About the Author

AURORA SILAYAN-GO’s lifelong dedication to social development is evident in her many

accomplishments in the field, one of which was to pioneer back in 1985 the very first
telephone hotline counseling program for young people, called Dial-A-Friend.

After graduating in 1958 with an M.A. in Sociology from the Fordham University in New
York, she first pursued the path of teaching, tackling subjects such as Sociology, Social
Theory, Research Methods and Techniques.

After ten years (1959-1969) in the field of academe, and after a yearlong stint as the research
director of Ateneo de Manila University’s Institute of Philippine Culture, she was hired by the
Commission on Population (PopCom) in 1972, where she was the director of the Planning,
Evaluation, and Research Division.

The next several years saw her steady rise, from director of the Programs Division of the
Population Center Foundation (PCF), to where she had moved in 1974, to vice-president of
PCF.

Aurora’s retirement from PCF in 1991 did not translate into idleness or inactivity. Well armed
with many years of experience in project development and management, funds sourcing as
well as research and development, she immediately launched headlong into running the
Foundation for Adolescent Development (FAD) as its founding president. Launched in 1988,
FAD was envisioned to be, among things, the “leading resource center on adolescent
sexuality, reproductive health and development.”

Aurora also pioneered the application of franchising social development with the launching
of the Teens Healthquarters (THQ) Social Franchising Project in 2005.

These training manuals and entertainment-education videos (you now enjoy) are a product
of that vision, stemming from Aurora’s zeal for, and commitment to, social issues, especially
those affecting the youth.