Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines (KOF-PH) and Teach for the Philippines (TFP) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the continuation of the successful Coordinates for Life (CFL) program.
CFL —as the name suggests—seeks to give children a values roadmap that trains them to deal with everyday situations. The program was developed in Mexico and specifically modified to cater to the Philippines. So far, the program has made it possible for TFP to directly coach over 5,500 students and their families, as well as 3,000 public school educators, on life skills.
CFL consists of four types of workshops that make for a complete journey towards empowerment. Deciding Your Future applies an experiential method to teach children about nutrition, bullying, peer pressure, and lawfulness. Preparing for Tomorrow trains teachers, parents, and others who have a role in educating children to become better facilitators of child development. Guiding Your Steps is a series of conferences targeting both educators and children, which seeks to resolve common issues that affect children. Finally, Sharing Roads is a collection of eighteen topics and issues that can be solved as a family, at the school, or in informal groups. It facilitates interaction between educators and children to help develop life skills among children.
“With Coordinates for Life, our public school students are guided towards making better life choices. By augmenting our program with this series of life skills workshops, we hope our children grow up to become critical thinkers and responsible contributors to our country’s progress,” said Elizabeth Zobel, chairman of Teach for the Philippines.
“The workshops address gaps in the education system that are both critical and real,” said Clarissa Delgado, co-founder and CEO of TFP. “We are fortunate that Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines asked us to work with them to bring Coordinates for Life to the Philippines as the program is in sync with our goal of providing all Filipino children with an inclusive, relevant, and excellent education. These critical skills exist outside of a regular curriculum, and learning these skills have a direct impact on improving our choices – thereby improving our lives.”
For this coming school year, it is expected that the Coordinates for Life program will provide life skills training to an additional 2,000 students and 40 public school teachers across the country.
During the MOA signing, Fabricio Ponce, CEO of Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, emphasized how the project perfectly realizes KOF-PH’s vision of communities empowered through dynamic partnerships with advocacy-driven organizations.
“Our company is honored to continue collaborating with Teach for the Philippines, said Ponce. “This renewal of partnership with the organization is a continuation and reinforcement of our shared journey towards shared successes.”
Atty. Juan Lorenzo Tañada, director of Legal & Corporate Affairs for FEMSA Philippines, also took the opportunity to add that the company has always been about journeys.
“KOF in itself made a journey from Mexico to the Philippines and that Coordinates for Life is a faithful reflection of its corporate philosophy,” said Tañada.
“In Filipino, journey translates to lakbay,” he continued. “And within the word lakbay is another Filipino word—akbay—which means to have one’s arm around one’s companion. This single word encompasses this entire advocacy, symbolizing our company’s bond not simply with our partners Teach for the Philippines, but with the communities involved, most especially the children and their families.”