Youth Programs
August 31, 2005

By: Pocholo D. Gonzales

Meaningful youth participation is about recognizing and nurturing the strengths, interests, and abilities of young people by providing them with real opportunities to become involved in decisions that affect them at individual and systemic levels. This kind of participation enhances youth health because it offers young people a chance to develop important decision-making and problem-solving skills, develop meaningful relationships, and bolster self-esteem. These benefits are known to protect youth against risk-taking behaviors that can have a negative impact on both their short and long-term health.

Positive youth development like adults, young people grow and develop best when they are given opportunities to experience, understand, question, and influence. During adolescence, young people begin to define their self-worth in terms of their skills and their ability to influence their environment. So for young people to make a healthy and effective transition to adulthood, they need opportunities to demonstrate that they are capable of being responsible, caring and participating members of society. A growing body of research about healthy adolescent development emphasizes that young people need environments with basic supports like safe places to gather, good relationships with peers and adults, opportunities to learn and practice the skills they require for different roles, and constructive activities for spare time. Impact on service delivery and planning meaningful youth participation can positively influence the design and delivery of youth-serving programs. By involving young people in the planning process, services can better direct available resources to youth and be more successful at approaching issues that affect them. Community development and health promotion research shows that people of all ages are more likely to commit to a program when they have been involved from the outset in its design and the plans to implement it.

Creating opportunities for specific populations, including cultural-minority youth, youth in care, and youth with mental or physical disabilities to give input to programs designed to serve them, increases the likelihood that these groups will benefit from those programs. The Tinig Kabataan (Voice of the Youth) is an advocacy organization. We are committed to promote youth participation and development through education and advocacy. We believed that youth must:

1. Act as role models of other Youth in our communities.
2. Act as catalysts for change.
3. Advocate and practice responsible and honest leadership.
4. Actively participate in programs and projects.
5. Promote the spirit of volunteerism.
6. Provide recruits and trainees for youth development.
7. Commit our dedication, time, initiative, resources, skills, talents, and knowledge.
8. Promote our cultural heritage.
9. Assist in the formation of youth organizations.
10. Be the fiscalizers of the youth.
11. Vigilantly monitor the various programs & projects.
12. Set standards and evaluate performance.
13. Conduct research and feasibility studies.
14. Formulate policies and concept papers.
15. Expand awareness on the various youth issues.
16. Actively campaign, lobby and advocate for youth issues.
17. Be conscious of issues that affect the youth.
18. Assist in database developmentand information gathering.
19. Build networks and linkages with other stakeholders.
20. Foster and nurture unity and cooperation among the youth.