Stairway's programs and activities are geared to inspire the best in children and youth in a way that will enable them to grow and to develop to their fullest potentials and capabilities.

The rehabilitation center for street children on the northern coast of Mindoro Island makes up the heart of Stairway's activities and programs. They include:

• Campaigning, network building and training for the prevention of child sexual abuse.
• Rehabilitation of particularly disadvantaged street children and children from jails, including children with tuberculosis.
• Building relationships between Stairway-kids and more privileged youth from schools in the Philippines, Egypt and Denmark.
• Creative advocacy of children's rights through animations, performances and exhibitions.
• Advocacy and education programs, seminars and workshops.
• Developing teachers' materials about street children and children's rights.

Residential Program

Stairway runs a Family Home Program which accepts boys aged 13-17 for a period of one year. The residential program provides a home-like environment to streetchildren who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by their families.

At Stairway, the children get rid of their addictions, get healthy, and have the opportunity to act their age through play and sports. They not only learn how to read and write, they also learn that they are important, and that they matter. They are taught their rights and responsibilities, and given skills to deal better with themselves and with other people. Individual and group processing sessions provided by the psychologist and the social worker also ensure that their emotional well-being is taken care of and their sense of self restored.

The following activities are implemented in the residential program:

Treatment of Tuberculosis
Over the past four years, Stairway has been accepting children with tuberculosis for medical treatment. Tuberculosis is rampant in the Philippines and street children are very susceptible to contracting it.  Poor living condition, lack of sanitation, and the unpredictability of the their lives make it difficult to treat the disease effectively and to bring it under control.

In order to ensure proper and effective treatment of tuberculosis, children at risk must undergo DOTS (Direct Observed Treatment Strategy), which is an effective strategy used by WHO for combating and preventing the spread of the disease. The combination of employing DOTS along with Stairway’s natural, pristine surroundings makes it an ideal setting for treating children at risk with tuberculosis. So far, Stairway has enjoyed a 100 percent success rate for treating children with tuberculosis in the program.

Non-Formal Education
Stairway provides non-formal education for children who have had little or no education.  The Basic Alternative Learning System (BALS) has been implemented in the organization, and through Academic Assessment, the intellectual capacities of children are categorized from Basic (zero level of knowledge) to Advanced (can comprehend). 

Classes are small which allow for individual attention and individual pacing for learning.  Subjects include Reading, Writing, Math, History, Science, Computer Skills, Filipino and English, Art, Home Economics, and Critical Thinking.

Practical Skills
While in residence, the children learn a variety of income-generating skills, such as making bracelets, candles, stone jewelry, tie-dye, dreamcatchers, earrings, and bamboo crafts.  These skills help to provide them with an income while in residence and can also give them an alternative for making a livelihood after leaving Stairway.

Sports and Recreation
Sports and recreation play an integral part of the program.  With the surrounding beaches and mountains, the children can enjoy a wide variety of games and sports.  The positive new sensations they experience help to deter them from the negative habits of the streets, thus encouraging them to develop healthy minds and bodies.

Psychosocial Interventions
At the same time that the children’s physical and educational needs are met, Stairway also ensures that psychosocial interventions are given to help children become emotionally and psychologically healthy. They are assessed when they come in, and again when they are released. Issues identified in the initial assessment are addressed through group and individual processing, with both the psychologist and social worker collaborating to monitor their development.

Creative Expressions
Central to Stairway’s program are the creative expressions that serve as both a tool for therapy and for rehabilitation.  Effective on so many levels in the child's own personal development and growth, the creative expressions allow the space for exploring, and releasing hidden strengths, gifts and potentials.

Trainings and Capacity Building

Stairway provides trainings and workshops on children’s rights and on the prevention of child sexual abuse.  These trainings vary in terms of duration, targeted audiences, methodologies and intended effects. These trainings are all built upon the animation toolkits Stairway has produced, and are intended not only to increase knowledge, but more so, to change attitudes surrounding the issue of child sexual abuse.

Workshops and Trainings

Stairway provides trainings and workshops on children’s rights and on the prevention of child sexual abuse.  These trainings vary in terms of duration, targeted audiences, methodologies and intended effects. These trainings are all built upon the animation toolkits Stairway has produced, and are intended not only to increase knowledge, but more so, to change attitudes surrounding the issue of child sexual abuse.

Youth to Youth

"I've learned a sense of compassion and love towards others here. That's something I'll take back with me not only after ICARE, but forever! I feel I have gained so much."
Quote from a student from the International School after a week at Stairway.


The seeds of concern that we plant in the hearts and the minds of the youth constitute our hope for a more just world of tomorrow. Since the inception of Stairway's programs, the importance of bridging the worlds that lie between the children and youth from the streets of Manila and those far more privileged have been emphasized.

