Finally, our Conversation with Aun, our second AYAD volunteer who got away with many things just by putting on his jacket, presumably because it made him look like a "businessman from Cebu!" Here is his interview

At Aun's farewell lunch.
With the G&G team Nanding, Greg, Jo, Marge

Name: Aun Ngo
Age: 28
Nationality: Australian

What made you decide to volunteer?
I have been an avid supporter of volunteering for some time now and was involved in a soup kitchen back in Melbourne for over 8 years. So when the opportunity to volunteer internationally came up, I jumped at the chance. The role, which lasted 10 months, also gave me ample time to explore parts of the country and it's culture.



What are two interesting things about the Philippines that the average person doesn't know?

Prior to going to the Philippines, I didn't actually know all that much about the place. The most interesting thing that I will take away is just how beautiful and diverse the country is. Still relatively off the radars of many travelers it is only a matter of time before the world finds out about the amazing beaches, islands, waterfalls, volcanoes and sights of the Philippines.

Another thing that might not be well known is how unique the culture is; The Philippines is unlike any other Asian country. There are Spanish elements, American influences, ancient Malay influences, religious and socio-political forces that combine to create a wonderfully eclectic mix.

How did you use your skills and experience?

I had the opportunity to utilise some of my experience with marketing, social networking and photography to take a look at G&G's operations and assist with planning for the future. (G&G comment: Aun is very friendly and very social. Aside from his official work to help G&G with marketing, particularly social marketing, he helped put us in touch with some others who have gone on to become G&G supporters as well)

Did anything go wrong that seems funny now?

There was that time at a function where another volunteer and I were speaking to a Filipina for a fair while before realizing she was one of the country's most famous artistas.

What was the best moment of the entire experience?

Getting the opportunity to attend the Asian Development Bank's Annual Meeting was definitely up there. Being able to listen to a wide range of people passionate about development regaling stories from around the region.

At the ADB Annual Meeting 2012.
With Greg, Marge, and Ponce Ernest Samaniego

What did you learn about yourself?

I learnt that it is possible to eat too much pork. (G&G says: LOL! and Marty's Aun?)


Why should other people do volunteer work? What did you gain from it?

I find that people who volunteer actually come away receiving far more from the experience than the people they seek out to help. Volunteering enriches your life, introduces you to people you may not have the opportunity to meet otherwise (both other volunteers and clients), and you definitely know that when you are volunteering, you're not doing it for the money!

I gained a whole new circle of friends, appreciation for an amazing country and some passable conversational Tagalog!

Visiting partner community FCED Foundation and chatting with its Executive Director Ms. Teresita L. Silva.
Also in the photo: Raymund Acedera, Greg Perez, Atty. Rudyard Arbolado

At the Amazing Women Exhibit at SM North Edsa with the extended G&G family.
From L to R: Cielo Bueno, Mrs. Melot Moral, Loida, Carla, Raquel, Marge, Jo, Greg, Aun,
Nanding, Ponce, and Ms. Jen Colayco, head of SM Supermalls' Women's Committee

Ex Libris: From the G&G team's bookshelves

This month in our special feature Ex Libris, Latin for from the books, we once again peek into the bookshelves of the G&G team. This month, Greg and Aun share their recommendations:






On Strategy

What Every CEO Needs to Know About Nonmarket Strategy by David Bach & David Bruce Allen.  

I enjoyed reading this paper because the concept of nonmarket strategy extends the concept of Porter's Five Forces and says that leaders should take into consideration the political, social, and policy environments and create opportunities in them.  One of my favorite examples of non market

strategy is Toyota's steps to influence policy around the use of hybrid cars. They successfully lobbied for the passing of a law in California to allow hybrid cars to use the carpool lane even with only the driver in it. By looking at and shaping their nonmarket, Toyota was able to create an environment that boosted sales of the Prius. What nonmarket forces impact the competitive advantage of your enterprise? 

- Greg

On History 

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson 

A fascinating look, through the lens of history, at the modern house and all the things we seem to fill them with. Bill Bryson books are a must for those who love to find out random facts about everything 

- Aun

Happy Reading!

Be One for Others

Gifts and Graces is proud to partner with the UP Sigma Delta Phi Sorority in their BE ONE Movement campaign and their WE card project.

