CEBU CITY, Cebu, June 16 (PIA) -- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with various government agencies, local government units (LGUs), and private sectors to promote Opportunity 2.0 program for out-of-school youth (OSY).
Opportunity 2.0 or the O2 program is a P1.9-B program designed to support existing programs and mechanisms for Filipino OSY to improve their education, employment, and livelihood outcomes.
The said program is bridging workforce development gaps among the youth, government programs, and businesses through a tailored USAID Private Sectors Engagement model which targets the co-creation of tools and processes to help partners collaborate towards shared goals.
As of February 2023, O2 has reached 33,257 OSYs with 29,533 OSYs who were able to complete life and soft skills training.
O2 has engaged with different streams of initiatives such as the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Online Program to generate more graduates.
O2 has also introduced Soft and Life Skill content into the existing education and training curricula in the Philippines.
The Department of Education (DepEd), TESDA, Department of Trade and Industry, and LGUs have begun to institutionalize this new content in their programs.
In 2021, through a Memorandum of Agreement, the Cebu City Youth Development Alliance (YDA) was established to enable local youth champions to come together and improve local systems for Cebuano OSY so that they may have better opportunities in education, employment, entrepreneurship, and empowerment.
Common YDA members are LGUs, Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan, DepEd, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, youth development offices, universities, private sector led by the local chapter of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, and youth-serving non-government organizations.
Aside from Soft and Life skill training, Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) training is also provided by the O2 program.
BYOB will train OSYs in design thinking for entrepreneurship or adopting a business development approach that focuses on customer needs, and will incorporate coaching and mentorship from USAID’s private sector partners. (MYP/PIA7 Cebu)
