The Philippines, like much of the world, is facing not only the ongoing pandemic but also an ongoing waste management problem. In hopes of contributing to local solutions, Coca-Cola Philippines – through its social investment arm Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines – is partnering with Teach for the Philippines (TFP) in a program that encourages and educates teachers, students, and families to become responsible environmental stewards.
“The saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ extends to children’s behavior towards their surroundings and communities. Our Foundation recognizes the importance of collaborative efforts in forming young citizens committed to caring for the environment,” said Cecile Alcantara, President of Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines. “In 2019, we supported the roll-out of TFP’s Batang Bayani Environmental Education modules to hundreds of students. When face-to-face classes halted during the pandemic, we supported the adaptation of these modules to fit flexible learning delivery options in order to reach more students and communities.”
Through the continuing partnership with TFP -- an organization that works to ensure all Filipino children can benefit from an inclusive, relevant, and excellent education -- Coca-Cola is supporting the migration of its three modules on Environmental Education to various alternative delivery modes. These include Chat-and-SMS-based discussion guides, self-learning modules and session worksheets, and video-based instructional guides for online broadcast.
During SY 2019-2020, the modules developed by TFP under its Batang Bayani Program were used to educate 520 students and 52 parents on topics such as Recycling for Students, Segregation for Students, and Recycling and Segregation for Parents. These same modules were adapted for distance and flexible learning. As a result, they were utilized to reach 1,730 students and 291 parents, exceeding the initial goal of reaching 600 public school students and 100 public school teachers and parents.
"The Environmental Education modules aim to teach students, their parents, as well as co-teachers to recognize and appreciate how the environment affects their daily lives, and vice versa," said TFP Program & Training Director, Ginny Villa-Real. "With Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines’ partnership, we have been able to continue adapting and supporting learning amid the pandemic. Now more than ever, we find it important to continue empowering children and the communities around them to become responsible environmental stewards."
Both parent and student participants reported to have been highly satisfied with the program. “We have noticed early indicators of knowledge transfer in our student participants,” TFP Program Manager John Cedric Pineda added.
Beyond migrating the modules to other learning delivery modes, the partnership also included an awareness campaign on social media which reached more than 100,000 Filipinos online.
Teaching environmental stewardship to communities
Aside from the tie-up with TFP on environmental education, the Foundation has been supporting The Coca-Cola Company's global vision of a World Without Waste. This is Coca-Cola’s commitment to ensuring that all the material it uses in its packaging is collected and circular so that none of it ends up as waste. To date, Coca-Cola has empowered 40 communities in 22 provinces across the Philippines by providing resources, technology support, trainings, and workshops.
Coca-Cola believes that partnering with like-minded organizations and working together with everyone -- from local government units to communities -- to address the problem of waste can create a bigger and long-term impact that can benefit not just the Philippines but also the world.