities. These services are provided by our international volunteers, who in many cases are devoting extra hours of volunteer work beyond their regular commitment.

Finally our third program is the Community Program which consists of both Local Community and Outreach programs across the Eastern Visayas. Of our various Community Program projects, our Dumpsite Program has probably been our most challenging and rewarding initiative. We have been successful in getting many children to leave the dumpsite and enroll in school. This project is founded on VFV’s social enterprising model whereby the international volunteers pay a program fee. In addition to the Dumpsite Project, the Community Program also coordinates a number of local community empowerment groups including a Mothers Club which serves as a micro financing, skills training and women’s empowerment project for local mothers; a Boys and Girls club for local adolescents which offers skills training and peer bonding and a Arts & Craft based livelihood project called Laura’s Craft (named after a previous VFV volunteer).

The Community Program is also responsible for the following VFV projects: the Adopt-A-School project, which enlists donors to contribute school supplies to remote rural schools in Eastern Visayas; the Build-A-School project which renovates or builds school facilities; and the Build-A-Home project, which renovates or builds homes for families who are living in unsafe structures. Each year VFV also coordinates a Medical Mission in a rural town outside of Tacloban City; this typically takes place in the last week of May/first week of June and is created with the purpose of providing free medical services to rural towns outside of Tacloban City.

In summary, it is the combination of these three core programs that makes Volunteer for the Visayans a successful, broad-based social welfare program.