Backgrounder
Stone Soup Leadership Institute
Summary of Activities in support
of the Philippines (1987-2003)

The Stone Soup Leadership Institute has been greatly influenced by the Philippines. Inspired by the everyday people, we've documented their story, honored its people, shared lessons learned in speeches and created global partnerships in support of projects. The first in a series of visits began in January 1987 and led to a remarkable 16-year journey. This overview summarizes the Institute's work in support of the Philippines during this time.

In 1986 Viveza International (Spanish for awaken), was founded in the Bay Area, as a non-profit cross-cultural educational organization. Viveza's directors collectively had over forty years of building partnerships with NGO's, government agencies, business and media. Prior to the Philippines project, Viveza had completed an assignment in conjunction with the United Nation's International Year of Peace (1986). Viveza facilitated the development of an education-community outreach plan with UN's NGO's in preparation for a live, 24-hour celebration televised, interactive with 50 countries for UN Day (Oct. 24). After this project, Viveza decided to identify one country to partner with to realize its mission of awakening everyday people, especially in America, to their potential to help build a better world.

After witnessing the peaceful Philippine Revolution (EDSA) on CNN, Marianne Larned, co-director of Viveza International, encouraged the international NGO to focus its efforts on the Philippines. While other directors preferred India, in the end the Philippines was selected as the country Viveza would focus its year-long efforts (1987-1988). Given the nation's newly awakened sense of idealism and commitment to democracy, the Philippines, was an ideal country to learn from. When we arrived, we heard profiles in courage and determination, patience and faith against insurmountable odds. We learned that the story behind the CNN headlines - that the Philippines has the largest number of NGO's in the world - who worked tirelessly to overthrow Marcos.

We found highly educated, English-speaking, thoughtful, well-organized and hard-working people who cared deeply about and longed to renew their democracy. We experienced first-hand the newly awakened Bayanihan spirit and people dedicated to rebuilding their country for the betterment of all Filipinos.

Viveza's goal was to connect with real people addressing real problems in the developing world so that more people, especially Americans would be inspired to a new kind of engaged activism, to be a force for positive change in the world. Our strategy in selecting one country was to learn from the extensive NGO community about their vision for self-determination and community-centered, sustainable development initiatives. We would then develop creative, people-to-people ways to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots, forge new directions for the global economy and strive to build a more peaceful world. Viveza developed partnerships with Filipino NGO's and international foundations, resulting in successful initiatives.

Ms. Larned first met Marietta Primicias Goco in 1987 when they collaborated on the design of Bayanihan, an educational campaign to rekindle traditional Filipino values "working together to rebuild our nation." The Bayanihan program inspired Ms. Larned to write Stone Soup for the World:Life-Changing Stories of Everyday Heroes. The story, The Heaven's Open, honors the Bayanihan spirit and features Marietta Goco.

The Stone Soup Leadership Institute was founded in 1997 as a 501 (c3) educational organization that develops tools, programs and initiatives that honor everyday heroes and trains future and emerging leaders to work together to build a better world. During the 2003 fact-finding mission with FERI, Ms. Larned rekindled her appreciation for the Filipino people. She was privileged to live in the local provinces and learn first-hand how even the poorest among them embody the Bayanihan spirit that she writes about in her books-- ordinary people overcoming obstacles and working together to improve their lives, their families and their world.