Gawad Kalinga volunteers gather in Canada for global summit

By ROUCHELLE DINGLASAN, GMA News

Published June 11, 2012 4:00pm

Volunteers of the Philippine non-government organization Gawad Kalinga (GK) held their fourth Global Summit in Toronto, Canada from June 8 to 9. According to its website, the summit was held at the Allstream Centre, Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada.

Some of the topics tackled during the summit were:

a global template for poverty eradication;
building the GK spirit among the youth, and
GK as a center for social innovation.

Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Christopher Thornley, an ardent supporter of GK, was one of the keynote speakers during the plenary and workshop sessions on June 9.

Global model for poverty alleviation On its website, GK said it launched in 2009 "GK2024," a 21-year vision which provides the roadmap toward a First World Philippines. "The emerging Asian model for development is unveiled to the world at the first GK Global Summit in Boston, with friends from India and Columbia in attendance to see how this Asian model for development can be adopted to end poverty in other developing nations in the world," GK said.

According to GK, the movement started when the Catholic group Couples for Christ initiated its work with the poor in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, the biggest slum in Metro Manila. "The first youth camp for juvenile delinquents changed the lives of 127 gang members, the first seeds of the work that would eventually be called Gawad Kalinga," GK said. 'Tito Tony'

The founder of GK is Antonio Meloto, also known as "Tito Tony," an Economics graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University. Meloto has received several awards including:

Ateneo’s Ozanam Award (2003)
TOFIL (2006)
People of the Year, Philippine Star (2006)
Filipino of the Year, Philippine Daily Inquirer (2006)
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (2006)
Top Four Most Trusted Filipino – Reader’s Digest Asia (2010)
Ernst and Young Philippines’ Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2010), and
Japan’s Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth (2011).

Born to a middle class family in Bacolod City at Negros Occidental, the 62-year-old Meloto has been exposed early to the face of poverty, the GK said.

After graduating from Ateneo, he worked for Procter & Gamble Philippines as purchasing manager. Later he tried his luck as an entrepreneur and founded the Printing and Trading Company.

Later he worked as a mission worker for about 16 years for Couples for Christ.

During that period, he founded Gawad Kalinga in 2000. After mixing two separate social work for about seven years, he decided to become a full time worker for Gawad Kalinga in 2007 and until now.

Currently, Gawad Kalinga has nine offices spread across Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Europe, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore and the United States.

It has housing communities in four countries: the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Cambodia. - VVP, GMA News

Tags: gawadkalinga, tonymeloto, canada