The Philippines National Workshop

About the meeting

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in partnership with the National Youth Commission ( NYC) has organized The Philippine National Workshop to Test and Apply the Youth Policy Toolbox aimed to strengthen the capacity of governments in the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) regions to respond to the needs of youth in formulating inclusive and sustainable development policies without discrimination, direct or indirect, because of race, ethnicity, religion or creed, nationality or political belief, gender, disability or any circumstances.

The National Workshop was held last 28-29 June 2017 at The Heritage Hotel Manila. Among the significant outputs of the participants were the identification of challenges of the youth in the Philippines, constructive feedback on the interface and functions of the Youth Policy Toolbox, and the proposed training modules which will be used as inputs to the Toolbox.

Proceedings

Day 1, 28 June 2017

Session 1

• Opening ceremonies
• Introduction of participants
• Introduction of UN ESCAP and the Youth Policy Toolbox

Session 2

• Presentation of the National Youth Assessment Study (NYAS) 2015
• Key issues of youth in the Philippines

Session 3

• Group work presentation of challenges of the youth in the Philippines and possible solutions for these challenges
  • Mental health
  • HIV/AIDS
  • School-to-work transition
  • PWD-friendly facilities
  • Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Awareness on opportunities
  • Political apathy
  • Access to quality and affordable education
  • Human rights specific to youth
  • Teenage pregnancy
  • Unregulated use of social media

Session 4

• Presentation of case study in Myanmar

Session 5

• Presentation of results of Experiments done by NYC
• See below for the partial results of the experiments

Day 2, 29 June 2017

Session 6

• Applying the Youth Policy Toolbox
• Comments on the interface
  • Translation
  • Change in colour palette
  • More memorable branding
  • Too much white space
  • More relevant photos
  • Live world map
  • Clarity of navigation buttons

Session 7

• Group report on topics for relevant, effective online training modules that can be used in the Youth Policy Toolbox

Session 8

• Presentation of chosen training modules per group
• Group 1: Personal Branding
• Group 2: Agribusiness Training
• Group 3: Personal Strategic Planning Towards Youth Employment (chosen module by UN ESCAP)

Snapshot of group 3’s idea

Other Comments and Concerns

• The participants expressed that when the Toolbox is implemented, it should be properly disseminated so that many would be informed of its existence.
• A Facebook group is requested for the participants.
• NYC is to consolidate all learning materials during the workshop and share to all participants.

Moving Forward

1. The selected training module is to be developed on Moodle, an online distance learning platform.
2. The experiments are to be continued.
3. Best practices on school-to-work transition are to be provided with proper monitoring and evaluation.