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.

 The First Regional Innovation Challenge for Human Mobility 

The UNDP Human Mobility Team and Youth Co:Lab, an initiative co-led by UNDP and Citi Foundation, partnered with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), and Migrant Forum Asia (MFA) for the first Youth Innovation for Human Mobility initiative in the Asia-Pacific region. It was participated by 123 young people across the Asia-Pacific region. Five winners emerged from the challenge and were provided with mentorship support and linked to different country offices where the winners are based. The materials produced from the Innovation Challenge were used for the International Migrants Day campaign led by the regional youth team. 

 World We Want 

Influenced by the success of youth dialogues through Youth Co:Lab,  the World We Want Philippines harnessed the capacities of youth-led organizations by creating an avenue to spearhead community events or activities for their fellow youth.  In alignment with the celebration of international youth day, the World We Want Philippines was a week-long activity that featured 16 pocket sessions hosted by Youth Co:Lab Philippines and 16 community partners and attended by 794 (331 youth) participants from the Philippines and other countries in the Asia Pacific region. Significant findings from the consultations reflected the Filipino youths’ concerns and priorities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From the 235 youth who participated in the consultations, their top three answers on what they were “most hopeful” about were good governance (49.5%), post-COVID recovery (36.5%), and education (28.4%). On the other hand, they were “most worried” about climate emergencies (49.5%), conflicts and disasters (45.5%), and access to primary healthcare and social services (30%).

 Movers in the Philippines 

The Movers Programme launched the Movers Skills Grant where AIESEC in the Philippines, 2030 Youth Force in the Philippines, and ILMO Inc. where three of the chosen grantees for the Philippines. Together with the help of Movers volunteers in the Philippines and Movers Skills Grantees, there are now 3071 workshop participants of the Movers Programme in the Philippines. 289 of these participants signed up as volunteers and 23% of these new volunteers come from underrepresented sectors i.e. women, LGBTQIA+, out-of-school youth, affected by crisis (disaster/conflict), differently abled, and religious/ethnic minority. 

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To learn more about Movers, click here.

 Startups Showcase