THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE PHILIPPINE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT NETWORK APRIL 2007

PYEN at the ILO Regional Technical MeetingCHIBA - The Philippine Youth Employment Network was invited by the International Labor Organization’s Asia Pacific Office to participate at the ILO/SKILLS-AP/Japan Regional Technical Meeting on Developing Skills and Employability for Young People in Asia and the Pacific held at the Overseas Vocational Training Association on 13-16 February 2007.

The four-day Meeting focused on issues faced by countries in the Asia Pacific Region including: Colombo, Indonesia, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the host country, Japan. Issues, models and areas for collaboration were explored in each technical sessions focusing on themes such as: Learning While Earning, Lost Opportunities, Making Good Choices and Priority Skills. A trip to

the Young Job Spot and Young Hello Work in Shibuya was arranged on February 14, 2007.

Audrey Codera, Chairman of the Philippine Youth Employment Network, presented the Youth Multiversity Program which provides research and capacity-building training to provide the needed exper ience among youth leaders, entrepreneurs, human rights advocates, students and youth groups to complement existing theoretical knowledge. The Youth Multiversity currently offers experiential learning on project management, entrepreneurship and enterprise development, institutional development and building partnerships with government institutions, the private sector, international development community and civil society organizations while assisting the underprivileged youth in gaining economic independence thereby providing the necessary skills for entrepreneurship and employment.

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In This EditionPYEN at ILO Regional Meeting 1

ASEAN Workshop on

Youth-Initiated ICT-Enterprises 22006 At a Glance 2 Audrey: Echoing Green Semi-Finalist2Ateneo wins SAGE 3 GKP East Asia Regional Meeting 3PYEN conducts Project

Management Orientation 4 SAGE Events 2007 4

YOU

TH

Future Entrepreneurs: Nursery School in Gunma where Audrey taught English for one day. From three colorful shapes, these kids worked together to build a rocket-o.

PYEN VOLUNTEERS

2007

PYEN would like to thank its volunteers: Christine Villanueva, Amy Cabuya, Viki Badenas, Pat Buensuceso, Jerome Villanueva, Miko Flores, Victor Cruz, Bong Donato, Camille Almeda, Cherry Lingao, Chey Mayuga, Cookie Rayos, Diane Diaz, Grace Enriquez, Jared Desello, Jox Petiza, and Michelle Palijo, the SAGE Project Committee Team, and UA&P’s Office of Student Affairs.

Works!

PYEN at the ILO... (continued from page 1)

In her presentation, Ms. Codera emphasized that the development of skills and employability among the youth is more than lip service. She encouraged the participants of the Workshop to engage youth in policy-making and in developing programs that will lead to an empowered youth ready to face the challenges that globalization, for example, brings. Ms. Codera ended by presenting a revision of a long-known cliché: “we, at the Philippine Youth Employment Network, believe that the youth are no longer just the future. The youth are the present.”

Three youth social entrepreneurs in the Asia Pacific Region were selected by the ILO Asia Pacific Office as resource persons for the Workshop. Together with Ms. Codera, Ali Raza Khan of Youth Engagement Services – Pakistan (PNYS) and Sailendra Dev Appanah of Youth Social Enterprise Initiative (YSEI) met with ILO Director for Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Shinichi Hasegawa, and the ILO staff from the Sub-Regional Office in Bangkok at the ILO Office at the UN Building in Tokyo.

Ms. Codera also met with several educators and individuals interested in working with PYEN on developing training materials that will provide more skills needed by underprivileged youth.

ASEAN Workshop on Youth-lnitiated ICT Enterprises

YANGON, MYANMAR - At the recently concluded, ASEAN Regional Workshop on Youth-led ICT Enterprises held at the Info-Tech Universities' Hlaing Campus on Marchh 7-9, 2006 attended by senior officials and youth representatives from ASEAN member countries Audrey was invited to provide an overview on how the Philippine Youth Employment Network use ICT in engaging youth in community development. She presented her case study alongside Sopheap Im of the Digital Divide Data – Cambodia and Nyein Oo of the Myanmar Info-Tech.

The Workshop focused on sharing experiences and lessons learned from models of innovative ICT enterprises to encourage young people to be ICT entrepreneurs, promoting awareness and knowledge to initiate and strengthen youth friendly ICT policies that would encourage youth-initiated ICT enterprises and building and maintaining a strong support networks for young social entrepreneurs with government and private sectors.

The meeting concluded with a recommendation drafting youth friendly ICT policies and programs that will encourage the development of youth-initiated ICT enterprises to be presented at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth to be held in April 2007.

2006 At a Glance:February 2006Audrey Codera received the GKP Youth Social Enterprise Initiative Fellowship that re-established the PYEN Member organ izat ion, YouthWorks Inc. which is a non-profit microfinance providing start-up loans to youth and women.

PYEN members and volunteers attended the Go Negosyo on Feb 23, 2006 at Fort Bonifacio. Go Negosyo is a project of the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship and the Philippine G o v e r n m e n t p r o m o t i n g entrepreneurship.

April 2006PYEN was invited to observe the Global Social Venture Contest at Columbia University, New York where Audrey Codera was a Visiting Scholar.

May 2006PYEN participated at the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development 14th Meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York which ended on May 12, 2006.

PYEN was invited by the Reebok Human Rights Awards to attend its award ceremony at New York University on May 16, 2006.

At the SAGE USA competition, PYEN was part of the judges alongside other government officials and multinational companies in the United States.

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Audrey: Echoing Green Semi-FinalistAudrey Codera has been selected for the Phase 2 of the Echoing Green Fellowship Program. More than 900 business plans were reviewed for Phase 1 and Audrey’s was one of the 300 finalist to continue on to Phase 2. Echoing Green awards two-year fel-lowships to emerging social innovators - individuals with innovative ideas - for creating new models for tackling seem-ingly unsolvable social challenges. These fellowships offer them the op-portunity to develop and test their ideas.

ILO Meeting delegates from Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Colombo, Thailand, ILO Switzerland with Mr. Sinichi Hasegawa, ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.

Ateneo wins SAGEThe Students for the Advancement of

Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) Cup Philippines 2007 was held on April 2, 2007 at the Telengtan Hall, University of Asia and the Pacific. Four teams from Ateneo High School, Baras National High School and Elizabeth Seton High School presented their business plans for the competitio. Ateneo High School garnered the highest award with their T.A.R.P. business and Baras National High School, who presented Vermiculture Composite business came second.

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GKP East Asia Regional MeetingMANILA - The Global Knowledge Partnership Meeting was held at the Asian Development Bank Auditorium on January 15-16, 2007. The Meeting was organized by the GKP East Asia Regional Coordinator, Digital Divide Data and hosted by the Asian Development Bank.

The meeting was held in order to share knowledge and inputs on developing a cohesive regional work plan based on the projects being implemented within the region and promote GKP to non-members.

Among those who attended are GKP members: Asian Development Bank (ADB), Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Cebu International Distance Learning Education College (CIDEC), eHomemakers, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), MailStation Net, MIMOS, ThaiRuralNet and United Nations Educational Scientif ic and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).Invited non-members include: Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), Asian Encounters, Tourkonsult, Idea!s Creatives, Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), Enterprise Communications Lao, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Cebu Educational Decelopment Foundation for Information Technology (CEDF-IT), Molave Foundation, MCA ICT Resource Centre and Indonesian Infocom Society (MASTEL) and the Philippine Youth Employment Network.

The workshop provided a venue where each participant were able to present their work to the group and look for areas of collaboration among those organization present. Moving forward, these collaborative work or ideas on using knowledge for development was translated into actual proposal for consideration by the GKP East Asia Region.

SAGE Philippines Project Director, Viki Badenas, and Pat Buensuceso with SAGE Philippines 2007 Winners from Ateneo High School: Alexander Lumantao, Miguel Evangelista, Miguel Macaalay, Michael Contreras, and Ron Reodica, .

2006 At a Glance

June 2006The Reuters Digital Vision Program invited PYEN for a short seminar attended by its Fellows from around the world. the seminar provided an insight and advice for those attending on how ICT has been utilized by PYEN for its community work.

September 2006The Youth Employment Summit was held in Nairobi attended by youth from 84 countries 2 million.

Tess Garcia, PYEN Executive Director, Audrey Codera shared PYEN’s experiences at engaging youth, g o v e r n m e n t s , c i v i l s o c i e t y organizations and the private sector in p r ov i d i n g e m p l oy m e n t a n d entrepreneurship opportunities to young people.

