Transcript Championing the Youth for Community Leadership

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.”
With this definition, the youth is not
merely regarded as an age group but a
stage in a person’s development.
In 2004 , total youth population
reached 23.4 M or about 29.3% o the
total Phil. Population of 82.7 M.
Overall, the priorities and challenges
of the youth revolve around their
immediate environment:
the self and their family
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
The vision of the youth is generally
centered on studies, work and need
for social and emotional security
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?
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.
Five essential assets are human
capital, physical capital, natural
capital, financial capital, and social
capital
Human Capital concerned
with Education and Health
Education Issues:
• declining participation rates
• poor quality
• low cohort survival rates
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
In ARMM, for every 100 children who
start elementary school only 34 finish
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
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%
Health Issues:
• A very high incidence of
tuberculosis— ranked 8th in the world
by the World Health Organization
(WHO)
• Poor quality and inaccessibility of
public health care services
• High costs of medicines
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
Physical Capital
Concerned with:
• water
• housing / shelter
• infrastructure services such as
energy, transport
and communication
Government housing assistance
programs have barely reached the poor,
for a variety of reasons
• a lack of information on assistance
programs and how to access them
• eligibility requirements that
discriminate against the poor
• an emphasis on mortgage finance
Natural Capital
In rural areas, access to land is one of
the main determinants of welfare
Poor environmental conditions
adversely affect human capital, growth,
and distributional equity
Concern for clean air is imperative
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
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
To promote increased participation in
development processes through
membership in local and community
organizations
Financial capital denotes the
financial services available to the
people thru savings, credit, wages,
pension and forms of remittances
Because of this, access to easy
credit is an important part of the
consumption of the poor.
Microfinance is one such avenue
The Philippines is the 3rd highest
recipient of remittances in the world
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
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
Causes of Poverty
• weak macroeconomic management
• employment issues
• high population growth rates
• an underperforming agricultural
sector and an unfinished land reform
agenda
• governance issues including
corruption and a weak state
• conflict and security issues including
criminality, law and order
• disability
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
The disabled in the country is
estimated to have reached 8 M.
Disability is cause of poverty.
Poverty causes disability
Importance of investments in
human capital
• Adequate skills and knowledge
• Good health
In assessing poverty situations, we
also look beyond income. Gender
and age are related issues
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
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
Education is not merely an
accumulation of knowledge
• able to discern
• weigh things
• evaluate
• to be sensitive
• to be aware/conscious
to decide well and
RESPOND THROUGH
RESPONSIBLE ACTION
EVERYTHING THAT WE LEARN
SHOULD BE ABLE TO LEAD US TO
ONE DIRECTION — SERVICE
All these human – economic, social
issues are NOT mere problem
situations but
OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE
Education, whether public or private,
forms not just individuals but a
whole nation
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?
Academic education allows us
to be “magaling”
But real education enables us
to be “mabuti”
PERSONHOOD CAN COME FROM A
SENSE OF BELONGING TO A
COMMUNITY WHERE EACH ONE IS
ACCEPTED AS A FULL MEMBER
FREE TO BE ONESELF… TO CREATE,
TO PARTICIPATE, TO EXPRESS
ONESELF, TO RECEIVE, TO SHARE,
TO ENCOURAGE
CHURCH OF THE POOR
• A CALL TO CONVERSION
• A CALL TO A LOVE OF PREFERENCE
FOR THE POOR
• A CALL FOR LEADERS AND
MEMBERS TO GIVE TIME AND
ATTENTION AND GENEROUSLY
SHARING RESOURCES IN ORDER TO
ALLEVIATE POVERTY
• A CALL FOR US TO TEACH
• A CALL TO BOLDNESS IN THE
DEFENSE OF THE POOR
• A CALL TO HUMILITY AND
SIMPLICITY
WE CANNOT MEET GOD ALONE
Spirituality is not only personal
but societal
SENSITIVITY
Immerse in God through prayer and
communal action
For personal reasons: It affects me,
and my family also
We are Agents of Change - need
to improve my community
We are Social Advocates - more
than just Philanthropy
I am my Brother’s Keeper - the
real sense of Charity
• Duty as elected official
• Duty as a citizen
• Duty as a child of God
• Duty as steward of God’s creation
• WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH
OTHER
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
“I tell you, whenever you did this for
one of the least of these brothers of
mine, you did it for me”
YOU ARE NOT JUST THE NEXT
BATCH OF LEADERS
YOU ARE THE NEW BREED OF
SERVANTS