Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Cecilia Flores-Oebanda
Change(s) Addressed: Tolerance & Human Rights

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DESCRIPTION:

Cecilia spent her childhood as a child laborer, selling fish and scavenging garbage to help her family survive. After fighting against the Marcos dictatorship as an insurgent, she was imprisoned with her husband for 4 years and separated from her oldest son for 12 years while her 2 other children were born in captivity. When the democracy that she fought for was finally achieved, Cecilia founded the Visayan Forum Foundation (VF) in 1991 to help people achieve the freedom to live a decent life.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS OF 2010

• The anti-trafficking strategies of Visayan Foundation Forum of rescue, rehabilitation, healing and reintegration now reach eight major seaports and three local and international airports. We expanded partnerships to 52 inter-island shipping liners average of 300,000 passengers a month. We work with 2 airline companies running 70 local and international flights and 2,000 bus companies that average 126,000 passengers a month, travelling along known human trafficking routes.
• VF has also partnered with government agencies, lawyer groups, law enforcement and other stakeholders in key transit areas. VF and its partners have reached out to 61,836 trafficking victims and potential victims.
• From 2006 to January 2010, 19,975 people graduated from the VF-led Step Up program, which teaches life skills, entrepreneurship and IT skills to victims of trafficking. 35% of these are gainfully employed and 30% pursued further studies.

SEE THEIR WORK IN ACTION: