Partnerships with Universities and Institutions

The  Social Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Business Institute (SETBI) has partnered with government agencies, institutions, and universities, signing a number of Memoranda of Agreement thereby achieving its vision to educate, support, and inspire leaders across all sectors to address society’s most crucial challenges and to improve the quality of life for its populations, to drive change in communities, and to make a difference in the world. 

 

In 2012, a Memorandum of Agreement for Social Entrepreneurship Institute (SEI), now SETBI, was signed with Thompson Christian School, for office and classroom space for a social entrepreneur facility for education and economic opportunities. The MOA was signed by Dr. Aland Mizell, President, and Attorney Susan Cariaga to develop forward thinking initiatives to improve the living standard of the disadvantaged and to improve the community.

 

In 2013, a Memorandum of Agreement between the Social Entrepreneurship Institute and its partners, the Department of Education (DepEd), Thompson Christian School, and the Dmirie Foundation was signed in Davao City to implement the Alternative Delivery Mode Education Program. Philippine education today faces two serious problems: low student achievement and high dropout rate. To properly address these problems, the Alternative Delivery Mode to public schools in the Philippines widens learners' access to quality education and provides ways to reach out to learners who are unable to attend regular classes. The Alternative Delivery Mode serves as one of the key poverty alleviation programs of the national government to contribute to breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty. The program also embodies the vision, mission, and mandate of the Department of Education as it reinforces its role as the lead agency in championing social welfare and development, and contributing to achieving the country’s Millennium Development Goals by ensuring that certain conditionalities, particularly on education, are met by the beneficiaries with Department of Education (DepEd) fully supporting the program. 

 

On September 28, 2016, a Memorandum of Agreement for the First College Education Behind Bars in the Philippine and in Southeast Asia  was signed by Dr. Aland Mizell, President of Social Entrepreneurship, Technology, Business Institute, and Attorney Susan Cariaga, Vice President of SETBI; the University of Southeastern Philippines, President, Dr. Lourdes Generalao; and the Chief of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Dir. Serafin Petronio Barretto, Jr., CESO IV for a program on prison rehabilitation and College Education Behind Bars at the House of Representatives, Batasan Road, Batasan, Hills. Congresswoman Mylene Garcia-Albano of the Second District of Davao City, and Attorney Lily Freida M. Milla, CESOIV, Director III, International Affairs, Commission on Higher Education, former Davao City Jail Warden JSupt Grace S. Taclun, and Assistant Warden Jsinsp. Roberto C. Gotico witnessed the signing in Quezon City. 

 

In 2017, SETBI signed a MOA with BJMP and Thompson Christian School to provide the Senior High School Program. Earlier in 2017, Davao City Jail undertook a teaching program initiative under the Department of Education of the Philippines called Alternative Learning System (ALS) for those who wanted to finish high school, but the Jail offered only Grade 10 and did not have a senior high school (SHS) program, instead using the old system consisting of the first year to the fourth year, which corresponds to Grades 7 to 10, also known as junior high school (JHS). Senior high school (SHS) refers to Grades 11 and 12, the last two years of the K-12 program.  In senior high school, students begin to study the subjects that would introduce them to their preferred career path. But if they stopped at Grade 10, as the Ma-a Jail program did, they would only receive a JHS certificate, not a high school diploma. Students who belong to the K-12 generation but do not complete Grade 12 will be disadvantaged in that they will not be accepted into a college degree program or a technical-vocational certificate program without the SHS diploma. They will also miss out on an opportunity to learn skills that can qualify them for employment right after the SHS or that can prepare them for starting up a business. According to the law, at the beginning of School Year 2016-2017, students must go through Grade 11 and 12 to graduate from high school.

 

In October 2017, The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with SETBI for the possible nationwide expansion of the College Education Behind Bars Program.

 

In May 16-2018, SETBI initiated the 1st International Conference on Inmates’ Transformative Education for Successful Re-entry on May 16-17, 2018 partnering with the University of Southeastern Philippines. Centered on the theme Hope for Restoration—Today’s Inmate is Tomorrow’s Neighbor, the conference  gathered representatives from the five pillars of the Criminal Justice System, non-government organizations (NGOs), community leaders, academic leaders, criminal justice practitioners, and students. Researchers presented their papers on the importance of education in the future development of the Criminal Justice System.

In 2018, Dr. Aland Mizell and Attorney Susan Cariaga co-founded the Southeast Asian Alliance of Higher Education in Jails and Prisons officially incorporating it in compliance with regulations of the Philippine government.

 

On August 6,2018, a Memorandum of Agreement for the College Education Behind Bars project was signed at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm by Dr. Aland Mizell, President of Social Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Business Institute (SETBI); Attorney Susan Cariaga, Vice-President of SETBI; Ronald Dela Rosa, Director General of the Bureau Corrections; and Gerardo F. Padilla, MPA, Superintendent Davao Prison and Penal Farm. The Social Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Business Institute, Inc. (SETBI), by partnering with the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), initiated a “College Education Behind Bars” second campus at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm. This program aims to provide the inmates, both male and female, who are mostly drug dependent, the means to advance their education in prison. It also offers them a recovery program with their college diplomas, so that if or when they are released, they are fully equipped to go back into society as a contributor to nation building and not a burden to their families and communities. Through the College Education Behind Bars mentoring and recovery program, detainees enhance skills critical to completing a college degree and building trust in personal relationships. Both activities significantly increase prisoners’ chances of succeeding when returning to the community.

 

On August 14-15, 2019, the  Social Entrepreneurship Technology and Business Institute (SETBI), partnered with the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) to hold the 2nd International Conference on Inmates’ Transformative Education for Successful Re-entry in Davao City. Centered on the theme “ Rethinking Rehabilitation: Community in Unity, Obstacles and Realities,” the conference gathered representatives from the five pillars of the Criminal Justice System, non-government organizations (NGOs), community leaders, academic leaders, criminal justice practitioners, and students.

 

On February 20, 2020, the Social Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Business Institute (SETBI)’s College Education Behind Bars sealed its partnership with a Memorandum of Agreement signed at the Davao del Norte State College by Dr. Aland Mizell, President of SETBI; Attorney Susan Cariaga, Vice President of SETBI; the Davao Del Norte State College‘s President, Dr. Joy M. Sorrosa; and Girley S. Gumanao, VP of Academics and Research of DNSC.

 

On October 25,2022, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) issued a Memorandum desiring to replicate nationwide SETBI’s College Education Behind Bars program as part of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Educational Development Programs. 

 

In 2024, the Social Entrepreneurship Technology and Business Institute: College Education Behind Bars signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Ateneo de Davao University through its Arrupe Office of Social Formation (AdDU-AOSF) Davao City, Philippines to provide value education and recovery programs. 

 

In April 2024, Social Entrepreneurship Technology and Business Institute: College Education Behind Bars made an agreement with the Technical eEducation and 

Skills Development Authority (TESDA).  

On October 9-11, 2024, SETBI held its 3rd International Conference on Transformative Education for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL), partnering with the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP).  Dr. Roger C. Montepio, USeP’s Vice President for Research, Development and Extension, brought welcoming remarks, and SETBI President Dr. Mizell, and current University President, Dr. Bonifacio G. Gabales, commented on the importance of these conferences. The first keynote speaker of the conference was Dr. Mneesha Gellman. Dr. Gellman, the Founder and Director of the Emerson Prison Initiative, which, similar to SETBI, offers college education to people deprived of liberty (PDL) at Massachusetts Correctional Institution.