"Kenyo be a Changemaker? Kenyo be a social entrepreneur?”

This was the theme and challenge to the youth participants from all over the province of Bulacan during the first Future Leaders of Asia Forum (FLAF) provincial camp last June 19-20.

The two-day camp sponsored by the Provincial Youth, Sports, Employment, Arts and Culture (PYSEACO) Office of the Provincial Government of Bulacan was held at the Club Royale Resort in Malolos, with over a hundred participants from 19 colleges and universities in the province.

The schools present were Bulacan State University, Meycauayan College, STI Sta. Maria, Balagtas and Malolos, ACSAT Baliuag, Baliuag University, CEU Malolos, University of Regina Carmeli Malolos, St. Mary’s College Baliuag and Meycauayan, Divine College Malolos, BASC, BPC Malolos,
Liceo de Pulilan, DYCI, St. Joseph College of Bulacan, Shepherds College and ABE Malolos.

Together with PYSEACO and Joan dela Cruz, project head of FLAF 2 and daughter of former Bulacan Governor Josie dela Cruz, the FLAF Bulacan provincial conference was organized by a team of youth leaders in the province who were elected as provincial heads and regional coordinators during the FLAF 2 summer camp in April at the Ateneo de Manila University.

THE WAY TO SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Inspired by the forum held in Ateneo during summer, the Bulacan youth participants
realized the need to share to other Bulakeno youth what they have learned from the speakers and trainers during the lectures and workshops on social entrepreneurship.

During the FLAF Bulacan, participants were given a set of modules and trainings that revolve around the idea of social entrepreneurship – an introductory module explaining the basic concepts and comparing it to traditional business entrepreneurship and social work related projects and activities as well as concrete examples of youth-led social enterprises from lectures provided by some guest speakers such as Hapinoy and Rags2Riches and Chains for Change.

After the introductory module, the participants were trained by Ashoka’s Youth Venture (YV) Philippines and were given a modular workshop to provide them with the basic tools and knowledge on how to generate a social enterprise idea and craft a social enterprise business plan.

After the workshop, the participants were asked to form their own teams per school and apply their knowledge to devise their own plans and develop a social enterprise idea that can be implemented in their respective communities or colleges. At the end of the training, they presented their business plans at the social enterprise business plan competition, where four teams emerged as winners and were given cash prizes.

Winning schools were BASC, CEU Malolos, ACSAT Baliuag and Meycauayan College that received the Php 10,000 first place cash price, Php 8,000 second place cash price, Php 5,000 third place cash price and Php 3,000 consolation price respectively.

The winning teams will be placed under YV’s guidance and monitoring and will be also be given the opportunity to have access to Ashoka’s networks and linkages internationally and globally. This will formally take place on July 8 during the YV teams launch at the office of YLSE in Ateneo.

The FLAF is a youth camp formulated by the Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship (YLSE) program of the Ateneo School of Government, which was initiated by its Director, Harvey Keh and a team of student volunteers from the Loyola Schools of Ateneo de Manila University. After its successful run in January last year, the second camp was organized, which inspired more college and university students to attend the event and participate in its programs, lectures and seminars.

FLAF aims to inspire the youth of Asia to become “Changemakers”, with the belief that genuine positive social change is possible if young people take the lead and help their communities in simple but effective and inspiring ways.

FLAF hopes to achieve – to train, inspire, empower and develop young people not only in the country but in the whole of Asia as well, to realize the value of what social entrepreneurship offers to them and how it can help them become effective agents of positive social change. With provincial heads and regional coordinators elected every FLAF conference, YLSE aims to bring its program to more provinces to train, inspire and empower more young people to become social entrepreneurs and help their communities.

Tieza Santos works with Ashoka-Philippines’ Youth Venture Program. For more information on how you can also be a young Filpino changemaker, call (02)426-5657.