Australian Government Awards Grant to Pushpin Movement

The grant was made possible by the Alumni Grant Scheme (AGS), a project by the Philippines-Australia Human Resource and Organisational Development Facility (HRODF) and the Australian Embassy Manila.

The AGS aims to support the Philippines-Australia Alumni Association Inc., the formal organisation for Australia-educated alumni, and is envisaged to  create opportunities that promote interaction and engagement; provide an environment to exchange ideas; allow networking; establish and strengthen social and professional links, and; enable continued learning within the Alumni Network.

Australia Award scholars and founders of Pushpin Movement, Ann Marie Cunanan and Cheenee Otarra, together with three other fellow scholars namely Nina Araneta-Alana, Lucita Dela Pena, and Elaine Umali, submitted their proposal to the Alumni Grant Scheme on August 2014.

Pushpin Movement is a startup social enterprise that connects the world’s volunteers to local projects and communities in the Philippines. Its proposal highlighted strategies to maintain lasting relationship among Australia-educated alumni. A crucial strategy is to partner with nonprofits and organisations that have alumni as managers and members. Another strategy is to work with existing networks of schools and travel distributors in Australia that the founders have made during the course of their scholarship.

The Pushpin Movement team is composed of the following members:

Ann Marie Cunanan (Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Swinburne University, 2014)
Cheenee Otarra (Master of Tourism, Monash University, 2014)
Nina Araneta-Alana (Master of Laws, University of Melbourne, 2014)
Lucita Dela Pena (Graduate Diploma on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Swinburne University, 2014)
Elaine Umali (Master of Education [Educational Management], University of Melbourne, 2014)

Source:  http://pushpinmovement.com/stories/news/australian-government-awards-pushpin-movement/