EARTH BATCH

The Second Year

The following activities were implemented on the second year to complete the program cycle:

Module / Event	Target Dates	Actual Dates	Venue
Faculty Mid Term Review	January 16, 2001	April 6, 2001	Earthlite, Cubao, Quezon City
Consensus Builder	February 19-23, 2001	April 23-28, 2001	Ciudad Christhia, Bgy. Ampid, San Mateo, Rizal
Network Builder	February 26-28,2001	April 30-May 2, 2001	Ciudad Christhia, Bgy. Ampid, San Mateo, Rizal
Keeper of the Covenant	May 3-4, 2001	June 18 & 21, 2001	Lucban Village Inn, Lucban, Quezon
ARAE Presentation	May 23-24, 2001	June 19-20,2001
Graduation	May 25, 2001	June 21, 2001
Evaluation	May 26,2001	June 22, 2001

The historic unfolding of events in the national arena greatly affected the schedule and the people steering the Successor Generation program. As mentioned in our March 2001 report, Ms. Corazon ‘Dinky’ Juliano-Soliman was appointed Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and she was replaced by Ms. Fides Bagasao as executive director of CO Multiversity and to coordinate the consensus builder module as well.

SucGen has the tradition of preparing and abiding to a calendar of activities for one year but for the second year particularly on the second half, none of which was followed. It took more than two months from the original schedule to conduct the Faculty Mid Term Review; this is due to the difficulty of finding a common time for busy people. It finally pushed through on April 6, 2001. As in previous faculty meetings, the modules conducted earlier were evaluated and so were the participants. Recommendations of the faculty regarding alternative resource speakers were also solicited.

After the Mid Term Review, the last three modules were conducted on April 23-May 2, 2001 at Ciudad Christhia Resort, Barangay Ampid, San Mateo, Rizal.

The consensus builder module discussed the conflict-confrontation-conflict resolution continuum. The highlight of which was the Earth Day celebration of CO Multiversity on April 25 in Punta, Sta. Ana, Manila near Pasig River. The theme was ‘Save the People, Save the river!” In the network builder, the 2^nd day of the module coincided with the Malacanang siege of May 1st. The participants decided to help clean up EDSA Shrine and distribute food to the people; the next day, their regular session resumed.

The keeper of the covenant module was not conducted as planned. At the onset of the consensus builder, everyone agreed that they would be staying at Ciudad Christhia for two weeks but when it was time for the KOC module they decided that they would forego the session for the time being.

To make up for the module, it was finally held in Lucban a day before the ARAE presentation.

Thus, on June 18, 2001, Prof. Beth Protacio-De Castro talked about Ang Pagka-Pinoy sa EDSA at Iba Pa: Mga Hamon at Pagsusuri. She discussed the Filipino psychology and what happened in EDSA 3 from the point of view of a Filipino psychologist. After the ARAE Presentation, Ms. Mean Ignacio facilitated a discussion called Dialogue with the Covenants on June 22. Ms. Ignacio told her story, her insights on what she is doing and on the NGO community as a whole, and the beginnings of SucGen.

Mr. Dan Songco presented the synthesis of the program. He reviewed what the earth batch had gone through in the past eight or nine months. He shared his personal understanding of leadership, the challenges the fellows will face and the roles of the new civil society leader.

Action Reflection Alternatives Exercise (ARAE)

Ten fellows have already completed the program; the three have yet to submit the lacking requirements of their ARAE. Below are the final ARAE topics of the earth batch:

Fellow	Topic
Luz Divina Anung	Recreating the IPHC Towards SIAD & Financial Sustainability
Albert Aquino	Institutionalizing CBCRM in the Island Province of Siquijor
Haley Atienza	An Exploratory Study on Two Male Gender Advocate Groups in Cebu City: Basis for a Development Program
Luz Angeles Blanco	Operationalization of PHILDHRRA’s Thrust Towards Membership-driven Network
Alma Cabilin	Building NATCCO’s Capacity on Policy Advocacy for Cooperative Advantage
Marilou Capucao	From Supporting Local Structures to Streamlining Internal Operations- An NGO Model of Actualizing PPLG (People Participation in Local Governance)
Milagros Corpuz	A Pre-Feasibility Study for the Philippine Foundation Center
Dennise Edwina Gonzales	Increasing the Level of Participation of School Administration of PhilSSA Affiliated Social Involvement Offices in the Formation of Social Development Professionals
Norman Joseph Jiao	Financial Sustainability Strategies of NGOs
Ma. Rosario Lopez	Strengthening Membership Participation in AF Network
Alicia Miranda	Coop Policy Manual in Its Simplicity
Lorena Navallasca	Revitalizing the Youth Sector Towards Upland Resource Management
Ernila Valdez	Enhancing Collaboration Work Among NGO Members of Metro Quezon Network

Training Manual

SucGen hired Ma. Teresa Tatlonghari-Mateo and Perlyn Bunyi to write the training manual. Handouts and reading materials used by batches 1 and 2 were patiently gathered by the secretariat to help the writers in their work. Once completed in March 2002, the training manual will serve as a guide for the faculty and resource speakers.

In its November meeting, the steering committee has ‘appointed’ Dr. Mary Racelis as the dean emeritus of SucGen. She will provide theoretical inputs, academic content and methodologies used in the training modules.

Replication at Maryhill School of Theology

The negotiations started in October 2001. Dr. Mary Racelis introduced SucGen to Bro. Ramon Coronel, Dean of Academic Affairs of Maryhill School of Theology and the rest, as they say, is history. Advocate module became an elective course; Mr. Dan Songco, being the module coordinator, facilitated the teaching for the second semester of school year 2001-02; the secretariat coordinated with the resource speakers.

Thus, every Wednesday at 8:00-10:00 a.m. at the 4^th floor, Conference Room, New Building of Maryhill, the sessions of the advocate module is imparted to 21 seminarians of different dioceses. The semester started on November 7, 2001 and will end on March 13, 2002.

Recruitment of Nominees for Batch 3

The turnout of fellows in Batches 1 and 2 was way below the target, i.e., 20. Thus for the incoming batch, the secretariat decided to campaign during assemblies of CODE-NGO. In October 2001, at the national assembly of CODE-NGO, an Earth batch fellow gave an orientation about SucGen and another gave a testimony. Another occasion was during the CODE-NGO Congress in November, the ARAEs were compiled and were handed out to the member-networks of CODE-NGO.

As a result, nominations poured in. Interviews by the steering committee are going on and, hopefully, 20 slots will be filled in for the third batch.

Challenges

The following challenges are faced by

How do we ensure the program’s financial sustainability? Will there be a second phase?
How can SucGen be of help in forming the model leaders of people’s organizations?
In the light of what is happening in the NGO community right now, what is its effect to SucGen?

In seeking responses to these queries, the following activities are currently undertaken:

Training manual for all SucGen modules
Impact evaluation
Teaching of advocate module at Maryhill School of Theology

Earth Batch