Who we are

Gawad Kalinga, a Filipino term which means to “give care” started in the Philippines in1995 when a Christian youth camp was held in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City,one of the largest slum areas in Metro Manila. The seeds of hope were planted when GK began working closely with families of gang  members and observed that a slum environment breeds a slum mentality. GK started to restoring the dignity of the poorest of the poor by beautifying their areas and building homes for them. The very first GK house was built for the Adduru family which began the transformation of a whole community. A few years later in 2003, GK was officially launched to the Filipino people as a holistic solution to poverty in the country. Former President Corazon Aquino declared that "GK is “People Power," a trailblazing movement on the ground which restores the honor and dignity of the Filipino people.

Today, GK has evolved into a nation-building movement, that engages all sectors ofsociety from the government, academe, corporate, religious, NGOs, and private citizens, working together in “bayanihan” (Filipino term for working togetheror being heroes to one another) to build a slum-free, world-class Philippines, one community at a time.

Projects

Serving as the model for poverty eradication in developing countries, GK in the Philippines has built 2,000 GK communities in varying stages of maturity.

We actively implement on the ground GK’s holistic approach to poverty through the following GK programs namely: Community Infrastructures, Child Youth and Development, Health (Gawad Kalusugan), Food Sufficiency (Bayan-anihan), Community Building, Environment (Green Kalinga).

Partners

Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines works closely with all sectors of society to bring about development from the grassroots up. GK is non-partisan and non-exclusive, engaging all sectors of society to help their countrymen, 80% of whom live in poverty.

In a country composed of 7,100 islands with its share of historical wounds and division, GK serves as the unifying force that unites people from all walks of life to be heroes to one another especially the poorest of the poor. Harnessing the age-old Filipino trait of  bayanihan (being heroes to one another), we provide the venue for the rich and the poorto work in solidarity to bring about positive transformation in the country.

We inspire our partners from the public and private sectors (corporations, religious organizations, NGOs) to share of their resources, time and talents to build beautiful and productive GK communities. The local government units provide the land while we mobilize our volunteers to build homes and implement programs with the resources provided by our generous partners.  The universities and schools in the Philippines provide GK with the right knowledge and science to make our programs work efficiently.

GK beneficiaries learn to help themselves by giving their  sweat equity and love as counterpart to the basic needs provided to them such as shelter, food and early childhood education.

Our heroic caretaker teams and GK workers work closely with the kapitbahayan (GK residents) in building empowered GK communities who then reach out to other poor communities in a beautiful culture of caring and sharing.

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