Sigma Delta Phi is the oldest sorority in UP and is made up of dynamic women leaders. According to Sigma Delta,the idea behind the BE ONE Movement is for young people to go out and Be One force, focusing on others and working for positive changes in society. Coming together as one, the youth will be able to make changes and will have the power to transform our community. 

A great way to practice this everyday heroism as individuals and as a team is doing volunteer work through the WE Card project. On November 15, 2011 Sigma Delta launched the WE Card which is now available to students from UP Diliman and other universities and high schools. Participants will have the opportunity to volunteer for any of the 20 partner NGOs until February 18, 2012. NGOs will give out stickers for corresponding volunteer work. Sigma Delta has a special prize for the one who collects the most stickers.

As a partner organization, Gifts and Graces is happy to give participants the opportunity to experience volunteering for a fair trade social enterprise that empowers the disadvantaged and helps them become productive members of society. We believe in giving a hand up, not a hand out and helping the marginalized overcome poverty through livelihood.

Read our Conversations and blog posts on past volunteers Chiqui Go, Michael Golsworthy, Jessica Chittaphong, and Colette Forma to read about their experience volunteering with G&G.

For the WE Card project, these are the volunteer opportunities and the corresponding stickers to be awarded. Volunteers will be working with our Marketing Manager as well as our current AYAD volunteer for Marketing and PR Aun Ngo.

     -  Assist visitors/clients at a Gifts and Graces pop up store or bazaar booth 

        – 1 sticker for every hour of service

     - Update the Gifts and Graces website – 1 sticker for every hour of work

     - Document Gifts and Graces products including preparing product sheets 
       - 1 sticker for every hour of work

     - Gather and write stories for the newsletter, blog, website, including interviewing    
       stakeholders particularly community producers – 1 sticker for every hour of work

     - Produce an AVP – 10 stickers for every approved AVP

 
We hope to get a lot of volunteers through this project. We are always in need of good people. The youth especially have a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and fresh ideas. 

Please feel free to share this post with family, friends, colleagues to encourage volunteerism and be one with us.

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Conversations

At the Partner's Conference. Mike facilitates with
Darlyn Ty and Anurag Goel

Earlier this month we posted part 1 of this Conversation with AYAD volunteer Michael Golsworthy who, like Chiqui Go, shared his thoughts on volunteerism. For our second Conversation, we ask Michael more questions about his stay in the Philippines. Here Michael gives us a unique perspective from someone who enjoyed his 8+ months both in G&G and travelling the country on weekends!

G&G: What are two interesting things about the Philippines that the average person doesn't know?

MG: 1. The Philippines is the undiscovered jewel of South East Asia for travellers. Before working in the Philippines I'd never thought about travelling there, but as soon as I landed that stormy Friday night I realised it was a country I'd have fun exploring. The fun and friendly reception from our Filipino volunteer coordinators, the colourful jeepneys weaving through the traffic blaring out MC Hammer and Justin Bieber and the karaoke on arrival at the hotel.. And it only got better from there. From the great people to the stunning beaches, the perilous volcanoes to the fantastic festivals.. the Philippines has a lot to offer those who venture past the traditional holiday destinations of Thailand and Vietnam.

2. Manila is actually a pretty cool city. Much like my home city of Melbourne, you won't see the highlights of Manila in a tourist brochure. It takes work to hunt out the gems in this chaotic metropolis, like the great live music scene which seems to thrive solely by word of mouth.

G&G: Did anything go wrong that seems funny now?

MG: Most of my favourite travel stories start with something going wrong... While visiting the island of Siquijor, I had a bit of a motor bike accident, when a stray basketball from a game by the side of the road almost went under my wheel.. After riding all the way back to the hotel in second gear with potentially broken left foot, I had to race to the boat, then the hospital in Dumaguete to try to get an xray before my flight was leaving for Manila. I got the all clear 40 minutes before my flight was due to depart, so given you have to check in 45 minutes before the flight time, I didn't bother trying to make it and went to an internet cafe to book another flight. 20 minutes later I got a call from my friends at the airport telling me to get on a tricycle and get to the airport the airport staff said not to worry about the 45 minute check in rule... I got to the airport with 30 seconds to spare and ran/hopped all the way to the plane late and holding everyone up... and then a little behind me a filipino guy moseyed on up to the check in counter, checked in his bag and walked on the the plane, relaxed as you like... Apparently I hadn't quite adjusted to Filipino time in the provinces.

