History of Gawad Kalinga

Gawad Kalinga came about in obedience to seek deeper expressions of holiness by loving the poor and to seek a new path towards self-discovery as a Filipino by finding our dignity and pride as a people within the country.

This journey began in Bagong Silang with a group of people who sought to find answers to 1) why Filipinos who are naturally gifted and hard working are poor 2) why those born in slum communities have difficulty in getting out of poverty and 3) why gentle Filipinos become criminals when brought up in slum communities.

1995
The work started with the juvenile gangs of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, one of the biggest slums in Metro Manila, who attended a youth camp in Dec 26, 1995 conducted by Couples for Christ, a Catholic lay community. Among the participants were some of the most notorious gang members in the area. But at the end of the 3 day camp, the sincerity of service team prevailed over the hardened youth. In 5 years, programs for theatre, sports, livelihood training and scholarships were introduced to rehabilitate the youth. But the team soon realized that it cannot change the slum behavior unless there is transformation of the slum environment.

1996-1999
The different programs of GK, then called Ancop, evolved as a response to the insight that the young have very slim chances of succeeding even with access to scholarship opportunities unless their whole community is transformed – land for the landless, homes for the homeless and food for the hungry. A holistic approach guided the setting up of the shelter (TATAG), child & youth development (SIBOL for pre-school children, SAGIP for school age children and SIGA for teenagers), health (LUSOG) and livelihood (SIKAP) programs that were the beginnings of Gawad Kalinga’s key programs. The very first Gawad Kalinga house was built for the Adduro family in Bagong Silang.

2000
A contest was launched among the Couples for Christ community to discover whether the transformation that was happening in Bagong Silang could also be replicated in other areas. The contest was named Gawad Kalinga, which means “to give care” or “an award for caring”. The first 30 Gawad Kalinga communities were established as a result of the nation-wide search for an outstanding community transformation.

2002
In February 2002, the first ever Gawad Kalinga community build was conducted in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental where members of Singles for Christ built 16 houses in just one weekend. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was a guest of honor during the build and was so impressed by the effort that she gave a 30 million peso grant to build 1,000 houses; at that time GK had built only less than 1,000 homes. Gawad Kalinga not only built the 1,000 houses in a year’s time but they also built another 1,000 houses as a counterpart to the president’s grant.

2003
The vision of building 700,000 homes, in 7,000 communities in 7 years was launched on October 4, 2003 during the first GK Expo at Fort Bonifacio where a crowd of 40,000 people gathered to rally the Filipinos to be a hero for their country – Bawat Pilipino Bayani!

2004
Local and multi-national corporations began to engage with Gawad Kalinga propelling the movement into a massive scale. Rival corporations such as the top two telecom companies in the Philippnes, SMART and GLOBE (link to article on SMART & GLOBE), began to engage with GK to build communities giving credibility to GK’s message of business going beyond their corporate responsibility programs. The second GK Expo was held at the Fort with 100,000 GK volunteers in attendance.

2005
Gawad Kalinga responds to the need for rehabilitation in disaster hit areas through Kalinga Luzon by partnering with the National Disaster Coordinating Council, Department of Social Welfare & Development and local government units in providing 40,000 homes for typhoon victims. Kalinga Luzon becomes a template for going beyond relief operations in Kalinga Leyte and other calamity areas. The Kalinga Luzon formula led partnerships with over 200 local government units across the country. GK also launches GK 1MB (Isang Milyong Bayani or one million heroes), the urgent call for massive volunteerism in GK communities where ordinary citizens are asked to render at least 4 hours a month in community service.

2006
GK launches its key programs for productivity called GK BAYAN-ANIHAN and promoting the communities as tourist spots through GK MABUHAY.

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I believe GK will go on and on because of its good programs and values.