Dinagyang Festival gets UN endorsement
The United Nations (UN) will include in all its gatherings the promotion of Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival. The yearly festival was favored from among the other festivals in the entire world. This paves way for the city to receive P500,000 assistance from the UN.
Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation Inc. (IDFI) executive director Ben Jimena said he has written the UN to include Dinagyang in its Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Eventually, the festival was included in its MDG using "social artistry" as strategy.
UN's MDG program promotes poverty reduction, education, maternal health, and gender equality. It also aims to combat child mortality, AIDS and other diseases.
In 2015, the MDG agreed to set achievable goals. Poor countries have pledged to govern better, and invest in their people through health care and education. Rich countries have pledged to support them, through aid, debt relief, and fairer trade.
Jimena said it is a great honor for the city to be endorsed by the United Nations. The endorsement will mean better and wider publicity for the upcoming festival. The financial assistance is only an initial help from the UN.
The inclusion of the Dinagyang Festival in the United Nation's MDG will likewise prompt the choreographers of the competing tribes to think and conceptualize a more convincing theme which follows and jibe with MDG program.
A team from UN's MDG program is set to arrive in the city for a workshop to help the choreographers internalize the program. The workshop will help the choreographers in coping up with the MDG's program and same time will not lose the spiritual aspect of the festivity. The festival is in honor to Sr. Sto. Nino.
Recently, Dinagyang was also dubbed Best Tourism Event in the Philippines.