World Vision Advocacy Portfolio - Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children

Giving Voice to the
Most Vulnerable Children

World Vision Advocacy: Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children
Prepared by: WVDF Advocacy and Communications Team
World Vision Development Foundation © 2014

Giving voice to the Most
Vulnerable Children through
Advocacy
Advocating for the rights of children is an integral part of our work, at the national
and local level, to
influence and promote policies that protect vulnerable children
in poor communities, and to
mobilize and educate publics about human and child
rights.
World Vision’s advocacy on children’s rights is anchored on the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC), which is widely ratified by
governments of various countries.
(For a more comprehensive information on the provisions of the UN-CRC
visit http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/CHILD_E.PDF)
Why do we advocate?
For World Vision, advocacy means giving voice to the world’s most
vulnerable children, making their needs visible to those who can and
should be meeting them.
We believe that advocating for justice for children will transform
their lives, their families and communities, our supporters and
partners.
Doing advocacy entails partnering, engaging and convincing publics to
act on issues that affect the wellbeing of children.
WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children 3
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

Partnering with Child Well-Being Champions
To further amplify our advocacy work, we engage child well-being champions at all levels.
World Vision continuously partners with local and national government agencies to
address child well-being and protection issues and deliver results. In 2013, World Vision
responded to 38 child protection cases in coordination with the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD).
We also work hand-in-hand with other like-minded groups to tackle various issues
affecting children’s rights. World Vision actively participates as board member, lead
convenor or member organization of these coalitions and alliances.
Government Agencies
Networks & Alliances
Department of
Education
Department of Social
Welfare and Development
Department of
Health
Department of Interior
and Local Government
Office of the Civil
Defense
Council for the Welfare
of Children
Phil NGO Coalition on the
UN Convention on the Rights
of Child Monitoring
Child Rights
Network
National LCPC
Consortium
National Child
Labor Committee
Phil Coalition of Advocates
for Nutrition Security
Disaster Risk Reduction
Network Philippines
Education Network
Philippines
Aksyon Klima
Global Call to Action
Against Poverty
National Council
for Social Development
National Disaster Risk
Reduction and Management
Council
Department of Labor
and Employment
World Vision recognizes that child participation is not only a right, but an essential aspect of
well-being. Considering children as partners for development, World Vision integrates voices of
children in the center of development, advocacy and disaster management work.
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WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

Every child has the right to
Education
World Vision promotes equal access to education through the Education for All
(EFA) campaign, which seeks to improve the quality of basic education of every Filipino
by 2015.
We advocate that children enjoy access to free and quality public education. With this,
we take measures to ensure that:
Primary education is compulsory and free for all
General, vocational and higher education is accessible for every child
Drop-out rates in schools are reduced and there is increased school attendance
World Vision calls on the Philippine government and other decision-makers to urgently
take all necessary measures to ensure that primary education is universal, free of
direct and indirect costs and accessible for all children.
This also includes making concrete action to reduce drop-out rates in primary and
secondary schools and address the reasons behind non-completion as well as ensuring
the quality implementation of the K to 12 system.
To ensure implementation, World Vision strongly advocates for a bigger national
budget allocation to improve education especially the infrastructures (Safe Schools),
educational materials, school facilities and teachers’ salary.

&
Every child has the right to
GOOD
HEALTH NUTRITION
World Vision works with families,
communities, local and the national
government to promote sound health and
nutrition practices among children and
their communities.
NUTRITION
World Vision calls on the Government and
all stakeholders to take up the challenge of
endorsing, implementing, monitoring and
taking accountability through scaling up of
proven and cost-effective programmes to
tackle malnutrition.
We are a firm advocate for addressing
and overcoming malnutrition, particularly
among the most vulnerable population –
pregnant women and children under two
years.
We continue to educate and mobilize
citizens and community partners to enable
them to engage local governments to
improve health and nutrition services at
stake.
Breastfeeding saves lives
World Vision affirms the joint policy of UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO),
and UNAIDS that breastfeeding should be promoted, protected and supported
over the use of infant formulas in developing countries.
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WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

