US embassy launches P18.5M #ForMindanao campaign

The US embassy has launched the P18.5 million #ForMindanao campaign as part of its continuing response to the Marawi crisis.

The campaign supports 37 projects throughout Mindanao led by Philippine alumni of United States governmentsponsored exchanges, many of whom have already played a crucial role in responding to humanitarian needs in Marawi and surrounding areas. These projects will address educational enrichment, economic development, and the psycho-social effects of conflict, among other pressing needs in the region.

The year-long #ForMindanao campaign will impact an estimated 13,500 people, focusing especially on out-of-school youth, university students, madrasa students and women in Mindanao.

Since 1948, the US government has sponsored peopleto-people exchanges that have built the leadership and professional capacities of more than 8,000 Filipinos from across the nation. Upon their return, many US exchange alumni collaborate with their fellow alumni and with the embassy to strengthen the bilateral relations between the US and the Philippines.

The embassy said their immediate response to the Marawi crisis and their engagement in the US embassy’s #ForMindanao campaign exemplifies the commitment of US exchange alumni to work together to advance the prosperity of all Filipinos.

Within hours of the outbreak of fighting in Marawi, US exchange alumni were on the frontlines of the humanitarian response. Individual exchange alumni and US exchange alumni chapters throughout the country contributed nearly P2.2 million in food, hygiene kits and clothing that assisted more than 20,000 people impacted by the crisis.

US exchange alumni from universities around the country launched the #MealsforMarawi campaign, raising P85,000 to conduct Ramadan iftars that fed more than 3,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), while the US alumni chapter in Davao, in partnership with the Rotary Club, delivered food, clothing, and basic medicine to nursing mothers in IDP camps.

US exchange alumni complemented their humanitarian efforts with psycho-social activities to support more than 7,500 IDPs affected by the crisis. The Lanao del Sur provincial government awarded the US alumni chapter in Marawi City for the success of their #MaraWe art therapy program that helped 817 IDP children in the city.