NORFIL's history dates back to the late 1970's, to the Norwegian family of Berit Gronvold, that has devoted its free time as volunteers to a child-care development institution in Pampanga. Upon the family's return to Norway, they solicited additional monetary aid from friends and schoolmates to continue helping the children through Ms. Angela Maria (Beth) Pangan, a social worker who worked with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for many years. Beth Pangan discovered that most of the children in the institution were from poor farming families in nearby provinces. With the help of DSWD social workers, the farmers were provided assistance so the children could return to their homes. Then she started the self-help organization of women/mothers in 2 depressed villages in Bulacan through livelihood projects.
The projects were very successful in transforming the lives of women and their families that Berit's group, who visited every year, encouraged Beth Pangan to apply to NORAD. Before the proposal could be approved, NORFIL Foundation had to be organizaed in 1983. The following year in August, the Integrated Family and Community Development was launched. Later in the year, the IFCW for single mothers and abandoned and neglected children was started. In June 1985 because of the plight of disabled children and youth in the villages, the Community-based Rehabilitation in NORFIL communities was started through NFU, Norway.
In 1986, during the most destructive typhoon in eastern Visayas, NORFIL participated in relief and rehabilitation efforts in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu and demonstrated the use of emergency funds for long-term development. This started NORFIL's presence in Cebu to this day.
Since its launching in 1984, NORFIL has grown from a simple private effort to a long time institutional commitment for peoples development.
NORFIL Foundation, Inc. © 2004
