The Work of Giovanna, AMURT Volunteer for the Development of Women's Empowerment in the Philippines, Has Come to an End

The work of Giovanna, a journalism and multimedia communication student at the University of Parma and an AMURT volunteer in a social cooperative to develop women's empowerment in the Philippines – ERASMUS + project – has just come to an end. We share her words at the conclusion of this journey:

“When I arrived in the Philippines for my internship with AMURT, I thought I would mainly observe and learn. In reality, these months gave me the opportunity to take on concrete responsibilities and to contribute firsthand to the development of a meaningful project that has a direct impact on the lives of many women in the community.

I worked closely with OroqCoco, a social cooperative created to promote women's economic empowerment through the processing of coconuts and the enhancement of local resources. Together with the team we tackled challenges related to the organizational and commercial sustainability of the cooperative, working on strengthening its internal structure, on revising budgets and production processes, on improving sales and marketing strategies and on defining communication tools and materials , including the institutional press kit.

But the most important contribution was not what I brought, but rather what I received every day from the exchange with my colleagues and from the challenges encountered along the way.

This experience taught me that development does not consist in arriving with ready-made solutions, but in building them step by step together with the people involved. It taught me to listen deeply, to understand complex contexts before making decisions and to recognize the value of the skills and knowledge present within the communities themselves.

Working every day with people from different backgrounds allowed me to develop leadership, mediation and dialogue skills in a multicultural context. I learned how important it is to build relationships of trust between different stakeholders, to value teamwork and to build strategic partnerships capable of generating lasting opportunities.

I saw up close how difficult it is, but also how extraordinarily important, to turn a good idea into a sustainable project. Behind every product made by OroqCoco there are not only ingredients and production processes, but stories of resilience, hard work, collaboration and the desire to build a better future for the next generations.

I will take with me not only new professional skills, but above all a deeper awareness of what it means to work in international cooperation: accompanying processes of change, creating connections between people and organizations and contributing, even in one's own small way, to building stronger and more autonomous communities.

Thank you to AMURT, to the OroqCoco team and to the community of Oroquieta for welcoming me, challenging me and teaching me so much in these months. This experience has strengthened my conviction that my professional future lies in international cooperation and in developing projects that put people and their potential at the center“.

Thank you, Giovanna, from all of AMURT Italia, for the valuable work done in these months!