Youth Leaders and their Successes Through USAID O2
For youth beneficiaries, the USAID O2 is a whole-of-society approach towards the fulfillment of their ambitions. The program did not only give them second-chance education chances, but also provided them employment opportunities.
Further, it has provided them the voice to speak up for their calls, and to stand up for the sake of their peers as youth leaders. Formerly OSYs, O2 beneficiaries are now advocates and mobilizers. They are now crafting programs for young people, pushing for their own advocacies, and motivating their fellow OSYs.
Cristian Gumalo from Zamboanga City shared that he was at the lowest point of his life in 2020. He was an OSY, and struggling to find a job as it was the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that same year, he joined a COVID-19 response training from USAID 02, through the initiative of a local non-government organization in his city.
After the three-month training, he was hired in the Department of Labor and Employment under the Government Internship Program for six months.
At present, he is employed as a youth development worker in Zamboanga City and a local mobilizer in Zamboanga Del Sur to promote the same non-governmental organization who helped him in joining the training.
Gumalo admitted that in the past, he was a very shy and timid kid who always had self-doubt, and it is through the O2 that he was able to hone his communication skills – something that he thought he'd never do before.
“Whoever people I meet, I always tell them that there is always an opportunity, and this is through the Opportunity 2.0 project. To our OSYs, we all have the choice, and through O2, we can have a chance,” he further said.
For Princes Justine Baculio from Cagayan De Oro, the O2 program embedded in her one life lesson: those things that you thought are impossible can be possible through hard work.
After graduating under the ALS in 2021, she became one of the beneficiaries of the USAID Be Your Own Boss entrepreneurship program. She was trained on building and managing businesses.
She was also trained under the Work Readiness Program, a training for employment circling on how to pass interviews, and how to be functionable employees.
She continued harnessing her skills by joining in about 13 seminars from various agencies such as DTI, Department of Science and Technology, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources where she met people who had given her ample knowledge about business and employment.
At present, Baculio is a youth leader in the Kaya Na! Davao Hub organization. She was also able to put up a rice toppings business. She also pursued higher education, as she is currently taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Human Resources Management.
She said that all her successes are because of all trainings she learned with USAID.
“The lesson that I want to share with everyone is that don’t be afraid to try things… I hope that everyone tries. If we are able to do it, you will also be able to do it,” she further stated.
Another young person who changed his life through hard work is Kyle Dela Cruz from Angeles City. He was a beneficiary of the USAID Be Your Own Boss entrepreneurship program, and the work-based learning program.
He also joined the Young Entrepreneurship Program (YEP!), a program of the DTI that aims to help young Filipinos develop their entrepreneurial skills by offering them a comprehensive package of interventions.
With the help of YEP!, he was able to establish a dessert business. Through the DTI, he now participates in various trade fairs conducted around the province.
Dela Cruz emphasized that he felt the help of the government throughout his journey. He said he even sheds tears at moments when he looks back on what kind of a person he was before USAID O2 knocked into his doors.
“I am very touched because in the past, I was just a delinquent kid, reckless, addicted to computer games. Someone who doesn’t have a dream,” he shared.
He said that he is elated because through the trainings provided to him by various stakeholders, he started to pick up the pieces to improve the quality of his life.
“Like what they said, USAID Opportunity 2.0 or second chance program. This means that all things deserve a second chance,” he ended.
According to USAID, the O2 program has fostered more than 1,405 OSYs to be leaders in their communities and serve as the voice of the out-of-school in city planning and programming. They took part in crafting at least 17 new policies in their cities that ensure youth participation in decision-making and implementation.
Through these youth-inclusive policies, youth leaders have mobilized over 3,000 more OSYs to volunteer in clean-up drives, tree planting activities, disaster response relief provisions, health information campaigns, and digital learning that contribute to community development.
It is often a word of the mouth that poverty is not a hindrance to education. In reality, this is just romanticizing poverty. The lack of money or material possessions, and the limited access to basic needs greatly affect a person’s status in the society. In the real world, poverty hampers a person’s opportunity to education as families choose to have food on their plates, rather than sending their children to school.
Luckily, for OSYs like Gumalo, Baculio, and Dela Cruz, there is a program like the USAID O2 which opened doors for their new life opportunities. The program, working together with national government agencies, local government units, private sector, and non-government organizations, has proven that a whole-of-society approach is vital to provide the OSYs greater life chances. Indeed, all children deserve access to quality education and life-long learning, no matter their status in life. (CLJD/JLDC-PIA 3)
