Faith in YOUTHmanity Restored!
I must admit that after surpassing the 25-year-old mark, I sometimes no longer consider myself as part of the youth. Working in the voluntary sector since graduation, I learned how to serve “beneficiaries,” develop rigid matrixes to measure results, and co-create solutions for users in the youth sector. It was only until I started working on youth economic empowerment that I was able to grasp the idea of change-making.
For years, most of us (at least the ones I know) have been taught and moulded to follow social constructs — go to school and perform well; enrol in sports or creative activities but don’t make a career out of it; get a job and make sure you get promoted; buy a house and a car; have a family, retire, and then start a business. Our parents instilled in us these goals throughout our childhood, and I cannot blame them. Mine grew up in between political downturns, economic crises, and faced fewer opportunities in the province. Where I’m from, success means that you are either a doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer; all are important, higher-paying jobs but they’re just not for me. I believed (and I probably still do) that flying to Metro Manila would mean more opportunities to build my career. I can only imagine many young people all over the country having the same predicaments. “There must be more to this provincial life,” as Belle from Beauty and The Beast once said.
But what is this more that everyone seems to be clamouring for? Amidst the socio-political issues this country is facing, global poverty and climate change; where do I, a speck of dust, fit in? How can I make a difference? What do I do now?
This last quarter of 2019, our Youth Co:Lab team at UNDP Philippines, along with our remarkable partners, organised the Youth Social Innovation Dialogue and Youth Social Innovation Lab. We hosted an intimate dialogue with a diverse group of young people to satisfy our curiousities about the youth’s understanding of social innovation and whether or not they know what it is to begin with. I was so adamant on making sure that we leave the room with a clear idea of how participants understood these, and I didn’t trust that we would pull through. We thought we would need experts in innovation, inclusion, and even facilitation. But as our team lead Lui said, turns out we didn’t! The conversation sprung from us defining social innovation to comparing experiences between those who grew up in the provinces and in Metro Manila — the latter topic being the one I enjoyed the most honestly!
It was a relief to know that people who come from provinces have similar struggles but it was also eye-opening to learn about the different realities of our fellow youth who were raised in Metro Manila. With the help of our Accelerator Lab Head of Explorations Ira and by creating a safe space where we can share our thoughts, we were able to gather insights on the issues that participants resonated with the most, underlying issues on social inclusion, and to my surprise their perceptions on social innovation. As the participants were sharing their experiences, many of the listeners, myself included, were holding back our tears and feeling very vulnerable, something we’re not used to when in front of strangers. I remember leaving that room feeling very fulfilled, knowing that we captured what we wanted and more. In the end, it was more than just how youth defined social innovation or how we understood the Sustainable Development Goals; but also about unquantifiable things — shared experiences, between-the-lines interactions, trust, openness, and above all empathy.
But we’re not just here to talk about our issues, right? Three weeks later, we challenged young people across the country to walk the talk and “hack” solutions on social inclusion through innovation and entrepreneurship. Our vision is for youth, myself included, to consider ourselves as agents of change, and not just as recipients or beneficiaries. Our mission (almost impossible, if I may add), was to make sure that we reach the farthest first.
“We can be the first generation that ends poverty and the last that avoids the worst effects of climate change.”
— Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 2015
We received a total of 424 applications, shortlisted 261 of those and came down to 69 participants during the two-day hackathon. It wasn’t until later when we were looking at demographics that I felt so proud of the outcome. By the end of the event, 17 teams and enterprises were developed. We had almost an equal distribution between male, female, and LGBT+ and very diverse sectoral distribution composed of youth affected by disasters/conflict, indigenous/ethnic minority, out-of-school, LGBT+, and persons with disabilities. Out of the 17 regions of the Philippines, 14 were represented. From a ride-hailing app for differently-abled people to paper made from coconut agricultural waste, the products developed by the participants definitely have a lot of potential. And to these I’d say, not bad, not bad at all.
With the enormity of tasks from shortlisting applications to flying in almost half of the participants to Metro Manila, to redesigning their experiences based on earlier feedback from different iterations, the whole experience was crazy wild, and I knew we’d have missed tiny details. Over and over I would repeat to myself what my mother told me once and what Lui imparted to me when I was fairly new — that I should be comfortable with things not being perfect, even in my own standards.
“Why would you give up when you know you’re in the best position to make a difference?”
— wise words from my own mother
More than the success of the Lab, positive feedback from participants, and praises from colleagues, I think other important highlights were the efforts of the unsung heroes, those who worked behind the scenes, the conversations I’ve had with colleagues when I was struggling with articulating what I wanted to happen, the partnerships and friendships formed and strengthened, and the agility and flexibility we thought we didn’t have. Much gratitude to my dependable colleagues at UNDP both here and in the regional office, Citi Foundation and the Citibank Philippines volunteers, the Makesense team, volunteer facilitators, speakers, mentors, experts, and generous partners who helped make the event a success. Best of all, a huge shoutout to those who participated in the Youth Social Innovation Lab! Thanks for the inspiration and reminder of why we do what we do.
You were exactly what we needed, YSIL. You gave voices to us Yolanda survivors in addressing the pressing issue of climate injustice.
— participant affected by disaster Haiyan
Now I can attest to how willing and open people are in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (and even beyond) to share their expertise and unpaid time. Now I know who I can count on to deliver and which people I can say are part of my support system. Now I know what and how to improve next time around. Most importantly, now I know that it is possible to #MakeChangeHappen old and young. It’s both liberating and comforting to see fellow young people who are confident and passionate about the things they care about. If they can do it, then I can too.
Every time I’m at that brink of losing hope for my country, my faith in humanity keeps getting restored, at the right time, right place, and with the right people — together. Instead of asking myself, I’d like to switch the narrative to a more collective, less individualistic approach. What do we do now? Quoting the Avengers, I’d say
“Whatever it takes.”
Co-created in 2017 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Citi Foundation, Youth Co:Lab aims to establish a common agenda for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to empower and invest in youth, so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship.
