Written by Bam Immid
Photos taken by Kaya Initiatives
Kaya Initiatives is a youth-led and volunteer-driven group of young people from Zamboanga City dedicated to driving positive change in their communities. It was born as an action project supported by the Ateneo Learning and Teaching Excellence Center (ALTEC), funded by UnionAID’s Mindanao Young Leaders Programme (MinYLP) with the support of Aotearoa New Zealand’s International Development Cooperation Programme. Its overarching goal is to help reduce the number of out-of-school children and youth in Zamboanga City, Philippines.
The Kaya Initiatives, as an action project, is divided into two phases. Phase 1 is intended for community consultations and scoping phases, ultimately aimed at co-designing an action plan with the target community they’re working with, which will inform about the Phase 2 Project/s that will be undertaken.
The goal of Phase 1 is to contribute to local studies on why young people in Zamboanga City leave school and to empower the out-of-school youth participants to identify solutions to these problems.
The Phase 1 implementation affirmed their initial hypothesis that the most common reason for dropping out among out-of-school youth was related to their financial capacity to sustain their education and cover other expenses such as daily allowances, monetary contributions for school projects, etc.
During this phase, the Kaya Initiatives Team conducted a design-thinking workshop with out-of-school youths to develop the action plan for Phase 2. Based on the definition of Youth NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), three key questions were posed. Participants suggested implementing an Anti-bullying program, teenage pregnancy prevention initiatives, and creating opportunities for simultaneous work and study to enable out-of-school youth to return to school. Additionally, recommendations included encouraging participants to pursue bachelor’s degrees and building self-confidence for job or education pursuits to facilitate gainful employment. Furthermore, suggestions for engaging in training for gainful employment included joining motivational programs and prioritizing free skills training for underserved groups such as out-of-school youth.
Acknowledging the variety of options Kaya Initiatives can pursue, the Program Manager considered these lessons during their 10-week residency under the Mindanao Young Leaders Programme in New Zealand as they explored and learned from relevant organizations working in the same space.
Recognizing the uniqueness of each individual and understanding that not all out-of-school youth (OSY) have identical needs and wants, and even when they do, their approach may vary, Kaya Initiatives plans to model the Youth NEET Service of the Ministry of Social Development of New Zealand to explore how this individualized approach can be adapted to suit the context of Zamboanga City, Philippines.
The Kayanihan is an 8-week community-supported youth coaching program tailored for 10 Out-of-School Youths aged 18-24 who will be selected through the Sangguniang Kabataan Zamboanga City Federation, following the definition of Youth NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).
It aims to empower these young individuals by providing them with the tools and guidance needed to realize their aspirations and take charge of their futures. Through personalized coaching sessions, the program strives to cultivate their sense of agency, enabling them to confidently pursue and achieve the goals they set for themselves by the end of the program.
On February 26, 2024, some of the core team members of Kaya Initiatives reconvened to review their plans before beginning the social preparations for the Kayanihan.
Following this, a meeting with Ms. Sheila Tiong, the Director of ADZU College Guidance and Counseling Office, was arranged to leverage her expertise. She was consulted regarding her thoughts on the coaching program design and asked for any recommendations to further improve it to ensure not only doing no harm, but also doing good in the lives of the participants.
The meeting proved successful as Ms. Tiong provided insightful input and committed to journeying with the team and the participating out-of-school youths. She assured the team of her willingness to continuously provide help for any consultation needed along the way and agreed for her office to facilitate debriefing sessions during the closing program, as well as as-needed sessions along the way.
In line with the principle of Kaya Initiatives to ensure that their efforts align with the needs and aspirations of the communities they serve, a consultation with out-of-school youth was conducted on April 4, 2024, to review the program design. The valuable inputs from the youth were instrumental in finalizing the design before the launch of the initiative.
An exploratory meeting with Commissioner CJ Dalipe was held to present the program and discuss potential areas for collaboration. Collaborating with the SK Federation of Zamboanga City is important to the organization as it will be partnering with several SK councils to select and support out-of-school youth (OSYs) to participate in the program.
Now that the necessary preparations have been laid out, the Kayanihan has been launched last April 7, 2024 with the call for youth coaches (bit.ly/KayaCoach) and community supporters (bit.ly/SupportKaya). For more information, you can visit bit.ly/KayanihanBriefer.
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The Kayanihan is an action project supported by the Ateneo Learning and Teaching Excellence Center, ADZU CO Guidance and Counseling Office, SK Zamboanga City Federation, and Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability – IDIS. It is funded by UnionAID’s Mindanao Young Leaders Programme with the support of Aotearoa New Zealand’s International Development Cooperation Programme.
