A UNESCO grant was awarded to College of Education Dean Prof. Pilar I. Romero, Ph.D., UST Graduate School Assistant Dean Prof. Camilla Vizconde, Ph.D., and Asst. Prof. Gina Lontoc, Ph.D., in recognition of the team’s constant commitment to the empowerment of the youth.
As recipients, they are expected to run workshops that increase the involvement of young people in their participation in local political or social processes, volunteering, and livelihood endeavors. These workshops will bring together youth leaders, youth-led groups, students, and stakeholders to consolidate the issues and challenges they face. The team recognizes the profound impact that youth can make in society; thus, it promotes activities that would foster youth leadership and community participation. Creative, arts-based participatory methods will be used to facilitate discussions.
This project is in partnership with the UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation at the University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom.
Insights gained from the workshops will be used for a larger second workshop participated in by local policymakers, practitioners, industry and business representatives, youth workers, and academics. These workshops will also facilitate intergenerational sharing of issues and best practices to develop policy and practice recommendations on supporting young people’s employability, entrepreneurship, and sustainable livelihoods.
This initiative builds on the impact of the UEA UNESCO Chair’s research for the United Nations Volunteers’ 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (UEA Impact and Innovation Award Finalist) as well as UNESCO Chair partner institutions’ research on youth, caste, gender, and entrepreneurship (Nepal), youth participation in policy design, decision-making and community development (Ethiopia) and youth and student activism (Philippines).
