Louis Vuitton uplifts the Filipino family

Partnership for children’s future.” Louis Vuitton has pledged a total of $120,000 to help the SOS Children’s Villages’ projects for striving families in Davao, Tacloban and Lipa

Louis Vuitton and SOS Children’s Villages Philippines will work hand in hand to protect Filipino children from being separated from their families. According to the high fashion luxury brand, “family-strengthening” will be the major focus of its local partnership with the non-government organization, which was formalized on June 16 at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

To support the many programs for the said cause, Louis Vuitton has pledged a total of $120,000 to be utilized within a two-year course. 

The announcement was made by Louis Vuitton president for Asia Pacific Jean-Baptiste Debains, Louis Vuitton Country Manager for the Philippines Rhea de Vera-Aguirre, and SOS Children’s Villages Philippines National Director Bienvenido Delgado.

Global partnership

According to Debains, the global partnership between Louis Vuitton and SOS Children’s Villages International began in 2010 when the two institutions signed a five-year agreement, which they called, “Partnership for Children’s Future."

This program focuses on a child’s right to education and protection from any form of child labor and abuse. When the agreement was signed, the key beneficiaries that were chosen were China, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines. 

Back then, Louis Vuitton’s Intellectual Property Department donated and distributed $500,000 among the SOS Children’s Villages in each country. 

Debains clarified that the donations do not come from the company’s sales but from Louis Vuitton’s anti-counterfeiting activities.

He explained that the luxury brand continuously fights counterfeiting in countries where big organizations are involved in the manufacture of fake Louis Vuitton bags. 

“There’s a lot of money involved around it [counterfeiting]. We believe that the persons selling the bags in the streets or in the stores are not the big criminal but the organizations behind them.

Turning to counterfeit laws, Louis Vuitton is able to get damages from the organizations involved in this criminal activity.

Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific President Jean Baptiste-Debains, Louis Vuitton Country  Manager Philippines Rhea  de Vera-Aguirre and SOS Children's Villages Philippines National Director Bienvenido Delgado

Local cooperation

The month of June saw Louis Vuitton’s first initiative to aid the SOS Children’s Villages Philippines. The funds from its Intellectual Property Department will go to SOS Children’s Villages in Davao, Tacloban and Lipa, the three oldest children’s villages in the country.

It is also notable that while Louis Vuitton’s partnership with other countries focuses solely on the SOS Children’s Villages, here, the partnership extends all the way to the local community.

This was explained by Delgado, who told The Manila Times, “We move from the Children’s Villages in Davao, Tacloban and Lipa to the communities around it. And this cooperation [with Louis Vuitton] is significant because these communities are the natural areas of growth. We go out where the children live with their biological families.”

SOS Davao, Tacloban and Lipa will soon hold its family strengthening programs, the top priority of which is to send as many children to school as they can. Louis Vuitton and SOS value education as the cornerstone of their partnership. Meanwhile, parents will also undergo training programs to learn how to best raise their families, so they will not resort to giving their children away due to hardships.

“This is actually the specific program that we’re [Louis Vuitton] supporting because it focuses on protecting the family and keeping the family together. I suppose a lot of these children have the risk of eventually having to go to the [SOS] villages that is why these efforts aim to prevent that situation from happening,” concluded Aguirre.

*First published for The Manila Times. Read here.