Group receives award for voluntary service

THE Gualandi Volunteer Service Programme Inc. (GVSP), through its volunteer John Paul Maunes, was awarded for its volunteering program on child sexual abuse prevention and exploitation for the deaf children and women in the different Special Education (Sped) centers and deaf communities in Central Visayas.

The award was given during awarding ceremonies of the Karapatan Sa Malikhaing Paraan (KaSAMa) 2011: The search for the Philippine Innovative Human Rights Initiatives last Dec. 6 at the Rembrandt Hotel in Quezon City.

The group was included in the shortlist of 147 organizations out of the more than 300 entries nationwide.

The organization’s human rights project was selected based on innovativeness and creativity, potential impact, cost effectiveness and organizational capacity.

GVSP was the only organization from Cebu to be included in the final selection of 14 organizations conducted by the diplomatic community of the embassies of Australia, Kingdom of Netherlands, Spain, New Zealand,  the European Union and the British embassy in partnership with the Commission of Human Rights, Ateneo School of Government, Ateneo Human Rights Center and the caucus of development NGO networks.