Fresh from my undergraduate studies last year, I decided to make 2012 a year of trying out as many things as possible.

With this goal, I applied for UKaid and VSO Bahaginan’s International Citizen Service Program the minute I learned about it. I thought the program would allow me to develop myself and gain priceless experience in helping communities and, along the way, meet new and interesting people.

With luck and effort, I got a spot as one of the Filipino youth volunteers for the third cycle of the program’s pilot phase.

International Citizen Service (ICS), formerly Global Xchange, is a youth-volunteering program where volunteers from developing countries like the Philippines are paired with youth volunteers from UK to help out in disadvantaged communities.

Diverse backgrounds

The program gives young people from UK and the Philippines an opportunity to live and work with each other, share various skills, and help poor Filipino communities. The program also aims to have participants from very diverse backgrounds.

My batchmate Rocky, for instance, is skilled in carpentry. He has made a table and a cabinet for the council office, aside from participating in our IEC campaigns for elementary schools and villages. A new bookshelf for the council is coming up, too.

Each program participant has a counterpart from other countries. My counterparts, Ayumi and Vicki, both from the UK, are really fun and open-minded people. They are very open to learning  about Filipino culture, and enthusiastic to share with Filipino volunteers their experiences from their home country. We also have an accommodating host family in Bohol.

For my work placement, I was assigned in Candijay, Bohol, to work for the Carood Watershed Management Council. The council is the governing body of the Carood Watershed, Bohol’s fifth largest watershed, and the only one with a management council. It is also one of two watersheds in the country recognized by the International Model Forest Network.

However, the communities in the area are not that aware of the watershed. This is where our work lies: to make the people aware of the watershed, its uses and benefits, and why people should make a conscious effort to take care of it.

Information campaigns

Since our arrival in Bohol last May, we have been doing various tasks. My work counterpart, Manny, and I have been going around villages to conduct information campaigns about the watershed. We take bumpy motorcycle rides to the highlands and lowlands to set schedules for village meetings with their officials.

Some of us spent the first month in the program developing lesson plans on various environmental topics for primary school students. My co-volunteers Vicki (one of my counterparts), Tristan and Rocky are teaching and testing their modules on fifth- and sixth-grade students in three schools in our municipality.

Aside from these, we are helping  the council in everyday tasks, coordinating with the local youth group and planning possible activities. My other co-volunteers assigned to work in the municipalities of Alicia, Pilar and Ubay are busy planning and implementing their projects, as well.

On Mondays, our team has Global Citizenship Days or GCDs, when each counterpart pair (one Filipino volunteer and one British volunteer) designs and facilitates group learning activities revolving around selected global issues such as poverty, community development, corruption, solid waste management, health and more.

We also have Community Action Days or CADs when the whole team plans activities to benefit the communities we are assigned to. These activities could range from coastal cleanups to tree-planting and sports. The possibilities of what the counterpart pair and the team can do for their GCDs and CADs are limited only by their creativity and ingenuity.

Fruitful experience

We are nearing the end of our stay in Bohol, and we’re busier than ever. Knowing that the communities we are working for will definitely benefit from our activities makes us want to work harder to make a positive and sustainable impact on the area.

So far, ICS has been a very fruitful experience for me. I can’t wait to see how the next cycle of volunteers will continue our projects, plan out exciting activities and, more important, send out the message that the youth, wherever they may be, can do a lot of things to make the world a better place for everyone.

If you’re Filipino, 18-25 years old, have completed high school and can commit to working as a youth volunteer for three months, apply for a place in the ICS 2012-2013 program. ICS is a three-year program; its first official batch of youth volunteers will begin their activities this coming October 2012. To apply, send an e-mail asking for application details to [email protected] with the iCode: ICSYAV as the subject line.

Earvin Delgado, 22, earned his undergraduate degree in geography from University of the Philippines Diliman last year. Before his stint as a Filipino youth volunteer  for the third cycle of the pilot phase of International Citizen Service, he worked as social mobilization officer for the  World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF-Philippines).