By Rene V. Carbayas
LAMITAN CITY, Basilan – The members of this city’s Out-of-School Youth (OSY) Development Alliance underwent an orientation on the Mindanao Youth Development Program (MYDev), hoping to protect the sector against unproductive and violent social activities in their communities.
Felipe M. Fernando, officer in-charge of the City Information Officer (CIO), said in a press release that an orientation was held at Cawley’s Hotel & Restaurant in Lamitan last Jan. 30, which was participated in by the different stakeholders who later formed an alliance headed by Mayor Rosita U. Furigay.
He said the city development alliance would serve as a mechanism in bringing together key stakeholders to further improve local governance that will respond to the needs of the OSY and promote full engagement in community development. It is also tasked to do the OSY developmental planning.
In order for the alliance to have a better understanding of the project, the Education Development Center, Inc, in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA, the Department of Education-ARMM, SEAMEO-INNOTECH, Mindanao-based community development organizations and the LGU-Lamitan City, conducted the LGU orientation on MYDev.
In a message read by her representative Ligaya Buenaventura, Mayor Furigay had expressed her support to the program and also thanked the organizers for “bridging a partnership into helping the transformation on the life of the out-of-school-youth in our community.”
Meanwhile, Youth Development Specialist of MYDev Project Robinson M. Wee said that Lamitan City had already one prospective service provider for Alternative Learning System (ALS), the Nagdilaab Foundation Inc., whose proposal is now under evaluation.
“They will be considered as one of the partners in the field. However, we need a total of four service provider for ALS in Lamitan and we are inviting other service providers or NGO’s to participate in the service,” Wee said.
He added that the target number of OSY in the first year is 225 in ALS and 408 in TESDA skills training, totaling 3,500 OSY in five years of continued implementation.
“After the training, the youths are required to prioritize community based development before engaging in other activities like going abroad,” he said.
During the workshop, the participants initially worked to prioritize which among the 27 barangays, that signified interest in the program, will be implemented first based on the criteria being set. However, no details were presented yet, as the panel will need some time to finalize the output. The alliance promised that the results will be available in a week time to include the draft of the executive order on the newly formed alliance to be presented to the mayor for approval.
The MYDev is a five year USAID program that addresses key constraints to peace and stability in selected conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, which include Cotabato City, Marawi City, Zamboanga City, Isabela City, Lamitan City and one municipality in Basilan that is yet to be identified and two municipalities in Sulu. It protects the OSY against unproductive and violent social activities in their communities. It aims to engage a total of 19,000 OSY in workforce and community development activities by developing their basic education competencies through Department of Education’s Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) and livelihood skills training by TESDA and other local service providers. (PIA9)
