UNFPA Philippines and Zuellig Family Foundation recently held an advocacy forum for the culmination of its successful Youth Leadership and Governance Program (YLGP), which aimed at realizing the full potential and meaningful participation of youth leaders under the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK).
Attended by government officials and other stakeholders, the advocacy forum featured policy recommendations and the initiatives of the SK presidents engaged through the YLGP, which was piloted over the course of 5 years in 3 provinces – Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, and Lanao del Sur.
The hybrid event also highlighted the commitment of the supporting government stakeholders in sustaining and adopting adolescent sexual and reproductive health services and other interventions under the YLGP.
During her speech delivered online, UNFPA Philippines Country Representative Dr. Leila Joudane said the initiative allowed the youth participants to go against the negative stereotype that SK members are only interested in organizing sports events and other trivial concerns and said she recognized the important work of SKs in articulating the concerns of the youth.
“We have also observed that SKs can articulate young people's concerns in local governing bodies such as the local youth development council,” she said. “Others were able to prevent repeated pregnancies among teen parents through connecting them to existing programs such as livelihood, education, and other social determinants of health.”
Joudane said UNFPA Philippines will continue to promote the YLGP as it transitions to a new 5-year country programme.
“During the next 5 years, I hope that we will continue with this initiative, scale up this initiative, ensure that it will be sustainable but also together we will make sure that every Filipino adolescent realizes their sexual reproductive health right and be active partners of social change in the Philippines,” she said.
In his remarks, Zuellig Family Foundation Vice President Dr. Anthony Faraon said that from 2018 to 2022, there was a significant reduction in adolescent birth rates — from 88 to just 56 per one thousand — in five Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat municipalities.
“The 3 years proved that the: (1) YLGP is a model of effective engagement and partnership of youth leaders, and local governments preventing adolescent pregnancies; (2) Strengthening the policy environment and sustaining capacity-building programs for youth leaders is critical in the implementation of ASRH programs; (3) Co-ownership of ASRH issues among youth leaders, local governments, Muslim and tribal leaders is a vital component in sustaining adolescent pregnancy prevention,” Faraon said.
Gregorio T. Balanag III, Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President of Maitum in Sarangani gave a presentation about how their team used education to prevent the youth from engaging in risky behaviors, and livelihood programs to enable teen parents to support their new families.
He talked about their 3-year plan to provide ASRH support for the teenage parents through counseling, family planning support, social protection, education, skills training and livelihood such as sweet corn farming.
During a panel discussion, members of the NYC, SK and provincial health offices discussed the importance of sustaining efforts and the crafting of local ordinances to support ASRH.
Dr. Arvin Alejandro, public health officer of Sarangani, said there is also a need to ensure that there is funding allocated for addressing teenage pregnancy.
Jon Leo Licayan of the Department of the Interior and Local Government Region XII said his agency will continue to advocate for what the YLGP has started.
“The policies, tools that will guide the SKs are already in place, it’s just a matter of guiding and helping them to mainstream ASRH in their programs,” he said.
Mayjee dela Cruz, cluster head of National Youth Commission for BARMM, said their support will be in strengthening the monitoring and evaluation of the SKs so the programs will be tailored to the needs of the young constituents.
The event ended with messages of commitments from the different stakeholders, which included institutionalizing age-appropriate ASRH educational materials and services, strengthening peer education networks in schools and communities, and the rolling out of YLGP in more areas.
Mayor Jason John Joyce of the municipality of Jose Abad Santos also shared the pledge of the Mayors’ League of Davao Occidental to be “change makers and the advocates that our youth needs.”
“Our mission is to create a world where every adolescent, regardless of their background, has access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services,” he said, adding that his town will allocate larger funding for SRH services.
For his closing remarks, Department of Health Undersecretary Dr. Abdullah Dumama Jr. said that among the priority issues of the department is addressing adolescent pregnancy.
He said the government must not let the situation continue, especially with the increase of adolescent pregnancies during the pandemic.
“Our current condition could be improved through co-ownership between leaders and the society,” he said. “Kailangan magtulong-tulong tayo (We have to work together). The journey to co-creation is long because we aspire for social and behavioral changes. Therefore, it takes a lot of perseverance, dedication and an insatiable appetite for better outcomes to achieve it.”
During the event, YLGP manuals and other knowledge products were turned over to the government stakeholders.
Moving forward, UNFPA Philippines plans to scale up the YLGP, together with the provincial governments of Samar and Southern Leyte and the Department of Health-Center for Health Development Eastern Visayas, through the “Joint Programme on Accelerating Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy” funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency.
UNFPA will also continue discussions with the central and regional offices of the National Youth Commission and the Department of the Interior and Local Government to utilize lessons from the YLGP to promote genuine youth participation in the local governance as the new batch of officers will be elected soon. #