Child Health Now Campaign
Child Health Now (CHN) is World Vision’s
fi rst global advocacy campaign on a single
issue – to curb preventable child deaths,
and contribute to Millenium Development
Goal 4, the reduction of child mortality.
A main hurdle is that low-cost, simple
interventions are not made equitably
available and accessible, resulting in 19,000
children dying every day in 2011.
While the leading causes of under-fi ve
deaths are infections and diseases, more
than a third of these are attributed to
undernutrition (UNICEF, 2012).
Call to Action
• Commit and follow through on the Scale
Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement to
create an enabling political environment,
stronger leadership, and cohesive
partnership with nutrition-focused civil
society organizations.
• Intensify support to breastfeeding by
refusing amendments to the Milk
Code (Executive Order 51), and instead,
strongly enforce EO 51.
• Fully engage civil society and
communities in the planning,
monitoring and quality assurance of
health and nutrition services.
Against this backdrop, CHN’s campaign in
the Philippines draws upon World Vision’s
partnership with government and civil
society working in the area of Nutrition,
in order to influence policy change. Local
advocacy for child health is happening in
fi ve of its partner communities through
a community-based advocacy approach.
Citizens themselves are capacitated
to work towards making their local
government accountable for health
services intended for the community.
Social Mobilization against
Tubercolosis
Tuberculosis (TB) remains among the
top 10 causes of death in the Philippines.
In addressing TB, World Vision responds
through awareness-raising, detection
and supportive treatment. World Vision
advocates at the national and local
levels to ensure that preventive and
curative mechanisms are accessible in the
communities.
HIV and AIDS
World Vision works with faith-based
groups to respond to tough development
issues that affect their communities.
We advocate for the prevention, early
detection and proper treatment of HIV
while promoting compassion and dignity
among people living with HIV and AIDs.

Every child has the right to
PROTECTION & PARTICIPATION
As a child-focused agency, World Vision has obliged itself to protect all the children it
serves in all areas of project implementation and influence.
We partner with the Government at the national and local levels and other civil society
organizations (CSO) to influence policies that keep children safe.
In 2013, World Vision responded to 38 child protection cases in coordination with the
Department of Social Welfare and Development. Intervention to reported cases ranged
from advocacy, referrals and counseling, to financial and legal assistance.
ABK3-LEAP
ABK3 LEAP is a four-year project funded by the US Department of Labor (USDOL)
which seeks to contribute to the sustainable reduction of child labor in 11 sugarcanegrowing
provinces in the Philippines by providing assistance to 52,000 children and
25,000 families through livelihoods,
education, advocacy and social protection
services.
ABK3-LEAP Project Partners: ChildFund Philippines, Inc.; Educational Research & Development Assistance Foundation, Inc. (ERDA); the Sugar Industry Foundation,
Inc. (SIFI); the Community Economic Ventures, Inc. (CEVI); and the University of the Philippines Social Action and Research for Development Foundation, Inc.
(UPSARDF).
This project aims to:
1. Reduce child labor by providing direct education, livelihoods, social protection, youth employment
assistance and linkages to support services.
2. Strengthen policies and capacity to address child labor, education, sustainable livelihoods and social
protection.
3. Raise awareness to reduce child labor and its root causes, emphasize the importance of education, social
protection and decent work for children/youth of legal working age.
4. Support research, evaluation, collection and dissemination of reliable data on child labor, its root causes,
and/or effective strategies.
5. Promote long-term sustainability of efforts to combat child labor and improve livelihoods

Barangay Council for the Protection of Children
The Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) is a council organized at
the barangay level that ensures the promotion and protection of child well-being.
According to a World Vision study on BCPC Functionality in 2012, 23 out of 36 covered
barangays with the most number of reported abuse cases were found to have organized
councils but not yet functional.
World Vision has committed to collaborate with the DILG in facilitating BCPC training
programs for council members at the provincial, municipal and barangay level, and
performance monitoring of BCPCs in World Vision’s covered areas in the Philippines.
Positive and Non-Violent Discipline Act
Together with the Child Rights Network (CRN), World Vision pushes for the enactment
of the Positive and Non-Violent Discipline Act that explicitly prohibits corporal
punishment in all settings.
World Vision works with like-minded groups to intensify awareness-raising campaigns
to sensitize and educate parents, families, guardians and professional working with and
for children on the harmful effects of corporal punishment and promote the use of
alternative and non-violent forms of discipline in a manner consistent with the child’s
dignity.
Juvenile Justice Law
World Vision stands firm not to lower the age of discernment from 15 to 9 years old.
We uphold the full implementation of RA 10630 or the act strengthening the juvenile
justice system in the Philippines.
WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children 9
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

