On the final month of implementation, Educo Philippines highlighted the key`milestones of its three child-focused projects – Project STEPS, Project ChildGov, and Project CAST – initiated in five selected municipalities in the Bicol region, including Caramoran in Catanduanes.
Carried out from September 2022 to August 2025, the initiatives have transformed schools and communities across five municipalities in the region through a rights-based and participatory approach that empowers children as active agents of protection and change, the global development cooperation and humanitarian non-government organization stated.
In Caramoran town, the covered schools are Tubli National High School, Caramoran School of Fisheries in Hitoma and Palumbanes Integrated School, Educo officials disclosed in a press conference in Virac last Aug. 8, 2025.
Among those present were Interim Program Manager Jaypee Mapula, CYEA Specialist Vincent Dumadangon, Child Protection Specialist Carla Mae Bremen and Catanduanes Area Manager Adan Kristoffer Monterde.
Project STEPS (Strategic Approach Towards Engaging Children in their Protection and Ensuring a Safe and Protective Environment) aims to strengthen child- and community-led efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children, particularly during crises and disasters.
Implemented in 15 schools across the municipalities of Caramoran (Catanduanes), Manito Albay), Pilar, Castilla, and Donsol (Sorsogon), the project has produced notable outcomes.
Among its key achievements is the development of a comprehensive Child Protection Manual and Toolkit, which serves as an accessible guide for children, parents, and duty-bearers to understand and promote child rights and protection.
The project also rolled out the Safe to Learn Campaign, which facilitated sessions on building inclusive, safe, and protective learning environments.
These sessions were notably led by Supreme Student Government (SSG) leaders and School Child Protection Committees (SCPC), demonstrating meaningful youth involvement and strong collaboration across school stakeholders.
In all 15 partner schools, Child Protection Corners were established, designated spaces within the campus where learners can seek support or rest, especially those experiencing or at risk of abuse. Each school also launched a Child Protection Manifesto, a public declaration outlining their collective commitments and action points toward child safety and inclusion.
To promote positive discipline, 30 parents and 30 teachers underwent specialized training under the Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) and Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching (PDET) programs.
These trained parents later reached over 1,700 additional caregivers, further multiplying the initiative’s impact at the household level. At the same time, trained teachers applied their learning to cultivate safer and more nurturing classroom environments.
To support the sustainability of these efforts, each school received ₱35,000 in small grants to implement child protection initiatives tailored to their school community’s needs, many of which were conceptualized and led by the students themselves.
Meanwhile, Project ChildGov (Social Innovation for Mainstreaming Child Rights in Governance) focuses on creating structured, sustainable systems for the promotion and protection of child rights and well-being, particularly through education and advocacy within schools, communities, and local governance structures.
Spanning 138 barangays, five municipalities, and 140 schools, the project addresses the gap in awareness and understanding of child rights among both children and adults.
One of its cornerstone outputs is the creation of Child Rights and Wellbeing (CRWB) Toolkits, which have been widely disseminated and used in trainings with children, teachers, and local government representatives.
The toolkits are complemented by a Child-Centered Community Organizing Framework and Manual, which guides communities in developing and sustaining local child protection initiatives.
Through a series of organized roll-out sessions, thousands of children, parents, and duty bearers were engaged in meaningful discussions and learning sessions on child rights and well-being. Teachers and community leaders from 136 schools received targeted capacity building that equipped them to champion child rights in both formal and informal settings.
The project also emphasized building structures for child participation, advocating for the institutionalization of Barangay Children’s Organizations (BCO) and Municipal Children’s Federations (MCF) to ensure children have spaces to contribute to local planning and decision-making.
On the other hand, Project CAST (Children as Agents of Social Transformation) is designed to develop the leadership, advocacy, and project management capacities of children so they can initiate, manage, and sustain their own rights-based initiatives.
Active in 10 schools and 38 barangays, CAST empowers children through a hands-on, experiential learning model. Participating children have been trained using Educo Philippines’ ME Child Approach, which equips them with foundational knowledge and practical skills in project planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
These training sessions led to the creation of a Child-Led Project Management and Advocacy Toolkit, which guides children in designing and implementing advocacy campaigns on the issues most important to them.
The project encouraged benchmarking and peer learning by connecting child leaders with other organizations and communities practicing effective child participation.
Using the toolkit, children developed their own advocacy plans, many of which have already been launched as campaigns within their schools and communities.
One of the key strengths of CAST is its integration with the Municipal Council for the Protection of Children (MCPC) and the school-based Supreme Student Government (SSG), ensuring that child-led efforts are aligned with and supported by existing governance structures.
In several instances, local government units and agencies responded to the children’s advocacy efforts through official policies, plans, or commitments of support, showing a tangible shift in how children’s voices are influencing governance, Educo said.
“These initiatives have demonstrated that when children are empowered with the right tools, knowledge, and platforms, they do not just benefit from protection…they lead it,” officials of the NGO remarked, citing the transformative impact of child-led action and community collaboration.
Throughout the course of implementation, Project ChildGov made the most extensive reach, engaging 5,597 children and 4,085 adults directly, and reaching an estimated 180,392 individuals indirectly through continuous community saturation and widespread advocacy across barangays and schools.
Project CAST, which focused on capacitating children in child-led project management and advocacy, directly worked with 262 children and 119 adults, and extended its influence to approximately 46,691 individuals through its local governance engagement and awareness campaigns.
Meanwhile, Project STEPS created safe and protective learning environments for 685 children and 2,774 adults, with an indirect reach of 25,957 community members through school-based initiatives and parenting programs.
Altogether, these three projects directly engaged 6,544 children and 6,978 adults, and positively impacted over 252,000 individuals across the NGO’s program areas in the Bicol Region.