Corporate Champions

Project in Focus: Cobra rebuilds elementary school in Nagbangi

Watch a video of the Cobra Philippines field visit here (N.B.: this file is over 7MB in size)

The Making Schools Ready project funded by the Cobra Group (Cobra) covers the province
of Antique in the Philippines.



It is located in the eastern portion of Panay Island and has 18 municipalities, two of which are project partners with Save the Children. They are San Remegio and Sibalom. Antique is one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Socio-economic underdevelopment has had an adverse impact on the delivery of basic services to rural communities, many of which are so remote as to be almost inaccessible.	It is in light of this that 13 schools from the Antique province were chosen to be recipients of the Making Schools Ready project. The selected schools were among those that have problems not only with the condition of school facilities, but also in the teaching/learning process.


	An inventory of school facilities indicated that many of the schools lacked suitable facilities for optimal learning. Classrooms were dilapidated, some with no ceiling. Desks were falling to pieces, posing a great danger to students, and the school toilet facilities were in dire need of improvement. These schools had no resource learning centres, no library.

With Cobra’s help, much has been achieved amongst the chosen schools, with many boasting new and/or improved classroom facilities and new learning resources, such as reading materials and a mobile library. Recently, Warren Nicholls - National Business Manager (Cobra), Spencer Galbally - Managing Director of Storm Promotions (independent contractor for Cobra), and Steve Sapsford - Managing Director of Elite Advertising (independent contractor for Cobra), paid a visit to one of the project schools, Nagbangi Elementary School, to see first hand how work was progressing.	The Cobra representatives received a warm and friendly reception from Nagbangi’s 114 students, including a generous buffet lunch and a stage performance held to welcome them to the school. As a further honour, all three representatives had commemorative trees planted in their names and were also presented with benches and chairs constructed as gifts to thank Cobra and Save the Children for all that has been accomplished for the school. As a fitting conclusion to the experience, Cobra was able to leave the children with new chairs for their classrooms.

Save the Children Australia has always proven to maximize every dollar and displays real dedication to ensuring that all projects are completed with the utmost professionalism and care. Because of the nature of our business, we rely immensely on the reputation we have in the marketplace; this reputation co-exists with every client and joint venture we involve ourselves in.	Our relationship with Save the Children Australia has been strong from the outset and has lasted for over five great years. We know that the dedication to exactness, professionalism and the understanding of the importance of effective teamwork in achieving objectives, has always been paramount to our successful partnership. We look forward to being involved in many more rewarding projects with Save the Children.” - Warren Nicholls


"The opportunity to visit the many beautiful and remote regions in the Phillipines and the hospitable and warm people in these communities was both humbling and unforgettable. To see first hand the amazing difference our daily fundraising efforts on behalf of Save The Children and these communities makes was an incredibly rewarding and special experience." - Spencer Galbally	"It is one thing to donate but another to experience what your donation has achieved. The smile on those children's faces when we handed over the chairs for their classrooms was one I will remember for a lifetime. Thank you cobra for allowing me to be part of this amazing project." - Steve Sapsford

Cobra Philippines Field Visit [7262 Kb] To work with Save the Children, please contact us.