CITIZEN VOICE
Helping communities
What is CVA?
Citizen Voice and Action
(CVA) is World Vision’s social
accountability approach designed
to improve the relationship between
communities and government to
improve basic services that
impact the daily lives of children and
their families.
Since 2005, hundreds of local
public services in other countries
have been transformed by the
hard work of communities using
the CVA. In the Philippines, CVA
was introduced in 2012 as a local
advocacy methodology to tackle
various issues that affect children
such as malnutrition and disaster
risks, among others.

AND ACTION
realize the power within
How does CVA work?
CVA works by mobilizing citizens,
educating them about their rights and
equipping them with simple tools to
monitor public services at stake and
facilitating a process to improve those
services.
Communities
Empowered for Better
Health Services
“I’m glad that there is a dialogue like
this where opinions are heard. Our
scores also refl ect our hopes; that
services will be rightfully provided
especially where there is lack,” shares
22 year old mother, Rina during the
community consultation session on
breastfeeding services in Puerto
Princesa city.

Anti-Trafficking in Persons
World Vision advocates against human
trafficking in post-disaster contexts
through sustainable recovery of typhoonaffected
people. To reduce disasterrelated
trafficking vulnerabilities, World
Vision implements increased livelihood
opportunities and conducts Trafficking in
Persons (TIP) awareness at household and
community levels. This project is funded by
the USAID.
Nationally, we call on the Government and all stakeholders to strengthen mechanisms to
combat TIP in all contexts.
Children Affected by Armed Conflict
World Vision firmly holds that children in armed conflict should not be treated as
children in conflict with the law.
We call on the Government to fully implement existing legislation on promoting the
special protection of children involved in, affected by or displaced by armed conflict; and
prohibiting and criminalizing the recruitment and involvement of children in hostilities.
World Vision also promotes Local Capacities for Peace (LCP) that helps
communities weigh the effects of conflict and learn how children can be agents for
lasting peace.
In local governance, World Vision supports the enactment of the Sangguniang
Kabataan (SK) Reform Act which strengthens and streamlines mechanisms of
involving the youth sector in nation-bulding.
World Vision recognizes that child participation is not only a right, but an essential
aspect of well-being.
Considering children as partners for development, World Vision includes the voices of
children in every aspect of its development, advocacy and disaster risk reduction and
management work.
WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
12 Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

CHILD-FOCUSED
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
World Vision’s approach to increase resiliency of children, families and communities
includes mitigating measures, capacity building and advocacy. We work with the
Government to ensure that disaster management policies are implemented at all levels.
World Vision promotes children’s safety by training them to understand and care
for their environment. Our Child-Focused Disaster Risk Reduction (CFDRR)
capacitates both children and adults on environmental preservation and disaster
preparedness. Children, along with adults participate in formulating and implementing a
disaster preparedness plan.
In Agusan del Sur, the disaster preparedness plan created through the CFDRR helped
mitigate the impact of flashfloods in its communities.
World Vision, together with the DRR Network (DRRNet) continuously advocated for
Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Act. World Vision served as the lead convenor of the DRRNet (2010-2012) and the
sole faith-based CSO representative to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC).
WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children 13
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

World Vision capacitates communities to monitor the functionality of local level Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Council and other local policies and practices on
disaster mitigation and climate change adaptation.
World Vision also works with Aksyon Klima (AK), a network on climate-change
adaptation, in formulating policy guidelines for the implementation of the People’s
Survival Fund.
We promote the revised Republic Act
10174 or the Climate Change Act that
aims to mobilize survival fund to finance
local governments in effectively addressing
climate change.
SAFE SCHOOLS
World Vision promotes safe schools,
which encompasses ensuring disaster-safe
infrastructures, inclusion of DRR in school
curriculum and child protection measures.
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WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness.
Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

Uplifting
Family’s Livelihood
World Vision enables family resiliency to provide for the basic needs of children including
food, health and education.
We work with communities to improve household and economic resilience through
livelihood and economic development opportunities.
World Vision’s policy advocacy on economic development centers upon the stricter
implementation of the Organic Agriculture Act or RA 10068 at the local level.

