Kongkong Elementary School

Tapping into Indigenous knowledge to tackle undernourishment

Kongkong Elementary School, a government school in the mountainous town of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines, is tapping into Indigenous knowledge to champion local farming and tackle child undernourishment. Their Project APPLICATION has helped more than 97% of the school’s once undernourished students reach healthy nourishment.

The staff took a dumpsite at the back of the school in 2018 and used it as the grounds for Project APPLICATION (Applying Pro Environment Practices and Local Ideas, a Collective Advocacy Towards an Intimate care for Our Nature). With roughly 30% of the student population being Indigenous, the project aimed to transform the site into an Indigenous Peoples Village and Demo Farm that provides learning opportunities to share cultures, traditions, and safe local farming practices. To that end, the school won the support of the Municipal Local Government Unit of Kasibu and funding from the Parent-Teachers Association. With that, six houses were put up to represent both the majority (Ilocano) demographic and Indigenous Peoples groups (Kalanguya, Ibaloi, Bugkalot, Tuwali and Ayangan). The school brought in Indigenous Peoples elders to share their local, organic farming practices, which included how to make organic insecticide, organic fertiliser, and more for the Demo Farm.

During the pandemic, the learners, teachers, and parents applied the knowledge and skills they had gained from the project and established their own organic gardens at home. As a result, 100% of teachers and 94% of households were able to sustain themselves independently.

The school also started providing environment-related information education campaigns, symposia, and training workshops for proper waste segregation and recycling activities to learners in partnership with the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office of Kasibu and other partners.

If Kongkong Elementary School wins the World's Best School Prize for Community Collaboration, it intends to expand the project to reach more communities in Kasibu and other neighbouring areas, further promoting environmental responsibility and cultural diversity among learners, parents, and the community.