Openness. Volunteerism. Engagement

Today, we took our oath and presented the youth development agenda. 

Three things to share:

We are thankful and grateful for the openness and willingness of the city administration led by Hon. Mayor Oscar Moreno for embracing the aspirations of the youth. We are inspired to engage because of the possibility of change that is local, that is tangible. The democratic space, the eagerness of the youth and the openness of government made this happen and we hope our presence can inspire other groups to demand participation in their local government.

We also would like to constantly emphasize that this is a voluntary engagement in the sense that we were not individually invited, forced, brainwashed or lured. We simply put it upon ourselves the necessity of engaging government. We are not even paid, we just see the priceless value of seizing the opportunity to influence policy. We knocked at the doors of city hall and presented the proposal and this was accepted. When upon our collective judgment, we are better off serving outside government; we are not obliged or tied to remain.

We are representing the youth development agenda and that alone. We partner with government for its realization. We do not stand for any personality nor ideology but for the aspirations the youth sectors themselves articulated. We lobby the agenda and work for its accomplishment. And we work to build and organize a youth sector that is empowered to become engaged citizens towards a progressive and equitable Cagayan de Oro.

And we hope that our presence can add pressure to bring greater transparency, accountability and participation in our local government be it in the city or in the barangay.

The thing that has held us back as a nation is our disengagement. We no longer care after the elections. But we hope to change that. Voting is not the end itself. It is only the beginning and means to build a critical partnership with the leaders we supported and elected.

We also would like to constantly emphasize that this is a voluntary engagement in the sense that we were not individually invited, forced, brainwashed or lured. We simply put it upon ourselves the necessity of engaging government. We are not even paid, we just see the priceless value of seizing the opportunity to influence policy. We knocked at the doors of city hall and presented the proposal and this was accepted. When upon our collective judgment, we are better off serving outside government; we are not obliged or tied to remain. 

We are representing the youth development agenda and that alone. We partner with government for its realization. We do not stand for any personality nor ideology but for the aspirations the youth sectors themselves articulated. We lobby the agenda and work for its accomplishment. And we work to build and organize a youth sector that is empowered to become engaged citizens towards a progressive and equitable Cagayan de Oro. 

And we hope that our presence can add pressure to bring greater transparency, accountability and participation in our local government be it in the city or in the barangay. 

The thing that has held us back as a nation is our disengagement. We no longer care after the elections. But we hope to change that. Voting is not the end itself. It is only the beginning and means to build a critical partnership with the leaders we supported and elected.

The Oro Youth Development Council is born

Today, May 20, 2014 marks the official birthdate of the Oro Youth Development Council.

This moment was born from the efforts started a year before. The genesis of the Oro Youth Development Council began a year before the local elections with some school-based youth hopping from one barangay to the other doing voters education seminars. This youth group which later grew into the Kagayanon for Good Governance -Youth realized that the end goal of doing voters education is not just educating people how to vote but most importantly, what to do after the vote.

Engaging people we put in power (after the election) is the central philosophy of this movement. The OYDC is a movement incubated not within the walls of city hall but outside its walls - in the barangay halls, classrooms, chat rooms, living rooms and coffee shops of ordinary young citizens. With the victory of the new administration, the newly created space for civic engagement encouraged the youth to knock on the door of city hall and present the proposal. The Moreno Administration welcomed it with open arms. And the process of formalization commenced with the City Social Welfare and Development Office facilitating the way. Now that the Executive Order has been issued, the first phase of formalization is complete. We now begin the work of defining a new culture of youth activism in the community guided by the youth development agenda, which we ourselves articulated during our congress. And the next big step is institutionalization – that is making a Youth Code Ordinance that will make this mechanism permanent. That is a long way to go but we are hopeful that this would be our generation’s concrete contribution of building a governance philosophy that anchors itself on people’s participation and empowerment of the young.