Philippines Conflict Appeal

Please give to our Appeal to support our partner network in the Philippines respond to children and families displaced by conflict in Marawi City.

More than 400,000 people – including an estimated 160,000 children – have been forced from their homes in Marawi City, on the Philippine island of Mindanao. This is as a result of ongoing fighting between the Philippines’ army and militants from Islamic State and the local Maute group, who first launched an attack on the city in May.

Viva’s partner network PCMN have people on-the-ground already providing essential relief assistance and trauma counselling for some of the internally displaced children and families based in and around Iligan City.

Using its experience of responding to the needs of children in emergencies following their work in Eastern Samar after Typhoon Haiyan, PCMN has plans to continue the work in Mindanao to respond to the needs of internally displaced children:

  • Recruiting and training 100 volunteers from local churches and organisations so they can lead projects to help children and families in this situation.
  • Psychosocial support, including Operation SAFE camps, which will help 7,680 children and young people strengthen their coping mechanisms and build resilience to trauma. (During the initial assessment, it was clear that several children are more deeply traumatised than those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.)
  • Temporary Learning Centres and youth-friendly spaces, giving non-formal learning and life skills training for 800 out-of-school young people.
  • Five Supervised Neighbourhood Play centres (Child-friendly spaces) for 1.000 preschoolers will be provided.
  • School supplies or cash assistance will be provided for 2.000 children who have gone back to school.
  • Strengthening the network of local responders to ensure that all emergency- and preparedness-related activities in the area meet international humanitarian standards.

Could you support PCMN in this essential work with children and families in the Philippines? These people have lost their homes, access to education and livelihoods to conflict, and live in fear and with little hope of what will happen next.

We would be very grateful for anything you can give to our Appeal. Thank you.