SOLAR LANTERNS FROM PANASONIC DONATED TO PHILIPPINE NGOs
Sandino Soliman
The Panasonic Corporation held donation ceremonies in Manila on February 17, 2015 and in Davao on February 19, 2015 to award a total of 2,376 lanterns to 18 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Philippines. The donation of the solar lanterns is part of the company’s global initiative called “100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project” which aims to resolve various social challenges faced by those living in areas with challenging electrical power conditions, particularly in emerging and developing countries. The company has donated over 6,000 lanterns in Myanmar and Cambodia, and this year it is donating lanterns to Philippine NGOs for the first time.
The 100 Thousand Solar Lanterns Project was launched in 2012 as part of Panasonic’s corporate citizenship activities to utilise its technologies and products to help address societal issues and provide “a better life, a better world to people around the world”. The goal is to donate 100,000 solar lanterns to NGOs, humanitarian organizations and international organizations by the year 2018, the year of Panasonic’s 100th anniversary.
With the assistance from members of the Philippines-Japan NGO Partnership (PJP), the Corporate Citizenship Office, CSR & Citizenship Group in Tokyo Branch, Japan was able to select NGOs who will facilitate the use of the solar lanterns in public places, such as schools, clinics, and health stations, in off-grid areas around Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The 18 NGOs which received solar lanterns are the following:
1.Andres Soriano Foundation, Inc.
2.Center for Power Issues and Initiatives
3.Conrado and Ladislawa Alcantara Foundation Inc.
4.Davao Medical School Foundation, Inc. – Institute of Primary Health Care
5.Global Environment and Nature Ecosystems Society, Inc. (GENESYS)
6.Integrative Medicine for Alternative Health Care Systems (INAM) Philippines, Inc.
7.International Children’s Action Network Foundation (ICAN Foundation)
8.Jesus V. Del Rosario Foundation, Inc.
9.Josefa Segovia Foundation, Inc.
10.Konkokyo Peace Activity Center Information Office, Inc.
11.Mangyan Mission, Inc.
12.Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP)
13.Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc.
14.Religious of Notre Dame of the Missions (RNDM)
15.Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society, Inc.
16.Synergeia Foundation, Inc.
17.University of St. La Salle – Institute for Negros Development
18.Zuellig Family Foundation, Inc.
The PJP is a loose network of NGOs established in 2006, which marked the 50th year of normalization of relations between Philippines and Japan. The network aims to promote stronger partnerships between NGOs of Japan and the Philippines with the primary concern of reducing poverty in the Philippines. Among the members of PJP are the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO) with its member networks Association of Foundations (AF) and the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), IBON Foundation, Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC), AsiaDHRRA, and the Partnership for Development Assistance in the Philippines Inc.
Sandino Soliman is the Advocacy Officer of the Citizen’s Monitoring of LGU Performance Project of CODE-NGO and the European Union.
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