G&G: What was the best moment of the entire experience/trip?

MG: Too many to mention...

At work: Facilitating the strategy workshop with the board and working with the team to pull off a great marketing and sales event across the SM malls.

Around Manila: Dancing the night away at a Bruno Mars concert

On holidays: Swimming with a whale shark in Donsol, rock climbing up waterfalls outside of Moalboal and joining the fun for a couple of brilliant town festivals.

G&G: What did you learn about yourself?

MG: That I should avoid basketballs..

From L-R: Darlyn Ty, Greg Perez, Michael Golsworthy,
Jonalyn Dupa, Marge Obligacion, Nanding Regalado

Volunteer Spotlight: Michael Golsworthy

Conversations

Reposting this blog entry as a Conversation with Michael Golsworthy. Michael was with Gifts and Graces from September 2010 to April 2011. His many and varied contributions to the company are still being felt and used today. Get to know this former G&G Volunteer and be inspired to lend your time and talent to non-profits like G&G!

Michael Golsworthy (third from left) with Gifts & Graces staff. (L-R) Loida Balubayan, Fernando Regalado, Christina Pineda, Jonalyn Dupa, Marge Obligacion & Greg Perez at the Women's Empowerment event

G&G: Tell us your Name, Age, Nationality, Occupation

Michael Golsworthy, 28, Australian, Management consultant

G&G: What made you decide to volunteer?
MG: I volunteered because I wanted to utilise my consulting and project management skills to support a great cause: using entrepreneurship as a means to alleviate poverty.

G&G: As a volunteer how did you use your skills and experiences to help G&G and its advocacy?
MG: I worked together with Gifts and Graces to facilitate the development of its five year strategic plan and to assess and improve its organisational processes. During the course of the assignment, I also worked with G&G staff to build greater skills in strategic planning, project management and performance improvement methodologies to continue this work following my departure.

G&G: Why should other people do volunteer work? What did you gain from it?
MG: Volunteering can be both a professionally challenging and a personally rewarding experience. Many of the skills developed in the business sector can be applied to the non-profit sector, but often the challenges are greater due to the limited resources and multiple social and financial objectives. Experience in the non-profit sector can be invaluable in other sectors, for example solving problems in a resource-constrained environment. Personally, volunteering in the non-profit sector is both enjoyable and highly rewarding. The work is interesting, the sector is full of energetic and passionate individuals and the human impact of the work is not only very real, but creates a feeling that is impossible to match. 

Click here to read the second part of this conversation. Below is Michael's profile in the Australian Youth Ambassador (AYAD) Website:

Michael will be based in Manila on an eight month project assisting Gifts and Graces Fair Trade Foundation to improve its organisational performance. Gifts and Graces support marginalised groups in their quest to become self-sufficient through livelihood. The organisation helps its partners with product design and development, and builds capability in production, enterprise management and marketing.

Michael is passionate about improving the operations of organisations in the not-for-profit sector to achieve the best possible social outcomes with the limited resources available. He is very excited to have the opportunity to work together with Gifts and Graces to facilitate the development of its five year strategic plan and to assess its current organisational processes to identify and implement improvement opportunities. During the course of the assignment, Michael will coach Gifts and Graces staff in project management and performance improvement methodologies to ensure the organisation gains the capacity to continually improve its performance following his departure.

Michael has a Bachelor degree in Economics from Monash University and a Master of Commerce (International Business/Finance) from the University of Sydney. He has worked in international trade policy with the Australian Government and as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he specialised in improving performance for government and not-for-profit sector clients.

Michael hopes to utilise his consulting and policy skills and experience to deliver sustainable and replicable organisational improvements at Gifts and Graces. 

Michael Golsworthy (corner right) in discussion with G&G's partner producers

 at this year's Partner Conference

Gifts and Graces is always in need of volunteers to help us with our fair trade and livelihood support advocacy. If you have some time to spare, why not use it to make a difference in the lives of our partner marginalized communities? Help us with product design, writing, marketing, promotion, selling, capacity building or just come help us brainstorm ideas on how to make fair trade and social enterprises top-of-mind for shoppers.

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If you'd like to volunteer with Gifts & Graces you can write to us at:

info@giftsandgraces.com or call us at 759 - 2525

or visit us at: Unit 131 G/F Mile Long Building, Amorsolo St. Makati City