It is said youth is wasted on the young. It might be true in some cases, but not always.

Anne Curtis

Just recently, over 10,000 youth delegates from 35 countries and 185 universities all over the world trooped to the Mall Of Asia Arena for this year’s edition of the Global Youth Summit (GYS). The theme is “Achieving 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through Youth Collaboration, Leadership and Innovation.”

The summit aims to engage and inspire tomorrow’s leaders to use their unique talents to address urgent issues most relevant to them. These include quality education, poverty, decent jobs and economic growth, climate change, and hunger.

Giving their two cents on these issues at the event were several popular celebrities including actress KC Concepcion, who tackled hunger in her capacity as the United Nation’s World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger. She maintained it is not enough to simply just be sympathetic to the plight of the less fortunate among us.

“We need to go out there and find ways to help,” she urged.

Then there’s singer Aiza Seguerra, who, as chair of the National Youth Commission (NYC), discussed the need for decent jobs and economic growth.

Aiza said there’s a “gap” in terms of talent and the availability of jobs. They are currently addressing this “para ’pag graduate natin, meron tayo makikita agad na trabaho na ayon sa ating mga pinag-aralan.”

Joining the two were actress and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) ambassador Anne Curtis-Smith, who talked about the importance of education; broadcaster Karen Davila, who addressed the need for responsible use of social media; and Climate Change Commission Vice Chairperson Vernice Victorio, who discussed ways we can combat climate change.

Anne implored knowledge and education should not only be about empowering oneself but the country as a whole.

“In the Philippines over one million kids are not in school and in 2013, six out of 10 kids do not have access to day care. We have a project that by 2030 all kids will have access to preschool education. Let’s all do our part to make this a reality,” she said.

Karen reminded the youth that while social media can be a powerful tool in disseminating information, it should be used with discernment.

“Let’s be more responsible with the power that social media allowed us,” she said. “Let us do away with things like bashing, bullying. Finds way to make use of social media in a more productive manner.”

Reach more, affect more

Now on its fifth year, the GYS was co-organized by SM Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls with the Global Peace Foundation, among others.

(Clockwise): Karen Davila, KC Concepcion and Aiza Seguerra

Royston Cabunag, SM Cares’ Project Director for Youth and Development said their organization has always nurtured the youth, pointing out how they have been partnering with other like-minded groups to achieve this goal.

“It is only through collaboration with partners that we shall be able to reach more and affect more,” he said, pointing out that their partnership with the Global Peace Foundation gave birth to the GYS as “a venue to be inspired, to inspire (others).”

“It is a platform where the youth can collaborate and find ways to address socially-relevant issues and we are proud to be part of it,” he added.

James Flynn, President of the Global Peace Foundation, is happy with the response to the event but made clear more needs to be done.
“The best way to equip and empower young people is through education but knowledge is not enough,” he said. “You have to help them build character.”

James maintained lack of character is what breeds corruption.

“That’s why in our education programs, we constantly promote character and creativity. That they be educated in creative, innovative entrepreneurial skills that’s grounded on ethical base because otherwise conflict and corruption can sap that positive development. It also mirrors what we think about leadership – moral and innovative,” he said.

A highlight of the event was the awarding of P1 million seed grant to five youth groups that had presented innovative and sustainable programs that help address the five issues relevant to the youth. Out of the more than 1,000 entries from the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, five were chosen and these were: The 5EBig Project, a community program to increase employment and encourage out-of-school youth to enroll; the Poultry and Garden for a Healthy Future, which aims to eliminate malnutrition in Brgy. Rizal in Alicia, Isabela; SakunApp, a mobile application that is able to monitor the safety status of the members of a community; Taytayan, which aims to bridge gender disparity of primary grade pupils in Mabolo Elementary School in Cebu and Ropes for Hope, a social enterprise which employs mothers in producing rice straws that provide alternative income for them.