• About Us
  • Our Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Multimedia
  • Publications
    • Policy Notes
    • Think Pieces
    • Expert Opinions
  • News & Events
  • Work With Us
  • Contact Us
iLEAD iLEAD iLEAD iLEAD
  • About Us
  • Our Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Multimedia
  • Publications
    • Policy Notes
    • Think Pieces
    • Expert Opinions
  • News & Events
  • Work With Us
  • Contact Us

Search for the Youth Agenda on Governance

November 24, 2018 Blogs

By: Ana Martha Galindes with Patricia Nicdao. This article first appeared in Center for International Private Enterprise.


Youth participants and advocates share insights and discuss issues during an iLEAD workshop held in the University of the Philippines Diliman in September 2018.

With increasing challenges in democratic spaces and values around the world, can the youth still claim its space in nation building? This has been the question that guides us as we launched discussions with different young individuals in recent months for our project, The Government We Want.

This initiative springboards from the premise that with innovative platforms and voice-giving conversations encouraging healthy and pluralistic discourse, the Filipino youth can reinvigorate their generation’s democratic project towards influencing the quality of politics and governance in the Philippines. With INNOVATE-GOV as an anchor program, this project also finds value in multi-stakeholder participation and meaningful partnerships. It aims to break down the barriers of political colors and demographics as different youth groups sit down to talk about and define the kind of governance they want for the country.

Czarina Medina-Guce (center), Executive Director of iLEAD, speaks on a panel celebrating youth’s role in advocating for good governance at INNOVATE-GOV’s Good Governance National Summit on October 9, 2018. [Photo from CIPE]

For this project, we have gathered 40 youth groups and leaders, as well as a magnitude of stories on what the youth envision for our nation and the sectors or industries that they represent. Spanning from LGBT rights, to climate action and local governance, the issues that these groups put forward highlight youth participation as a fundamental force in Philippine society. These insights will be put together as a comprehensive agenda to inspire further collaborations across this youth network and inspire cross-sector support. But more than a network-building and agenda-setting initiative, the project has also become a platform to surface the different realities that confront the youth of today, and months into it, we have collected a few:

  • Youth is a powerful sector. In the Philippines, a country that has gone through multiple societal transformations, the youth sector remains a powerful force. They constitute 29% of the Philippine population and almost half of total registered voters in the country. Whether out in the streets or within their own circles, Filipino youth continues to forward their agenda on various socio-political matters. They can potentially shift narratives and innovate on solutions in pursuit of development and democracy.
  • Youth adapts and re-invents. While frequently tagged as inexperienced or too idealistic, the youth continuously proves to be a relevant segment of society. The youth continues to innovate, re-create and explore creative means to reinterpret politics and governance in manners that they are comfortable with. As much as they seem to veer away from traditional political processes, like enlisting in political parties or attending government-sanctioned assemblies, we see them thrive in online spaces and intimate forms of activism. They talk to their colleagues, integrate social consciousness in their online posts, and engage in conversations that are issue-based rather than politically polarizing.
  • Youth banks not on age but on ‘why.’ The youth in development sector primarily anchor on their purpose more than their age in making their advocacy work. They go back to their ‘why,’ and it is their personal experiences and viewpoints that fuel them to act and constantly innovate on solutions. They recognize the need for allies and support and attach significance to collaborations and multi-stakeholder partnerships in sustaining their work. In our discussions with the network, we witnessed how different organizations, of different tracks and sectors, can effectively build on the capacities, ideas, and resources of each other and collaborate on ways to further their visions.
Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Email this to someone
email
Print this page
Print

About the author

Ana Martha Galindes

She serves as Policy Associate at iLEAD. Her years in research and development field span across the areas of public policy, local governance and development communication. Prior to joining iLEAD, she worked at the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, where she gained most of her knowledge and training in local policy work.

  • Ana Martha Galindes
    #molongui-disabled-link
    Democratic Backsliding & Shrinking Civic Spaces:
    Problematizing the Strengthening of Philippine Democratic Institutions
  • Ana Martha Galindes
    #molongui-disabled-link
    Open Research in the Philippines: The Lessons and Challenges
  • Ana Martha Galindes
    #molongui-disabled-link
    New leaders, continuing challenges:
    Financing, Accountability, and Prospects for Barangay Governance
Receive updates and our latest releases. SIGN UP

About Us

The Institute for Leadership, Empowerment, and Democracy (iLEAD) is a non-stock, non-profit think tank consultancy and resource center that focuses on strategic policy work to strengthen democratic institutions, in areas such as fiscal astuteness, meaningful devolution, and empowerment and protection of civic spaces.

Find Us

  • Unit 604 FSS Building II, No. 18 Scout Tuazon corner Scout Castor, Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City
  • (02) 374-1580
  • ileadhq@ilead.ph

TOPICS

#thegovernmentwewant drug war jobs corruption accountability crisis governance rule of law People Power Open Research media civic space Open Data 1987 Constitution charter change federalism national budget human rights governance youth Sustainable Development Goals InnovateGov anti-illegal drugs campaign populism democratic backsliding democracy

Search

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

FOLLOW US

© 2021 · ilead.ph