Philippines - Rebuilding lives in Mindanao

The siege of Marawi also known as the Marawi crisis was a 5-month-long armed conflict in Marawi that started on 23 May 2017, between government forces and pro-ISIS militants. The intense fighting and aerial bombing of the city displaced more than 360,000 people and resulted in widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure. Over a thousand militants, soldiers and civilians lost their lives.

During the siege, 24,000 children of school age were displaced after almost a third of Marawi’s 70 schools were damaged or completely destroyed. Three years later, COVID-19 struck, shutting schools across the Philippines for 20 months. This led to a majority of children stopping school completely for an extended period due to lack of internet access, gadgets and parental support for home learning.

Five years on, thousands remain displaced in evacuation centres, squatter settlements or temporary shelters, as repair and reconstruction works were disrupted by the pandemic. Children have borne the brunt of this urban conflict and have grown up or are growing up amidst  such hardship.

Key Challenges:

• Education learning gaps 
• Food insecurity leading to malnutrition of children under 5 years old
• Lack of access of health as well as Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities
• Child Protection issues
• Disaster prone
• Risk of sudden, sporadic conflict

World Vision aims to:

• Improve children’s learning outcomes and access to education services, especially among displaced and marginalised children – supporting schools to improve the quality of education services (including literacy support, life skills and peace education) for displaced children and supporting Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) and technical-vocational training for out-of-school children and youth etc.
• Protect children from violence and the impact of natural and man-made disasters while in school – supporting schools to conduct training on child protection and set up child protection mechanisms, as well as Disaster Risk Reduction and contingency plans to ensure schools remain safe environments for children etc.
• Improve the health and nutrition of at-risk/malnourished children – Identify children with health, nutritional or development concerns for necessary support, educate parents on child care and nutrition, rehabilitate or construct health and WASH facilities etc.

 Help vulnerable children in Mindanao to rebuild their lives.