WORLD VISION DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION. INC.
Who We Are
World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization
dedicated to working with children, families and their communities to reach their full
potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
World Vision serves people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or gender.
Where We Work
Globally, World Vision helps transform the lives of
millions of children in nearly 100 countries.
Locally, for over 55 years, World Vision’s focused
programmes on children’s well-being have
improved the lives of more than 100,000
children in the Philippines.
Priority Issues
Health
Nutrition
Education
Child
Protection
How We Serve
Through child-focused and community-based
development programs World Vision helps
thousands of vulnerable children, families and
communities to overcome poverty and be
self-sufficient in the long term
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Disaster
Management
Economic
Development
WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
Giving Voice to the Most Vulnerable Children
Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

We work with sponsors and donors, corporate partners, the Government, community
groups, networks and the children themselves to plan and carry out changes towards
improving the lives of the children.
We place children, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable, at the heart of our
ministry.
Our development approach addresses the needs and issues of children in the areas of
education, health and nutrition, child protection, economic resilience and disaster risk
reduction and management.
To learn more about World Vision’s programs and its impact,
visit our website at www.worldvision.org.ph

World Vision ADVOCACY
Ministry of Prayer
and Influence
For World Vision, advocacy is a ministry
of influence using persuasion, dialogue
and reason to obtain change. Advocacy, to
different degrees, becomes the goal of our
work, the heart of our work and the way
of our work. With prayer, we advocate on
behalf of the most vulnerable children.
World Vision’s advocacy works hand in
hand in two levels: policy and people. We
attempt to influence and shape policy and
we work to empower citizens to work
with change. We aim to uphold justice
by engaging both the public (people
empowerment) and the authorities (policy
infl uence) to create positive and lasting
change. Our engagement is influencing
through peaceful dialogue and effective
partnership with all stakeholders.
For World Vision, advocacy means
upholding justice for the poor. To work for
a just world means that advocates call for
justice at all levels. We believe that justice
is a God-given right for every person. It
must be available to every person at every
level of life. World Vision advocacy works
towards that end.
“What does the Lord require of you, but to do
justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.”
– Micah 6:8
WORLD VISION ADVOCACY
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Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.

Message from the National Director
Josaias dela Cruz
Everything we do in World Vision is
anchored on our fervent bias for the
children. Every day, we are reminded
that whatever we do, however
mundane it is, whether it’s on the field
or behind our office desks, we are
always reminded of the bottom line: the
best interest of the child.
Everything is linked to our advocacy that seeks to give justice to the
poor and oppressed believing that all people are created in the image
of God. In World Vision, we define advocacy as the promotion of
justice through changes in policies, systems, structures, practices and
attitudes, citizen mobilization and education about human and child
rights. We believe that challenging the unjust systems and structures
in the Philippines is fundamental to its vision of a full life for every
child.
Message from the Advocacy
and Communications Director
Filomena Portales
World Vision’s advocacy work
focuses on partnering with
different child well-being
champions in promoting
children’s rights, access to
education, values formation;
advancing sound health and
nutrition practices among children and their communities; and
infl uencing policies that keep children safe. In all these advocacy
work, World Vision ensures that children’s voices are integrated in all
aspects of engagement both at the local, national and international
level.
It is our hope and prayer that this Advocacy Portfolio will serve as
our guide and inspire us to work together as agents of change to
address the root causes of poverty and injustice by promoting child
rights and child well-being. Let us continue to advocate for policies,
programs and services that advance the best interest of Filipino
children.

World Vision
Development
Foundation Inc.
www.worldvision.org.ph
389 Quezon Avenue cor. West 6th St.
West Triangle, Quezon City
Philippines 1104
email:
land line:
wv_phil@wvi.org
+632 374-7618 to 28
wvphadvocacy
@worldvisionph
worldvisionphl
wvphilippines