Mabini Hall - Access to Justice

The first time I heard about exchange arena, I thought it was a new swapping store ala ukay ukay or a venue for events. Turns out, it’s a little of both after a few minutes of explanation. It is novel project convened by eight partner organizations to provide a creative opportunity for companies to help alleviate poverty or to improve the education, health and environment-related concerns starting with the National Capital Region.

The idea is simple and inexpensive enough: a company invests 1% of its annual employee time for nation building through employee volunteering with the Exchange Arena Project.

To be exchanged are corporate talents and time for social action with civil society groups, local government units, and micro and small entrepreneurs. Rich lessons from development work are to be shared in exchange for gaining employee-volunteers as additional resources for local and national development. The arena is a “meet and match” event under the slogan of “We help find a good match!”

Employees right now volunteer for many of their favourite causes be it the church or non-governmental organizations. Others are involved in Rotary, Lions, or Jaycees movement. They do it to lead more meaningful lives and try to make a little more difference.

Employees individually benefit when they build project management skills, teambuilding concepts and enhanced loyalty to their company for the freedom to express. Business leaders of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) agree that sharing business skills, not financial resources, are the most important contribution companies can make for social development. It is time to go beyond philanthropy understood in terms of sponsorships or giving away freebies.

Companies are awakening to the corporate social responsibility that they exist not purely for profit but for an overriding social good and service. More corporate reasons to participate: increase in corporate visibility in society, enhancement its market positioning, increase of employee morale and productivity and nurturing of work-life balance for its employees which translates to better performance and bottom line figures.

Instead of trying to look for the projects themselves and parallel spending, employees and companies can decide to join the Exchange Area Project for best value matches. The Exchange Arena serves as the information and education exchange and links the creative, innovative community-based development programs and the corporate sector in a dynamic environment and monitors and evaluates the volunteer matches. It is a win-win situation for everyone.

The go-to person who conceptualized and implemented this project is Deanie Lyn Ocampo, a U.P professor and managing director of Pinoy-rin, Inc. She tapped the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency and the United Nations Volunteers, Philippines as lead agencies.

Translating the 1% of annual employee time equals three volunteering days only for each employee-volunteer. Companies may decide to invest all its employee volunteering days to a single organization or any combination of civil society organizations’ programs and projects.

The target organizations, constrained with manpower and costs, get to realize their local development goals and plans, improve their capabilities to better the communities they serve and develop meaningful partnerships with the corporate sector.

To know who else are behind the project which is fast gaining ground, it is co-organized by the Caucus of Development NGOs, Foundation for Communication Initiatives, International Movement of Development Managers
Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran, Inc. and Philippine Business for Social Progress with Philippine Association for Volunteer Effort Volunteer Organization, Information, Communication and Exchange, Inc. (VOICE) as the resource institution.

Already, strategic partners include the Association of Child Care Agencies in the Philippines, Caritas Manila and the Archdiocese of Manila, DepEd NCR, Division of Makati, DepEd NCR, Division of Paranaque, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, National Council for Social Development, Philippine Elementary School Principals Association, NCR, Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas, Titanium Technologies, VOICE, NCR.

What else is there to do except email Exchange.arena@gmail.com. Be involved today and get to know the true meaning of exchange in an arena for socially responsible people.