Taiwan funding Phl proposal

A concept hatched back in the Philippines emerged as one of three winning proposals in the Taiwan Excellence: Sharing is Caring project that drew 781 entries from 61 countries.

SEED4COM’s Educating and Empowering the Community through Mobile Kart secured a cash prize of $10,000 and a grant budget of $150,000 for its execution.

Also bagging the same prize and funding are Taiwan’s One-day Medical Tour and Same-day Denture Delivery — Mobile Digital Denture Clinic and Oral Health Service Project; and Solar Solutions for Indigenous Māori Communities from New Zealand.

Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) and the Ministry of Economic Affair announced the three winning proposals on Wednesday, 26 January, after about five months of sifting through the entries.

Cynthia Kiang, Director General of BOFT, presented the certificates to the winners through videoconferencing due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The proposals will be immediately implemented to promote goodwill in the targeted local communities, according to Kiang.

SEED4COM said it believes that education is the foundation of economic growth in a community. It pitched the concept of bringing different learning and skills training to capacitate and empower the underprivileged children, youth, women, farmers and fisher folks in rural areas through the use of mobile classrooms.

Meanwhile, the Solar Solutions for Indigenous Māori Communities from New Zealand, aims to assist indigenous Māori communities with renewable energy solutions that provide social, economic, and environmental outcomes for Māori whānau (families), Hapū (sub-tribes) and Iwi (tribes).

According to Team Maui Energy, many Māori families are struggling to heat their homes adequately or afford basic energy services such as sufficient hot water.

The third winning proposal from Taiwan seeks to provide a mobile digital denture and oral health clinic that will serve the needs of the elderlies who live in rural areas with insufficient medical resources.