| “Bilib Ako sa Boses ng Kabataan!”
This was the battle-cry of the Ateneo Center for Culture and the Arts’ SUGPAT team who flew in to the National Capital Region last month to help co-organize the Adolescent Forum and Development Partners’ Coordination Forum at Chardonnay by Astoria in Pasig City.
Tapped by the Department of Education in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Philippines and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), ACCA-SUGPAT was tasked to facilitate the adolescent forum and document the latter from April 23 to 25.
This is the first national forum to be organized by ACCA-SUGPAT.
“This is another feather on the cap for SUGPAT. As issues and problems on adolescents become more complex, there is a need to partner with different agencies and stakeholders, both locally and internationally, to forward our mission of making our country a better place for every adolescent,” Kiko Miranda, founder and project director of ACCA-SUGPAT Adolescent Development and Participation Program, said.
The Adolescent Forum entitled “Bilib Ako sa Boses ng Kabataan” brought together 30 young voices from all over the country to discuss key issues among adolescents which include teenage parenthood, poverty, and bullying, among others.
 “Of course we are the ones directly impacted when it comes to issues regarding the youth, so I feel very privileged that not only are our voices being heard, but that the youth are also involved in the important discussions of this forum for adults,” quipped Rodeliza Ricablanca, a youth participant from Zamboanga City and former scholar of SUGPAT Alternative School for Peacebuilding and the Arts.
After discussing the issues, the youth participants prepared a spoken-word presentation and an originally-composed song number which they performed as a finale to the Development Partners’ Coordination Forum which succeeded the adolescent forum.
The Development Partners’ Coordination Forum was a gathering of representatives of non-government organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and national government agencies (NGAs) to dissect the issues of adolescent reproductive health, substance use, and adolescents in the digit al world.
This forum would aim to identify gaps, challenges, and areas of priority action, and set strategic interventions and areas of collaboration.
With the theme “Addressing Barriers to Education of Adolescents,” the forum intentionally involved youth participants from the Adolescent Forum in the discussions during the parallel and plenary sessions with experts and partners.
“It’s a wise move to allow our learners, the adolescents, to participate in our policy development activities so they can tell the older generation what really is happening and what they really need as learners,” Department of Education Secretary Leonor Matolis Briones said in an interview with SUGPAT.
 Further, HIV and Adolescent Officer Emee Lei Valdehuesa of UNICEF Philippines spoke about her pride as adolescent participants passionately shared their insights about issues which they feel are very important to them.
“This should be our way of working,” she expressed, “you can’t talk about youth programs and policies without making sure that young people are part of the discussion.”
In addition to the SUGPAT team, Brian Bango, January Cutin, and Rhollie Valdehuesa also joined as facilitators and documenters of the adolescent forum. Kim Tayona and Maqui Usman from Playground Productions did the video coverage for the two fora. Mayu Ferrer created the graphic recording of all session of the forum. |