The organization’s programs with Rødkilde Amtsgymnasium in Denmark and that with the International School in Manila and the Cairo American College are of very different nature, but both sum up in an active concern for peers, who in so many respects are far less privileged.

Four programs are currently in place at Stairway to develop young people themselves to be advocates for change.

• TASK (Talented, Ambitious, Street Kids)
• Rødkilde Amtsgymnasium (Denmark)
• I CARE (International School Manila)
• Week Without Walls (Cairo American College)

TASK (Talented, Ambitious, Street Kids)

TASK uses the power of the theatre arts and street culture to reach out to thousands of children at risk. TASK members go directly to the streets, to child-care organizations and into jails to teach their peers about the dangers of substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and child sexual abuse.  They also empower them with knowledge about their rights.

The concept of TASK originated in 1999 with a group of seventeen (17) streetchildren who were a part of a unique  rehabilitation and recovery program that used musical theatre to help bring about changes in attitudes, behaviors, and outlook on life. With the support of professional artists and musicians, they brought their street experience to the international stage with an international tour that reached as far as the United Nations Palais in Geneva, Switzerland.

Members of TASK have also participated in the development of two award-winning animations: Daughter, A Story of Incest and A Good Boy, A Story of Pedophilia, both produced by Stairway. 

Presently, TASK, performs in Stairway’s theatre advocacy piece called Cracked Mirrors, Stories of Child Sexual Abuse.  It is a realistic portrayal of the deep pain and suffering that children endure as a result of sexual abuse.  Cracked Mirrors has played before numerous audiences including teachers, students, law enforcement agents, church groups, and the public in general.  After the performances, TASK engages the audience in a discussion about child sexual abuse.

Alongside working on creative projects under Stairway Foundation, members of TASK also participate in the daily running of the programs in Stairway and are deeply involved with our ongoing workshops about children's rights and child sexual abuse prevention.  Their personal stories help other victims of abuse to overcome their feelings of shame and guilt, which helps them to disclose their own abuses.


Rødkilde Amtsgymnasium (Denmark)

Our longest standing collaboration with any school is that with Rødkilde Amtsgymnasium in Denmark. Since 1994, Stairway has made an annual appearance at the school in the form of presentations/lectures for the whole school and/or addressing the issue of poverty, streetchildren and development in the classrooms. For the same number of years, the entire school population has backed up behind our programs with significant financial support.

On a volunteer basis, all students take out one day every year to do various jobs and services in the local community and the money they raise all go directly into Stairway's programs and activities.

What is remarkable about our collaboration with Rødkilde is not only the millions of pesos they have contributed over the years, but also the fact that there is such a massive support of the project amongst the students. In September 2002, about 98% of the students volunteered for the cause.

With their consistent support Rødkilde can take credit for financing most of the construction at Stairway and the local schools around have also benefited through improved sanitation and installation of electricity.


I CARE
International School in Manila (ISM)

The International School in Manila (ISM) introduced the ICARE week in 1998 in their school. ICARE stands for International Community Actively Responding to their Environment. The idea is to expose their students to the diverse communities and social realities of the Philippines. Over the years, hundreds of students have traveled as far north as Sagada to help preserve the thousand-year old rice terraces, and as far south as Negros Occidental to build day-care centers for children.

Stairway’s ICARE collaboration with ISM started with the presentation of Goldtooth, A Street Children's Musical in 1999. The following year, in 2000, Stairway hosted an ICARE event for the first time, bringing children from diverse backgrounds for a weeklong exposure and interaction. It was a social experiment and a great challenge in our search for new approaches of advocacy in promoting children's rights, and the main objective was to alter perspectives and stereotypes and develop sympathy, solidarity and friendships. It was such a success that it has become an annual even for both ISM and Stairway.


Week Without Walls: From Egypt to the Philippines
Cairo American College

In February 2005, a group of 20 high school students from the Middle East, Europe and America visited Stairway for a week as part of the Cairo American College’s Week Without Walls program. The purpose was to build bridges and create mutual understanding and respect between youth from very different social and cultural backgrounds.

When kids meet on common ground, the magic soon starts to work: The initial shyness and embarrassment fades away, and is replaced by joking, laughing, playing and even friendship. For the Stairway kids, meeting more privileged youth from other countries is an opportunity to learn other ways, share dreams and realize, that people are just people no matter their position in life.

For the Cairo kids, the view into a very different life is a forming experience that will promote better understanding and concern for the unprivileged street children both in the Philippines and in their own countries.

Both groups experienced that behind every face is a person with dreams and aspirations, and that an open mind and simple friendliness can build bridges over social, economic and cultural divides.

Due to the security concerns in the country, however, the Week Without Walls activity has not been held at Stairway since 2007.