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Feature Story:
In March, I participated alongside two Sierra Club activists in the second annual Population, Health, and Environment (PHE) Conference in Cebu City in the Philippines organized by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB). I was invited to present as an environmental advocate alongside demographers, researchers, government officials and family planning providers - the first such opportunity for the Sierra Club's Global Population and Environment Program to be so prominently featured at an international conference. My presentation entitled, "From Monitoring and Evaluation to Mobilizing: Support from the Ground Up - the United States," was given at one of the opening plenary sessions to around 300 participants from around the world. The fact that we were invited to present represented a shift from years past: our expertise and leadership were held up as a model for other NGOs from different countries.
 Children in the Philippines Colleague NGOs from countries near and far clapped and cheered enthusiastically about the campaign that is inspiring folks here in the U.S.- our youth focused initiative - The Fate of the World Is In Your Hands and Your Pants campaign. Club activists, Ramona Rex from Oregon and Susan Studer from Ohio could not keep up with demand for our t-shirts and materials from conference participants. Check them out here.
 A community health worker promoting family planning In addition to our conference participation, PRB collaboratively organized three PHE site visits, one in urban Manila, one in an upland forest on a larger island and one in a coastal setting on a small island. All three of these more intimate interactions with Filipino communities gave us real life examples of putting solutions to work for very complex and interwoven social development issues. For example, in one community, a decision tree was created so the community had the opportunity to first determine their problems and then devise culturally directed, realistic solutions. The pressures of population growth were clearly a common theme among the communities, as were the family planning and healthcare solutions. Our time in the Philippines enabled us to leverage our experience and design local outreach events and media - ultimately increasing interest and support locally for global population issues and the solutions we encountered.
 Activists Ramona Rex and Susan Studer listening to a local health worker
Photos courtesy of Annette Souder.
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