by Richard Nyberg

05 December 2000

BONN: Former cockatoo poachers have become unpaid wardens in the Philippines, a rare role switch to protect a bird they once endangered. Thanks to the efforts of Peter Widdmann, a German Development Service (DED) volunteer and executive director of the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Programme (PCCP), the birds are being bred in Narra on Palawan's Raza Island in the Sulu Sea. PCCP activists inform the public of the need to preserve the birds and fend off poachers.

It is a result of voluntary effort, says UN Volunteer Merlin Espeso, who collects stories of volunteers in action in the Philippines. "These wardens have done their job with passion and for free for more than a year now," she explains after a recent trip to the island. The cockatoo protection programme will feature in video and photo documentaries Ms. Espeso will organize during 2001, the International Year of Volunteers.

Her search of other successful volunteer initiatives brought her to Leon, Iloilo, where Grupo Paghidaet volunteers are working for peace. According to Ms. Espeso, the region suffers from years of armed conflict, a culture of violence among community members, domestic violence and economic dislocation. The volunteer group has set up a pilot peace and development project. In January, an audio-visual team will visit and document the project, which is carried out under the direction of lawyer Christopher Montano of the Commission of Human Rights.

Following tips provided by university professors and others, the UNV has traveled extensively, consulting with the Department of Tourism to set up sites to be featured each month during IYV 2001. She has already targeted events in 12 of the country's 14 regions. "The promotion, recognition, facilitation and networking action will start one to two weeks before each special event," she says, adding that she drums up support and resources to get as many volunteers involved as possible. After making initial contacts, she presents IYV 2001 to potential partners. Once they join in, they help set up plans for events in their regions. Documentation through information, videos and photographs plays an important role in the Philippines, which has taken up the IYV theme of "Building Locally, Bonding Globally".

"With the help of the local partner volunteers and organizations, I will give the IYV 2001 presentation to local volunteers and future volunteers in [each] area," she says. "The documentation will have IYV 2001 and its goals, as well as arts, crafts and rituals of the region being documented."

The Philippines' commitment to volunteerism has been supported by a Presidential Proclamation and an Administrative Order. On 7 December 1987, former President Corazon Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation No. 194 declaring every 5 December as International Volunteer Day in the Philippines. On 5 December 1998, President Joseph Ejercito Estrada signed Presidential Administrative Order No. 55 declaring each December as "National Volunteer Month".

Filipinos from 176 volunteer organizations draw inspiration from a 1989 Manila Declaration of People's Participation and Sustainable Development, which states: "Those who would assist the people with their development must recognize that it is they who are participating in the support for the people's agenda, not the reverse. The value of the outsider's contribution will be measured in terms of the enhanced capacity of the people to determine their future."

So Ms. Espeso focuses on local volunteer groups in many of the country's regions. Shortly after taking up her assignment in June, she approached 15 government agencies, non-governmental organizations and foreign volunteer organizations for names of local contacts. She takes up a variety of tasks-meeting with the IYV National Committee, distributing press releases and IYV material, making calls, sending email and carrying out other activities to expand her network of IYV supporters.

"Merlin was able to bring local knowledge, local experience and local networks to the position-all of these are critical in building up interest and attracting resources for the promotion of both IYV 2001 and volunteerism in the Philippines," says UNV Programme Officer Samuel Muller. "She's a born networker." Ms. Espeso works closely with the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA) and other government agencies, private sector organizations and NGOs, which are represented on the National IYV Steering Committee. "Merlin is transferring her experience in resource mobilization, the establishment of networks, promotion and event organizing to those who will continue to promote volunteerism in the Philippines long after 2001," Mr. Muller says.

Merlin Espeso is one of 34 national UN Volunteers recruited in countries around the world to promote volunteerism. UNV, with the financial support of the Government of Japan, recruited these volunteers during 2000 to help coordinate plans to celebrate the International Year of Volunteers. These are the first UNVs of their kind: volunteers assigned specifically to support national volunteerism through the International Year of Volunteers 2001.