Tomorrow’s the day that you get to create the future you want for volunteering.
Lucky for you and I, VSO Bahaginan‘s 3rd Volunteering Expo at Gateway Suites, Araneta Center is still open for registration 🙂 As a participant of the conference, you will get to join more than 250 delegates from different sectors all over the Philippines who are gathering to talk about how volunteerism can work best for the country.
Because without a doubt, it can. We’ve seen it. Ondoy, Habagat – these are instances where people have freely offered to devote themselves to tasks and causes bigger than themselves, instances that have been proven effective. As a development organization, VSO Bahaginan believes that our individual choices to help has great power and potency. As such, imagine if all of us made that choice 🙂
The only conference of its kind, the 3rd Volunteering Expo aims to discuss the possibility of mobilizing a revolution of consistent citizen action and participation. Broken down, the goals are to find ways to imprint volunteerism on to the national consciousness and to help different groups learn how to improve their volunteer programs and practices.
In numbers, the conference will have:
- 15 sessions on the vital topics of volunteering (e.g. defining development challenges on the horizon for the Philippines and the Asia Pacific, the volunteering process – the situations and conditions wherein volunteers can contribute the most impact),
- 3 breakout sessions to complement the general sessions by discussing specific topics (e.g. the link between happiness and volunteering, making a business case for volunteering programs),
- 30 speakers from the public and private sectors, such as
NEDA Deputy Director General Emmanuel Esguerra, National Youth Commission Chair Leon Flores, Volunteer Act of 2007 main author Representative Benjamin Asilo, Local Government Academy’s Marivel Sacendoncillo, Gawad Kalinga’s Tony Meloto, Koleen Palaganas of Habitat for Humanity, Junie del Mundo of Hands On Manila, Cristalle Henares of Jesuit Volunteers of the Philippines and Pancho Lara of International Alert, Dr. Grace Aguiling Dalisay and Dean Edna Co of UP Diliman and Jody Aked of the UK Institute of Development Studies, and corporate responsibility influencers such as Petron Foundation’s Malou Erni, Pixie Gutierrez of JP Morgan Chase, Marla Alvarez of Thomson Reuters, Max Ventura of Philam Foundation, Joseph Quesada of Ayala Foundation, Charie Villa of ABS CBN and Dr. Susan Roth from the Asian Development Bank
On the same day, VSO Bahaginan will also be holding a complementary and complimentary Volunteer Fair. It’s free!!! 🙂
Starting after lunch, the fair is going to be a marketplace of volunteering opportunities and projects, working with the hopes of connecting around 30 volunteer-involving organizations with eager Filipino youths, professionals, and citizens. If you wanna know more about what’s going to be happening, check out their poster below.
I am very much excited for this 🙂
The Volunteering Expo and the Volunteering Fair is going to be fun and, just like volunteering, it’s going to be a good, helpful use of time. Go if you can, and tell your friends!