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About #UPGSustainability Leaders
Shawntel Nieto
Philippines
#UPGSustainability Leader 2021
Co-Founder & President - One Cainta Food Program & Sustainable PH; Co-Founder - SustainaRumble
SDGs Passionate About
Project and Mini-Training
Today, I am the Founder & President of the One Cainta Food Program (OCFP) – an initiative that provides 1000 people with daily food and other necessities. Since founding in March 2020, we have worked with over 70 organizational partners (i.e. URC, Unilever) and have provided 5 million food hampers to 500,000 people across 16 cities and 11 hospitals. Under OCFP, I started Modular Education x in 2021 to provide 1000 students with weekend supplementary online elective classes. In 2022, I started partnering with organizations to provide employment and livelihood opportunities for 200 PWDs and 500 mothers.
How has becoming a #UPGSustainability Leader impacted you personally?
During the online program, I learned what it means to enable and empower people to own what we are doing increasingly. So from something that’s ours – as to say my immediate team’s, I’ve learned how to make our program and anything I do “ours” – as in theirs as well. Today, I’m glad to say that all of our distributions are led and handled by the people in the communities. When we come in, it’s your neighbor helping your neighbor out. With this, everyone owns this program. At Hurricane Island, I learned how to expand this further. I knew what it means to connect with your work and to connect with people – even those who might not be directly part of our organization yet. I learned how to communicate not to impress or inform but to connect. I’ve learned that that’s what leadership is about and how our organizations and movements can truly grow.