Philippines

The Philippines

Since 2017, Youth Co:Lab in the Philippines has become an effective platform where youth leadership is considered as a key driver in accelerating the implementation and the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); where solutions to major challenges in leaving no one behind are offered, and where youth-led social innovations and enterprises are supported by linking them to industry leaders, business experts, funders, and accelerators.

The Philippines has a unique ecosystem for young people globally. Young leaders have a seat at the table as policymakers through the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), young officials who are elected by their fellow youth in the community. Youth empowerment is also supported by the Philippine Youth Development Plan (PYDP) through its nine Centers for Participation. Likewise, the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) has also facilitated the Bangsamoro Youth Transition Priority Agenda, which adheres to the PYDP and includes five centres of participation.

Our Impact in the Philippines

1153
young leaders,
social innovators
and entrepreneurs

492
youth provided with
opportunity to foster
youth-led innovation

3071
Movers participants

15
startups awarded
with seed funding

289
young people who are trained to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills for long-term engagement (Movers sign-ups)

565 (49%)
unique individuals from underrepresented sectors
(women, LBGTQIA+, OSY, affected by crisis (disaster/conflict, etc.),
PWD, religious/ethnic minority)

The Youth Social Innovation Lab (YSIL)

The Youth Social Innovation Lab (YSIL), is the flagship event of Youth Co:Lab in the Philippines where we bring together change-makers who aspire for the fulfillment of the SDGs. We bring together youth leaders across different sectors prepared to make changes that contribute to the nation-building and solving challenges faced by our country. YSIL uses the human-centered design approach to design thinking for YouthCo:Lab, which has been used since its first year. YSIL is packed with sessions on the SDGs, specifically social inclusion and other entrepreneurship sessions, this combined methodology harness the ideation and creation of prototype products that offer youth social enterprises an added value.

Ideation Impact Challenge

The Ideation Impact Challenge: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future is the a pioneering initiative by the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) in partnership with the United Nations Development Program in the Philippines (UNDP) and Citi Foundation through Youth Co:Lab, Makesense Philippines, and co-funded by the European Union. To strengthen meaningful participation and engagement of the youth in positive community transformation and development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), 29 teams were supported through skills-building especially to help young people become key drivers of community peacebuilding and development through leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship.