A Knack for Hacks: Youth Advocates’ Generate Ideas for 2030 Agenda

http://2030youthforce.org/

The 2030 Youth Force in the Philippines (YFPH) mounted a two week-long “INAYAB Labs” virtual hackathon as the highlight of its annual SDG Bayanihan Summit held on October 10-24, 2020, gathering more than 200 students and youth leaders across the country.

INAYAB Labs delegates were divided into groups and were summoned to create solutions based on challenge statements rooted in the four pillars of the United Nations’ Global Goals—People, Planet, Peace, and Prosperity.

After the hackathon, winning delegates presented their innovative projects in line with their challenge statements. In the People Pillar, the group Isle Move Ph’s project grabbed the place with their project, “Sa Isla may Pagbasa”. In Planet Pillar, the founding group called Guinaopan Youth Action Organization came up with the project ‘Mushroom for Change’. In Prosperity Pillar, a group affiliated with Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries called Kneadies came up with “Masang Pinoy. Lastly in the Peace Pillar, The Green Minded Voters, a group affiliated with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, came up with the “JuanVoteCounts” campaign project.

Four winning teams were awarded during the closing ceremonies. In case you missed it, you can check out the digital recording of the summit on the YPFHFacebook page.

Below provides an overview of the projects they came up with.

Embarking Readiness

Driven by the goal of achieving sustainable and accessible education for all, Isle Move Ph’s project entitled “Sa Isla may Pagbasa” envisions capacitating community leaders and parents to promote “genuine love for reading” among the youth.

The project’s objectives include advancing the support for beginning readers, enriching instructional materials, and fostering interdependence among educators, community leaders, and parents. To jumpstart the initiative, partners will first identify the training and development needs of participating communities.

“This [project] is also timely during this pandemic. We have seen and felt the importance of the parents’ support in guiding their children at home,” said group representative Elmer Delen.

Isle Move Ph, which competed under the People Pillar group, is composed of Delen, Maerenisa Aminoden, Carl Jebby Daug, Cindy De Leon, Sam Manzanilla, and Hana Yusoph.

Resourceful Actions

No doubt one of the many effects of armed conflicts is the loss of the residents’ livelihood that supports their families. Echoed by international groups, Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from Marawi city keeps appealing for regular employment to make ends meet.

As a response, a group of young IDPs and community hosts in Ditsa-an Ramain, Lanao del Sur pitched a project called “Mushroom for Change” that aims to create an alternative source of livelihood through mushroom production.

The founding group called Guinaopan Youth Action Organization proposed growing mushrooms using rice straw, one of the most common agricultural waste in the area. According to them, the project requires low capital investment and promises high returns.

“With ‘Mushroom for Change,’ burning of rice straws is no longer necessary. It will not only provide job opportunities but also change the lives of many and contribute to sustainable development,” said member Sittie Asia Mangompia Mai. She was joined by Nisreen Khalid Pangcatan and Jaweerah Gandawaris Camama.

As of writing, the team has trained 20 volunteers comprising farmers, women IDPs, and out-of-school youth.

Visionary Hands

With a vision of empowering agricultural communities, a group affiliated with Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries called Kneadies came up with “Masang Pinoy,” a project that intends to provide an online marketplace to showcase locally-produced baking ingredients.

We believe that empowering communities to engage in agriculture is the only solution to make the country food sufficient and sustained,” said group representative Patrishia Joy Reytana.

Through the project, the group projected at least 80 percent of major baking ingredients to be sourced from local producers. Not only does it hope to strengthen relationships between consumers and community-based suppliers, but it also helps in reducing waste. Instead of the usual plastic containers, local rattan, buri palms, and pandan will be used as alternative eco-friendly packaging.

Competing against six groups under the Planet Pillar, the winning idea was pitched by Reytana, Rachel Abundan, and Cindy Rose Apostol.

Foresighting Year 2022

Now that the election is fast approaching, The Green Minded Voters, a group affiliated with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, hope that the youth will use their right to vote wisely. Through the “JuanVoteCounts” campaign, the team aims to emphasize the roles of how elected officials, both national and local, could play in initiating plans, projects, and policies in protecting the environment.

“With the impact brought about by climate change and the rampant environmental degradation, the need for public servants who are environmental advocates is a top priority,” said member Sef Villaflor

The team composed of Villaflor, Maria Vanessa Bal, Catherine Gonzaga, Melvin Soriano, Vermon Timbas, and Gem Tanyag also said they believe choosing leaders wisely contribute to forwarding the SDG on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

These winning pitches were presented at the SDG Bayanihan Summit 2020s Closing Ceremonies last October 24, 2020, and in the 4th Philippine Summit for Education: E4 last October 30, 2020.

As of the moment, there were no substantive expectations for the projects yet, but SBS will help them launch to materialize their projects as this also depends on their respective timelines. They can already incubate their projects now, but specifically, in the Peace Pillar, it will be on board when the year 2022 elections are on the ground already.

SDG Bayanihan Summit (SBS) 2020 became a fully virtual summit and hackathon due to the pandemic that harnessed the power of the Filipino youth in creating sustainable solutions for the Global Goals using digital platforms, blended with the promotion of the 5 SDG pillars of people, prosperity, planet, peace and, partnership.

Building on the successes on the first run of SBS last 2018, that has given the delegates a platform to craft policy recommendations that helped meet the target indicators of the SDGs by 2030 that were consolidated into a comprehensive output known as the “SDG Youth Agenda for the 2020 Midterm Elections.” While the SBS 2019 highlighted the milestones of the youth movement towards sustainable development and seeking innovative ideas and collaborations as YFPH moved forward onto a new phase in its journey. This only showed that we were able to channel in the promotions of coming up with sustainable solutions made by the Filipino Youth.

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