Atikha School-Based Program Addressing Migration’s Effects on Children Launched

The Batang Atikha Savers’ Club (BASC) program of Atikha, Inc. was chosen and launched as one of the five flagship projects of Children’s Hour in a ceremony held in Manila Peninsula Hotel last May 29, 2007. Children’s Hour is a foundation that financially supports outstanding projects in the country that attends to the needs and well-being of children. The affair was attended by representatives of Children’s Hour’s partner organizations, donors, sponsors, supporters and friends.

The Batang Atikha project seeks to capacitate 300 trainers in conducting value formation and capacity building activities for children of overseas Filipinos. These trainors are expected to reach about 10,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their children. They are to impart values and information that will help the children and families of OFWs address the social problems brought about by migration.

The trainers will be comprised of elementary teachers who will be trained to facilitate various workshops on migration realities and capacity building seminars. Through these seminars, children will be helped to face the problems brought about by separation with their migrant-parents and their various capacities in leadership, arts and crafts, and peer counseling will be developed and enhanced.

The program will be implemented in selected schools of the following provinces with high concentration of overseas Filipinos: Laguna, Batangas, Quezon, Cavite, La Union and Iloilo. Chapters of the Batang Atikha Savers Club will be organized in the schools where the trainers’ training seminars have been conducted. The trainors will not only be tapped in conducting the seminars for children but also will be enjoined in organizing the Batang Atikha in the schools. The area coordinator, BASC savings mobilization officer and counselor who will run the social services and the BASC program per province will be chosen from among the trainers.

According to Ms. Mai-Dizon Anonuevo, Executive Director of Atikha, coordination with key NGOs, educational institutions and government agencies is crucial in the implementation and success of the Batang Atikha school-based program. With the support of Children’s Hour, she said, Atikha is committed to attend to the needs of children of migrant workers and help address the social cost of the feminization of overseas migration.

To reinforce and enhance the program for children, Atikha also intends to conduct seminars on Financial Literacy and Psychosocial Intervention for overseas Filipinos and other members of their families, especially those who are tasked to manage the remittances and family budgets. The objective of the seminar is to provide information on the proper use of family fund so that people will be able to attain their financial goals. The seminar also provides valuable inputs on various ways of addressing problems that hinder the familial and financial targets and concrete steps in implementing family plans and goals.