TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 25 (PIA) -- The pandemic may have pushed teenagers out of school, but there is hope for them now as the City of Tagbilaran partnered with an international donor to give out-of-school youth (OSY) another chance to be back in school, get a job and be bosses themselves.

Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Tagbilaran City has opened a program for OSY to continue learning, earn new employable skills, and start their own business by becoming entrepreneurs themselves, shared USAID Project 2.0 Cebu hub team leader Loucille Alcala-Dabhi.

Speaking at the recent Kapihan sa PIA, Dabhi said OSYs in Tagbilaran City aged 15-24 are their program’s target with the aim of providing them employment, entrepreneurship, and continuing education.

Opportunity 2.0 partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) in its Alternative Learning System (ALS) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for the OSY’s technical and vocational skills training for employment and entrepreneurship.

Set for possible replication to other USAID-assisted sites, Tagbilaran City’s Opportunity 2.0 is what Dabhi calls as an integration and convergence of all the programs that are available to the OSY.

She said that what makes it better is that Tagbilaran City has institutionalized its Youth Development Alliance (YDA).

YDA is a venue for building collaborative synergy between governments, civil society, business sector, and sectors involved in out of school youth development planning, to achieve globally competitive and sustainable development for the OSYs.

Already institutionalized in a local ordinance, the Tagbilaran City YDA assures a seamless collaboration between agencies and sectors to make sure that after technical and vocational trainings, the learners are not left out by the more formally trained workers.

The goal is after DepEd’s formal or ALS education and TESDA’s technical vocational skills training, the YDA arranges for follow-through activities that gets the learner employed or attain capital to be their own bosses as entrepreneurs.

Here, the YDA represented by the government including the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), DepEd, Department of Labor and Employment, TESDA, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and private sectors such as the local chambers of commerce and industry as well as community leaders and the marginalized youth, sit down and discuss convergence points for graduate employment and entrepreneurship. 

With two batches that already graduated under the YDA alliance, authorities said their program has slowly produced graduates who are placed under the DTI Mentorship Program, and are given livelihood kits or capital or TESDA’s employment and entrepreneurship programs.

With the local YDA ordinance, trained and skills-equipped youth here could also get their second opportunity in the DTI’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program, to which the USAID has seen considerable success in providing second chances to the youth and the OSY.

Dabhi said they are going to conduct barangay caravans in the city to reach out to the OSYs and assist them in education, employment, and entrepreneurship. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)