PROBE'S Che Che Lazaro and Jr. Newswatch's Cheeno Almario at the gathering with other child advocates.

We were not surprised that a small hotel function room could easily accommodate the major child-advocate groups operating in the country.

It was a gathering put together by UNICEF and Probe Media Foundation to check the breadth and depth of involvement of organizations and see where groups like the Council for the Welfare of Children, Plan International, Anak TV, Knowledge Channel and others can interface and up the ante for children and their participation in national affairs, or at least in undertakings that directly involve or affect them.

Knowledge Channel, the de facto PBS (public broadcasting service) of the country, told the body of its strides in bringing state of the art education using broadcasting to marginalized communities. The group is heavily into teachers’ training as well as in pushing for the novel integration of video lessons into the curriculum, a technique that has been proved to work wonders. A UP study in 2006 revealed that there was a two percent increment in scores at the National Achievement Test obtained by children exposed to the channel. The study covered a hundred schools. The Mindanao average was even higher at 3 to 5 per cent. Content adviser for Knowledge Channel is the esteemed former education secretary Fe Hidalgo.

RPN began its Junior Newswatch (Saturdays 8 a.m.) as a vehicle to generate videos from the young about any topic or issue that affected them. The station received 50 report entries from young people and ultimately, only nine young, articulate and imaginative reporters were selected to undergo a fairly extensive training. The youth went through the rigors of writing and reportage, TV presentation and decorum, fashion, camera work and even basic linear editing. Today, the young reporters are actively chasing their own stories, producing reports and facing the cameras, a veritable for, by and about kids’ current affairs program. The Anak TV winner is busy gearing up for its third season.

In the forefront of harnessing youth and children in the more depressed sections of the country is Plan International. Like Anak TV, it believes that there is a larger number of Filipino kids who are not wired, who do not subscribe to youtube or multiply or facebook, simply because computers are not even available to them. Hence it trains kids in their areas (Mindoro, Camotes, Masbate, the Samar provinces and Southern Leyte) in comic book writing and production, theater, radio and TV production etc. They will soon explore the  rich possibilities of puppetry and animation.

For its part, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) stages half day or whole day training programs for the young and has started its own hotline to gather feedback or receive complaints about member station’s indiscretions on air.

The youth are given a chance to express themselves through Probe’s Kabataan News Network. They used to enjoy mileage on mainstream TV but funds and the usual rating dilemma have sidelined them to the internet.

The latest victim of political tradeoffs is the near demise of an agency that was for the longest time been serving the Filipino child, the Council for the Welfare of Children. At the recent awards ceremonies held in the Palace for the most child-friendly cities, visibly absent were the NGOs and many child-focused private groups. They were staging a silent protest at the recent move that all but decimates the hallowed institution that was created by legislation. (The new agency, rumored created to allegedly accommodate a losing senatorial bet, is an all-encompassing, powerful office that was born because of mere executive order.)

The meeting was terse but productive and the coming months will see what progress will be made by the joining of forces of like-minded groups. All these, for and in behalf of children.