October 2006PYEN was invited by the Entrepreneur School of Asia during its Social Consciouness week to share its work and experiences among its students last October 20, 2006.

At the Scrapyard Resort in Angono, the ILO invited PYEN to provide its insights at the ILO Local Economic Development Initiatives Forum on 24 October 2006.

December 2006The Department of Labor and Employment invited PYEN to the Marikina City Hall to provide its feedback on the various literature produce by the department to provide young jobseekers a better guidance at finding employment opportunities on 13 December 2006.

PYEN met with the Baras Provincial Administrator, Agerico Valdez, for an assessment of the possibility of training for Baras Youth in 2007 on December 29, 2006.

PYEN conducts Project Management Orientation

To begin its Project Management course for the Youth Multiversity, PYEN conducted an orientation for 25 students last January 30, 2007 at the University of Asia and the Pacific. Tess Garcia, Executive Director of PYEN, facilitated the orientation.

The Project Management course is the first program of the Youth Multiversity, a project of PYEN that focuses on experiential learning. Most of the participants at the orientation were university students who were chosen by PYEN and AIESEC to organize conferences and working sessions in the upcoming months on various issues in youth employment and entrepreneurship.

National Summit on Youth Employment

August 2007

The Philippine Youth Employment Network will be conducting a needs-based and results-oriented National Summit on August 2007. Working Sessions and Roundtables will be conducted on:

Youth With Disability

Indigenous Youth

Rural and Peasant Youth

Urban Youth and the BPO Industry

Young Women

Youth and the Pink Economy

If you wish to participate, you may contact the PYEN Secretariat Office.

Ateneo wins SAGE(continued from page 3)

The Ateneo High School team will be representing the Philippines at the SAGE World Cup in Odessa, Ukraine on July 31 to August 4 where at least twenty countries will compete for the World Cup title.

The judging committee of the competition were composed of successful entrepreneurs: Audrey Codera (PYEN), Lex Ledesma (The One School), Lucas Britanico (Principalia) and Elmer Aquintania (School of Management, UA&P).

SAGE arrived in Philippine shores in 2004 and was resuscitated in 2007 by PYEN as part of an international network that links teams of secondary school students to nearby university students, business leaders and civic leaders. SAGE’s mission is:

“To advance youth entrepreneurship and community service around the world, emphasizing ethical business practices, social responsibility, civic engagement and environmental awareness.”

Each school year, high schools all over the Philippines are encouraged to come up with SAGE teams to compete in “SAGE Cup Philippines” hosted by PYEN and its supporting institutions. Winners of the competition advance to the SAGE World Cup usually held outside the country in August annually.

SAGE Cup Philippines 2007 was sponsored by the University of Asia and the Pacific, San Miguel Corporation, Novartis Philippines, Mr. Bert and Mrs. Benny Badenas, and Mr. Gil and Mrs. Sylvia Buensuceso.

Philippine Youth

Employment

Network

Audrey CoderaChairman

Phillip TingProgram Manager YM

Anne ElicanoConsultant

Tess GarciaExecutive Director

Carolina EspinosaFinance Officer

Dwight AgulanConsultant

Layla SantosICT Manager

Yvette ValdezConsultant

Atty. Claro Luis GarciaLegal Counsel

SAGE Events:

SAGE PrimerThe SAGE Primer was held at the University of Asia and the Pacific Dining Hall on March 3, 2007 attended by It was attended by 8 high school SAGE teams.The Primer provided the high schools students with a general overview of the competition, a background on social entrepreneurship as well as introduced the high school teams to their mentorsThe keynote was delivered by entrepreneur, Eldrich Santos.

SAGE Business Planning Crash CourseA SAGE Business Planning Crash Course was held at the University of Asia and the Pacific on March 24, 2007. This crash course was in response to the feedback from participants of SAGE. It was conducted by Audrey Codera, Chairman of PYEN and Chairman and founder of YouthWorks Inc.

SAGE Cup Philippines 2007April 2, 2007 at the University of Asia and the Pacific IN Pasig City, Philippines.

SAGE World Cup 2007July 31 - August 4, 2007 in Odessa, Ukraine.

International Forum

“The Social Responsibility of Business: Practice, Tendencies and Interaction.” on August 2, 2007 in Odessa, Ukraine.