Download - Overall, the priorities and challenges of the youth revolve around their immediate environment:
YOUTH is the “critical period in a person’s
growth and development from the onset
of adolescence towards the peak of
mature, self-reliant and responsible
adulthood; comprising considerable
sector of the population from the age
of 15 to 30 years.”
With this definition, the youth is not
merely regarded as an age group but a
stage in a person’s development.
In 2004 , total youth population reached
23.4 M or about 29.3% o the total Phil.
Population of 82.7 M.
Overall, the priorities and challenges of
the youth revolve around their immediate
environment:
the self and their family
The articulated issues of the youth center
on health, education and employment
more specifically those related to sexual
risk behaviors, drug and substance abuse
and family dysfunctions
The vision of the youth is generally
centered on studies, work and need for
social and emotional security
Youth participation has hardly (if at all)
been raised as an issue or concern or
problem. Could it be more of
complacency? Indifference? Or
disenchantment?
POVERTY is the deprivation of essential assets and opportunities to which every human person is entitled. Less access could mean lower participation, less
voice, hence powerlessness.
Five essential assets are human capital,
physical capital, natural capital, financial
capital, and social capital
Human Capital concerned with
Education and Health
Education Issues:
• declining participation rates
• poor quality
• low cohort survival rates
For every 100 children in the Philippines
who start grade 1, only 67 will complete
elementary schooling
This rate is even lower for the poor
In ARMM, for every 100 children who
start elementary school only 34 finish
The results of the national achievement test for SY 2004-2005 indicated that our
senior public high school students posted an average of only 46.80%, and
grade 6 pupils, 59.73% only
Those families whose head has little or no education at all are generally poor.
But the largest proportion of our population has had elementary
schooling.
This contributes to about 35%
Health Issues:
• A very high incidence of tuberculosis—
ranked 8th in the world by the World
Health Organization (WHO)
• Poor quality and inaccessibility of
public health care services
• High costs of medicines
Education and health are closely correlated. Ex. Mothers who are participating in Barangay health
programs, therefore properly informed on nutrition are able to breastfeed their infants, observe sanitation and able to
feed their children better
Physical Capital
Concerned with:
• water
• housing / shelter
• infrastructure services such as
energy, transport
and communication
Government housing assistance programs
have barely reached the poor, for a
variety of reasons
• a lack of information on assistance
programs and how to access them
• eligibility requirements that
discriminate against the poor
• an emphasis on mortgage finance
Natural Capital
In rural areas, access to land is one of the
main determinants of welfare
Poor environmental conditions adversely
affect human capital, growth, and
distributional equity
Concern for clean air is imperative
Forest cover has been reduced to less
than one fifth of total land area. Logging,
mining, and encroachment of settlements
in critical watersheds are all to blame
Social capital comprises the social
resources on which people are able to
draw, through networks and
connectedness and relationships of trust
and reciprocity
Family, friends, social and community
organizations
To promote increased participation in
development processes through
membership in local and community
organizations
Financial capital denotes the financial services available to the people thru savings, credit, wages, pension and
forms of remittances
Because of this, access to easy credit is an important part of the consumption of
the poor. Microfinance is one such avenue
The Philippines is the 3rd highest
recipient of remittances in the world
The reality is: Those families whose main source of income is foreign
remittances from a spouse or relative abroad, are largely based in urban areas
Remittances are often utilized in excessive consumption instead of re
channeling them to pro-poor programs e.g. investing in business that gives
employment to the poor members of the community
Causes of Poverty
• weak macroeconomic management
• employment issues
• high population growth rates
• an underperforming agricultural sector
and an unfinished land reform agenda
• governance issues including corruption and a weak state
• conflict and security issues including criminality, law and order
• disability
In 2003, the annual national relative poverty threshold was P 85,000.00 per family or P 17,000 per capita. While rate of family income increased from
2000 to 2005, the real income failed to meet adequately family subsistence needs. Generally, the family income
can hardly cope with inflation
The disabled in the country is estimated to have reached 8 M. Disability is cause of poverty. Poverty causes disability
Importance of investments in
human capital
• Adequate skills and knowledge
• Good health
In assessing poverty situations, we also look beyond income. Gender and age
are related issues
In May 2000, our population was recorded at 76.5 M; in July 2005, it is
estimated to have reached 87.5M, or an annual 2.30% growth rate over the past
5 years
Ours is an overwhelmingly young population. In 2000, the recorded
median is 21 years old. A quarter of the population is below 9 years old. 60% of the female population belong to the 15
to 49 year-old bracket
Education is not merely an accumulation
of knowledge
• able to discern
• weigh things
• evaluate
• to be sensitive
• to be aware/conscious
to decide well and
RESPOND THROUGH
RESPONSIBLE ACTION
EVERYTHING THAT WE LEARN SHOULD
BE ABLE TO LEAD US TO ONE DIRECTION
— SERVICE
All these human – economic, social
issues are NOT mere problem situations
but
OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE
Education, whether public or private, forms not just individuals but a whole
nation
Through these schools, what kind of citizens, or better yet, what kind of
persons do we want our children and youth to become, in effect, also asking,
what kind of nation do want to be?
Academic education allows us to be “magaling”
But real education enables us to be “mabuti”
PERSONHOOD CAN COME FROM A SENSE
OF BELONGING TO A COMMUNITY
WHERE EACH ONE IS ACCEPTED AS A
FULL MEMBER
FREE TO BE ONESELF… TO CREATE, TO
PARTICIPATE, TO EXPRESS ONESELF, TO
RECEIVE, TO SHARE, TO ENCOURAGE
CHURCH OF THE POOR
• A CALL TO CONVERSION
• A CALL TO A LOVE OF PREFERENCE
FOR THE POOR
• A CALL FOR LEADERS AND MEMBERS
TO GIVE TIME AND
ATTENTION AND GENEROUSLY SHARING
RESOURCES IN ORDER TO ALLEVIATE
POVERTY
• A CALL FOR US TO TEACH
• A CALL TO BOLDNESS IN THE DEFENSE
OF THE POOR
• A CALL TO HUMILITY AND SIMPLICITY
WE CANNOT MEET GOD ALONE
Spirituality is not only personal
but societal
SENSITIVITY
Immerse in God through prayer and
communal action
For personal reasons: It affects me, and my family also
We are Agents of Change - need to improve my community
We are Social Advocates - more than just Philanthropy
I am my Brother’s Keeper - the real sense of Charity
• Duty as elected official
• Duty as a citizen
• Duty as a child of God
• Duty as steward of God’s creation
• WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH
OTHER
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
“I tell you, whenever you did this for one
of the least of these brothers of mine,
you did it for me”
YOU ARE NOT JUST THE NEXT BATCH OF
LEADERS
YOU ARE THE NEW BREED OF SERVANTS