Empowering Youth for Sustainable Development in the Philippines

1. YOUTH is the “critical period in a person’s growth and development from the onset of adolescence towards the peak of mature, self-reliant and responsible adulthood; comprising considerable sector of the population from the age of 15 to 30 years.”

2. With this definition, the youth is not merely regarded as an age group but a stage in a person’s development.

3. In 2004 , total youth population reached 23.4 M or about 29.3% o the total Phil. Population of 82.7 M.

4. Overall, the priorities and challenges of the youth revolve around their immediate environment: the self and their family

5. The articulated issues of the youth center on health, education and employment more specifically those related to sexual risk behaviors, drug and substance abuse and family dysfunctions

6. The vision of the youth is generally centered on studies, work and need for social and emotional security

7. Youth participation has hardly (if at all) been raised as an issue or concern or problem. Could it be more of complacency? Indifference? Or disenchantment?

8. POVERTY is the deprivation of essential assets and opportunities to which every human person is entitled. Less access could mean lower participation, less voice, hence powerlessness.

9. Five essential assets are human capital, physical capital, natural capital, financial capital, and social capital

10. Human Capital concerned with Education and Health • Education Issues: • declining participation rates • poor quality • low cohort survival rates

11. For every 100 children in the Philippines who start grade 1, only 67 will complete elementary schooling This rate is even lower for the poor

12. In ARMM, for every 100 children who start elementary school only 34 finish

13. The results of the national achievement test for SY 2004-2005 indicated that our senior public high school students posted an average of only 46.80%, and grade 6 pupils, 59.73% only

14. Those families whose head has little or no education at all are generally poor. But the largest proportion of our population has had elementary schooling. This contributes to about 35%

15. Health Issues: • A very high incidence of tuberculosis— ranked 8th in the world by the World Health Organization (WHO)

16. Poor quality and inaccessibility of public health care services • High costs of medicines

17. Education and health are closely correlated. Ex. Mothers who are participating in Barangay health programs, therefore properly informed on nutrition are able to breastfeed their infants, observe sanitation and able to feed their children better

18. Physical Capital • Concerned with: • water • housing / shelter • infrastructure services such as energy, transport • and communication

19. Government housing assistance programs have barely reached the poor, for a variety of reasons

20. a lack of information on assistance programs and how to access them • eligibility requirements that discriminate against the poor • an emphasis on mortgage finance

21. Natural Capital In rural areas, access to land is one of the main determinants of welfare

22. Poor environmental conditions adversely affect human capital, growth, and distributional equity Concern for clean air is imperative

23. Forest cover has been reduced to less than one fifth of total land area. Logging, mining, and encroachment of settlements in critical watersheds are all to blame

24. Social capital comprises the social resources on which people are able to draw, through networks and connectedness and relationships of trust and reciprocity Family, friends, social and community organizations

25. To promote increased participation in development processes through membership in local and community organizations

26. Financial capital denotes the financial services available to the people thru savings, credit, wages, pension and forms of remittances

27. Because of this, access to easy credit is an important part of the consumption of the poor. Microfinance is one such avenue

28. The Philippines is the 3rd highest recipient of remittances in the world

29. The reality is: Those families whose main source of income is foreign remittances from a spouse or relative abroad, are largely based in urban areas

30. Remittances are often utilized in excessive consumption instead of re channeling them to pro-poor programs e.g. investing in business that gives employment to the poor members of the community

31. Causes of Poverty • weak macroeconomic management • employment issues • high population growth rates • an underperforming agricultural sector and an unfinished land reform agenda

32. governance issues including corruption and a weak state • conflict and security issues including criminality, law and order • disability

33. In 2003, the annual national relative poverty threshold was P 85,000.00 per family or P 17,000 per capita. While rate of family income increased from 2000 to 2005, the real income failed to meet adequately family subsistence needs. Generally, the family income can hardly cope with inflation

34. The disabled in the country is estimated to have reached 8 M. Disability is cause of poverty. Poverty causes disability

35. Importance of investments in • human capital • Adequate skills and knowledge • Good health

36. In assessing poverty situations, we also look beyond income. Gender and age are related issues

37. In May 2000, our population was recorded at 76.5 M; in July 2005, it is estimated to have reached 87.5M, or an annual 2.30% growth rate over the past 5 years

38. Ours is an overwhelmingly young population. In 2000, the recorded median is 21 years old. A quarter of the population is below 9 years old. 60% of the female population belong to the 15 to 49 year-old bracket

39. Education is not merely an accumulation of knowledge

40. able to discern • weigh things • evaluate • to be sensitive • to be aware/conscious

41. to decide well and RESPOND THROUGH RESPONSIBLE ACTION

42. EVERYTHING THAT WE LEARN SHOULD BE ABLE TO LEAD US TO ONE DIRECTION — SERVICE

43. All these human – economic, social issues are NOT mere problem situations but OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE

44. Education, whether public or private, forms not just individuals but a whole nation

45. Through these schools, what kind of citizens, or better yet, what kind of persons do we want our children and youth to become, in effect, also asking, what kind of nation do want to be?

46. Academic education allows us to be “magaling”

47. But real education enables us to be “mabuti”

48. PERSONHOOD CAN COME FROM A SENSE OF BELONGING TO A COMMUNITY WHERE EACH ONE IS ACCEPTED AS A FULL MEMBER

49. FREE TO BE ONESELF… TO CREATE, TO PARTICIPATE, TO EXPRESS ONESELF, TO RECEIVE, TO SHARE, TO ENCOURAGE

50. CHURCH OF THE POOR