Civic learning and student voice for out-of-school youth in the Philippines

• In Event: Speaking Up: Educating for Civic Purpose on Both Sides of the Wall

Proposal

Education Development Center (EDC)’s youth and workforce development programs take a holistic youth development approach, which often integrates civic engagement interventions. EDC’s programs also create opportunities for alliance building and youth network development, which provide youth opportunities to engage with community and government stakeholders to improve the climate and increase access to opportunities for youth in their communities. The USAID Mindanao Youth for Development (MYDev) five-year project in the Philippines can make the case that an integrated approach, in which not only are youth’s assets developed, but their perceptions of their agency are also altered, their resilience strengthened, their engagement in their community deepened, and their alliances with adults working for their success built, thereby increasing stability in conflict and crisis-affected environments.

MYDev addresses key constraints to peace and stability in select conflict-affected areas in Mindanao by assisting the Philippine Government to improve the basic education competencies, life skills and employability of at least 19,000 vulnerable out-of-school youth, establishing Out-of-School Youth Development Alliances. These alliances respond to the research questions on creating and curating climates for student voice and engagement. The project promotes an enabling environment that protects these vulnerable youth against stereotyping, extremism, and other types of radicalization in their communities. Specifically, the program works through local stakeholders to provide out-of-school youth with life and livelihood skills, access to alternative learning systems, civic engagement training and increased community engagement, and improved livelihood opportunities.

Mr. Kevin Corbin's (MYDev Project Director) presentation will address how governments and key stakeholders can construct and foster climates for student voice and engagement in conflict and crisis-affected environments. In addition, he will address the intersection of education and economic growth through civic learning and empowerment—both as a peacebuilding mechanism and as an approach to long-term national stability. While current political trends favor countering violence extremism (CVE), this presentation will focus more on the ingredients of stability than on targeted interventions to reduce the draw of extremist values. The MYDev project model exhibits an integrated, multi-stakeholder approach to civic engagement that has direct implications for education and economic growth. While MYDev technically sits under the Education umbrella in USAID programming, its goals and results straddle both sectors. The integration of civic education via networks with government and community leaders to frame job opportunities provides a necessary linkage between education and economic growth, and bolsters stability at the grassroots level. As research indicates, the driving factor in generating extremism is economic exclusion rather than ideological supremacy (Ghanem, 2015; Saade, 2016). Civic education programs that present clear, evidence-based ties to economic access (i.e. life skills, employment) address the factors leading to extremism more holistically than other targeted approaches.

Author

• Kevin Corbin, EDC