One website, one SIM card for Gawad Kalinga

MANILA, Philippines - The social Web is evolving to embrace the social good.

Charitable organizations like the Red Cross had utilized social media sites Twitter and Facebook to call for donations at the height of the Haiti crisis — from people’s pockets to Haiti via text and social sites in an outpouring of support and love.

A similar effort is brewing in our own social graph with the recent launch of the GK1World website (www.gk1world.com) that seeks to encourage Filipinos based overseas to support the massive effort of Gawad Kalinga (GK) to build homes for the homeless and create livelihood opportunities for the newly formed communities.

The website promises, among other things, to use the social media to keep the fire burning for GK, which aims to mobilize every concerned Filipino citizen to work together to end poverty in the country “one town at a time through public-private collaboration.”

GK’s dream is not simple; it hopes to gather an army of one million volunteers to support its projects. The digital campaign is a big development and a big step for taking GK to the digital age.

“That is the only way for a nation to rise. We cannot think of small projects. Our vision for GK is 777 or 700,000 families in 7,000 communities in seven years,” said Gawad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto.

In its seven years of existence, Meloto said they have opened the floodgates of generosity and now the organization is seeking to do more in the next seven years — to create livelihood opportunities for families in GK sites.

Jeffrey Tarayao, corporate social responsibility head of Globe, said in a presentation to the media during the 5th GK Builders Night that the site will be heavy with the use of social media networking tools. 

The site has, among other things, a forum where people can interact with one another, RSS feeds for receiving timely information about the various activities in over 2,000 GK communities all over the country, and a capability for volunteers to upload their own content — videos, photos and articles.

“Encouraging people to upload their own stories is the most important content,” said Ernest Cu, Globe president and CEO. “It is the most valuable concept.”

Sometimes he said it is difficult for Filipinos to travel to the Philippines but giving them a picture and a window to what occurs with GK and giving them information on where and how they can provide support will hopefully encourage more Pinoys overseas to help.

In Tarayao’s demo, he said a GK volunteer can register on the site and create his or her own team, upload photos of the team’s involvement with GK, or stories about their programs and projects as well as anecdotes on community work.

Team Globe, for example, has uploaded photos and activities in Globe-funded communities in various GK communities and the strides of its employees to do volunteer work on their free time for the GK cause.

It is not just about technology, it is also about the concept of being able to share good deeds and good news. What better vehicle for sharing the good deeds and good news than the social media, said Cu. 

Luis Oquinena, GK executive director, said the website is complemented by Globe’s Kalinga sa Bayan SIM card launched earlier and which now has 18,000 users.

The multi-function SIM card also serves as an identification card for volunteers. Through the SIM card, GK will be able to communicate directly through text messages to volunteers the latest schedule of activities and other community information.

As an incentive, users of the SIM card pay only half of the existing rates for voice calls and text messaging — 50 centavos for every text message instead of P1 and P3 per minute of voice calls instead of P7. They are also eligible to avail themselves of other promos such as unlimited voice calls and text messaging at heavily discounted rates.

“The combination of the movement’s strategy and the vision they have to make this as a digital interaction point is really unique,” said Rogelio Santos Jr., chief executive officer of Voncore, the website’s developer.

The Voncore volunteer team, Santos said, is complemented by experts from the US who also volunteered to do work for GK.

Most of the content of the old GK website (gawadkalinga.org) has been migrated to the gk1world website, according to Santos.

Oquinena said the website is funded by Globe and hosted by GK, with the backend in partnership with PLDT. “There is really no exclusivity when you want to help, it will take a nation to rebuild this country,” he said.