Patrick has six years of experience in the nonprofit sector. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from the Mindanao State University in 2004. Patrick participated in the VSO and British Council’s Global Xchange Program in 2006 for a year of cultural exchange and volunteering in Mindanao and the United Kingdom under the theme “Peace and Development.” Together with other youth volunteers of the team, he was awarded the “Millennium Volunteer Award of Excellence” by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Skills. Prior to this experience, Patrick was an Oxfam International Youth Partnerships Action Partner from 2004-2007, where he received capacity-building training, online peer mentoring, and support for his community project. In 2003, he received the national “13 UNEP-Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Award” for his community project on reforestation. Currently, he is the Provincial Education Officer in Mindanao for World Vision Philippines’ Child Labor Education Project, an initiative that uses education and policy advocacy to strengthen social structures and alternative livelihood as a means to combat child labor in the Philippines. He also volunteers as coordinator for the Mindanao Young Leaders Parliament, a network of youth social activists from Mindanao, and as an “Oxfam Youth Mentor and Motivator” for the new participants of the 2010-2013 Oxfam Action Partners cohort. Patrick belongs to the Bukidnons, one of the indigenous tribes of Mindanao.

Host Organization: International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children