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Studying at Crawford School of Government (now School of Public Policy) with students from all kinds of cultures and varying professional background exposed me to a world of advocacy and working for international organizations. I was very fascinated at the work of my classmates. Even then, I promised myself that after I've served my two years return service, I will try my luck at working for an NGO.

After graduation, I went back to the Philippines and took on the challenge of heading the Planning and Development Office in my province. For almost two years I helped push the agenda for greater accountability in local governance by strengthening Monitoring & Evaluation systems down to the grassroots level. In less than two years, we were awarded as the best Provincial M&E Committee in the entire region.

However, the temptation to enter the world of NGOs was too strong to resist. In 2014, I finally succumbed to the lure. I am now working for Rare - a global organization that works with local communities towards sustainable fisheries. Rare is a relatively young organization in the Philippines and we are working to drive the advocacy in favour of municipal fisheries towards a tipping point: that of ensuring that there is sufficient supply of fish not only for this generation but also the next ones.