ELF provides lifelong learning services to communities of  grassroots leader-learners. For 2009 we have  the color coded learning series in our logo:

Green for  agriculture and environment, specifically organic farming in rural and urban areas, and biodiversity conservation

Blue for education on grassroots leadership and citizenship.

Purple for gender and women’s lifelong  learning.

Red for advocacy and campaigns e.g. Education for All, Participatory Local Governance.

Yellow for the lifelong agenda of grassroots communities from renewable energy to spirituality.

We are active in the green movement Go Organic! ELF has finished a 16-week -long training on organic rice cultivation in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, in partnership with the PBAA. The Go Organics movement is our national network  for green and yellow education. More than six hundred farmers enrolled in the organic agriculture course that Go Organic! started in December 2008. This April, we harvested 4.2 tons of rice from the organic learning farm and the Department of Agriculture was happy with the results. On April 18, 104 farmers will receive their diplomas of completion  while 30 farmers will get their certificate of attendance (because they were not able to attend all the learning sessions).

We are also developing a project with La Mesa Dam Eco Park  to build an Eco-Academy where  education on  biodiversity and sustainable lifestyles will be offered to teachers and students on a regular basis .

In the  formal and parallel education domain, we help install Folk Schools and  the Alternative Learning Systems (ALS).  We keep leader graduates  of the folk schools  abreast of developments in education. This year, we are helping the Paaralang Bayan ng Ayta sa Zambales (PBAZ) to build their capacity to run their own folk school and provide literacy training to their communities. We  help local government units and civil society groups develop their community-based alternative learning systems and train their instruction managers.

We partner with various organizations and institutions  in enhancing their  adult learners ‘ platforms. The National Electrification Administration (NEA) is our partner in developing a strong consumer movement in the energy sector. We have visited the various electric cooperatives and held orientation meetings with them.  On April 22-24, ELF discussed the benefits  of an energy consumer education to local government units and electric cooperatives.  On August 2-3, we participated in NEA’s  global conference on 40 years of rural electrification in the Philippines. We also launched with NEA a book  on rural electrification, with the title Electric Dreams.

Girlie Villariba.