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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Ex-VP Robredo chosen as Rockefeller fellow in Italy

Ex-VP Robredo chosen as Rockefeller fellow in Italy

Published Feb 3, 2024 07:23 am

Former vice president Leni Robredo is now in Bellagio, Italy after being selected as one of the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation’s fellows for its Bellagio Center Residency Program.

VPLR_Rockefeller3.jpgFormer vice president Leni Robredo and her studio room in Bellagio, Italy (Photos from Robredo's social media accounts)

The former official will start working on her book about her time as vice president while she’s in Italy this week.

The book is said to "highlight Robredo’s belief that a vibrant and empowered civil society is the antidote to the challenges posed by modern autocracy.”

On Instagram, Robredo shared stories about her current stay in Italy, featuring a villa and a studio assigned exclusively to her. The studio, she shared, is facing the picturesque Lake Como.

Before leaving for Italy, she was surprised by her Angat Buhay team during a working lunch, congratulating her for the prestigious fellowship.

The four-week program is meant for academics, artists, policymakers, and practitioners, giving them an opportunity to produce meaningful and groundbreaking work by completing a specific project—like writing a book—in a residential group setting.

In her book, the former vice president is expected to write about her term, during which she launched the anti-poverty flagship program Angat Buhay to provide interventions on education, health, nutrition, food security, rural development, women empowerment, and housing through private-public partnerships.

The program transformed during the Covid-19 pandemic as the Office of the Vice President (OVP) then spearheaded response operations that provided needed assistance to health workers, communities, and underprivileged Filipinos.

After stepping down from office in 2022, Robredo turned Angat Buhay into a volunteer-driven non-government organization that aims to empower communities and uplift the lives of Filipinos.

Her advocacies both as former official and now head of the Angat Pinas, Inc. brought her before the Rockefeller Foundation, which has been promoting the well-being of people around the world by breaking down barriers since 1913.

The foundation also aims to address issues, such as the climate crisis, public health, agriculture, and renewably energy systems.

The Bellagio Center Residency Program’s more than 5,000 alumni include 102 Nobel laureates, the late US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa Dikgang Moseneke, American investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, Nigerian film director, writer, and actor Akin Omotoso, and Somali-Canadian social activist Ilwad Elman.

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Angat Buhay Leni Robredo Rockefeller Foundation
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