A Climb for Digital Readiness: Create Foundation's First Hike

“Create Foundation reflects the values Tadz and I hold close—especially on education. Coming from a poor family and growing up in the province, we know how life-changing education can be. It gave us the chance to build better lives and now, through this partnership, we’re able to give back. Together, we’re bringing learning resources to underserved communities and opening doors for others, just like education once did for us.”

• Tina, from the Tadz and Tina Mountaineering Group

Tadz presents books and learning materials to community representatives in Lanao del Sur.

At Create Foundation, we believe functional literacy and numeracy skills to be integral to acquiring digital literacy, and therefore the first step to digital inclusion. Achieving both basic and functional literacy empowers the safe and inclusive use of digital technologies! However, in the Philippines many schools have limited resources — poor access to electricity, low resources on information, and communication and digital technologies are nowhere near enough. This is especially true for rural communities in mountainous regions. 

According to the Center for Global Development (2023), most out-of-school youths around the world live in rural areas where they have less educational attainment and lower opportunities for skill development. This educational inequality is ever present in the Philippines, with the rural educational attainment consistently lagging behind urban efforts to educational development. This gap, often reflected in lower literacy and critical thinking,  translates to lower incomes and worse life outcomes.

Reaching the Unreachable: Project CLIMB

To address this challenge, Create Foundation partnered with the Tadz and Tina Mountaineering Group for our Project CLIMB (Create Learning in Mountain Barangays), an initiative under our Create Library program. The project aims to delivers book and learning materials to remote communities in mountainous regions. For Create Foundation’s first hike toward digital readiness, Tadz and Tina led the way.

These two mountaineers have long organized community service projects for isolated mountain barangays — trekking for days to deliver educational materials and essential supplies to areas often inaccessible by conventional transportation. But challenges persist, especially in terms of the support and logistics needed for the projects.

“We do this out of passion and regularly. To make the most of the opportunity of being in the community, we bring the donated items at the same time. We do not tire out of this activity but what we find challenging is to find regular sponsors of book donors and the logistical expenses incurred in transporting the items from the city to the rural area.”

• Tadz, from the Tadz and Tina Mountaineering Group

  
  

This is where Create Foundation comes in. Through a book drive that was organized with the CIIT Library, Create Foundation was able to collate over 2,000 educational materials and learning resources to be distributed to different communities. Four of those boxes were sent to a remote upland community in Lanao Del Sur. Tadz and Tina hiked 104km from the lowlands to reach this community and fill their school library, bringing quality educational materials to children who previously had limited access to books.

Before and after views of the library in Lanao del Sur following the completion of Project CLIMB.

“With our partnership with Create Foundation we expanded our reach and the project is more sustainable. This collaboration opens the door to a larger volume of donated items, enabling the group to serve more individuals and communities in need.” 

• Tadz, from the Tadz and Tina Mountaineering Group

  
  

A Collective Movement for Inclusive Digital Futures

Create Foundation continues to collaborate with organizations and individuals who share our core values: collaboration, community engagement, learning, service, sustainability, and transparency.

“Joining Create Foundation’s mission offers organizations and individuals a powerful opportunity to contribute to meaningful, sustainable change. It promotes responsible giving and zero waste by redirecting surplus resources to those in need. By embracing compassion, collaboration, and empowerment, Create Foundation invites everyone to be part of a values-driven movement that transforms generosity into lasting change."

• Tadz, from the Tadz and Tina Mountaineering Group

Be Part of the Movement!

If your organization wants to help build an inclusive digital future for the Philippines, partner with us today. Click here to start