Redefining the Act of Giving: A Forum on Social Change
The Ateneo Project for Asian and International Relations (APAIR) in partnership with the Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF) present this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Forum entitled, Redefining the Act of Giving: A Forum on Social Change. One of this 2015’s awardees, social entrepreneur Mr. Anshu Gupta from India, went to the Ateneo de Manila University and shared his own experiences and insights on founding and running the volunteer organization GOONJ, transparency in donations, and the efficiency of his system with regards to disaster risk management. As a follow-up and reactor to his efforts, three other speakers that work in a similar field had also talked about their expertise in relation to Mr. Gupta’s. The first was from the Ashoka Fellowship (the organization wherein Gupta is a member), composed of an international network of social entrepreneurs. The speaker shared the organization’s contribution on providing start-up financing, professional support services, and worldwide connections, to aid in expanding the work of its members. Following is Emmanuel Gatmaitan, Director of the Red Cross Parañaque branch Rizal Chapter, delivered a speech with regards to relief efforts and disaster risk response. Unfortunately, the last speaker, Atty. Lesley Cordero, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist at World Bank who, besides her current profession, who was supposed to speak in the context of her work as the Undersecretary for Rehabilitation, Office of the President during Typhoon Haiyan, was unavailable. In totality, the forum provided local perspectives of charity through social work. The forum will serve as an avenue for discourse and discussion so that the audience will be given the opportunity to further understand such humanitarian actions, as well as realize themselves what they can do towards nation-building.
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