On the heels of bad publicity about the prevalence of delinquent youth in the country today, the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) Foundations, Inc., led by Senator Francis Pangilinan, continues its advocacy of promoting youth’s active involvement in nation building.
“We’d like to project that young people are not apathetic. In fact, they are doing a lot of things for nation building. We’re giving out good news that young people are living positively and sharing their best practices through their projects in their schools and communities, which could be implemented in other parts of the country,” Georgina Nava, director of TAYO, said Wednesday.
TAYO campaigns for citizens not to rely on government, but to work on improving their communities by themselves. The National Youth Commission, the premier youth policy-making body of the Philippine government, has spearheaded the TAYO search since Pangilinan launched it in 2002.
Seeing active youth organizations as stakeholders in the development of the nation, the Department of Social Welfare and Development has supported the TAYO Awards the past years along with other partners from the public and private sectors. Presented by Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, this is also supported by Philippine Center of Young Leaders in Governance (PCYLG) and TeaM Energy Foundation.
To qualify, the organization, club, or society should be composed of at least 15 members whose ages range from 15 to 30 years. The criteria for the 8th TAYO Awards include impact of the project entry on the stakeholders (25%); harnessing the spirit of volunteerism and citizenship (25%); creativity and innovation (20%); sustainability (15%); and effective use of resources (15%).
From the entries submitted through required documents, ten organizations will be chosen from each area: Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao and National Capital Region which nderwent field validation based on the search criteria. From the field validators’ report, the secretariat will select the organizations qualified for the next level—area finals.
From the area finals, five organizations will be chosen to join the national finals for the ten accomplished youth organizations.
Now on its 8th year, the TAYO search area finals in Mindanao bared the youth organizations that will attend the national finals week in Manila on December 5 to 9. These are the 4-H Mandaya Tribal Youth Organization (MTYO) from Compostela Valley, Association of Locally-Employed Youth – North Mindanao (ALEY-NM) from Misamis Oriental, Pro-Drop Out Reduction Program (PRO-DORP) Team from Surigao del Sur, Watershed Management Youth Council from Davao City, and Youth Solidarity for Peace – Peace Advocates Zamboanga (YSP-PAZ) from Zamboanga.
The area finals in Mindanao were held last November 17 in Davao City, with four entries coming from the host city. The judges were Commissioner Steve Laurence Arquiza of the National Youth Commission (chairman); assistant regional director Priscilla M. Razon of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 11; Ms. Leah Reyes, Regional Human Resource manager of the Coca-Cola Foundation; Lifestyle editor Ana Felicia Dulay of SunStar Davao and businessman Amado So of the Davao Chinese Development Council (DCDC).
Recognized for the positive changes and impacts of their project entries, each winning organization of the TAYO Search will be awarded P50,000 cash grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines and a specially handcrafted trophy by artist Toym de Leon Imao. Aside from flying them to Manila in a week, area winners will receive P5,000 and participate in media visits to promote the advocacies of their respective organizations.
Even during the area finals, the organizations are already recognized by the local government units and schools, Nava said. “We also help to pave their way to other awards and citations,” she added.
Out of the 70 finalists of the TAYO Search, 19 of them were from Mindanao and four from Davao City. The youth organizations from Davao which won the TAYO search are the group of physical therapists—Kapansanan ay Akibat sa Kaunlaran ng Bayan (Kaakbay), Watershed Management Youth Council, Musical Dramatic Society of Sta. Ana National high school, and Rotaract Club of Tagum.
The other organizations that reached the area finals were: 505 Disaster Rescuers for Emergencies, Assistance and Management, Inc. (505 DREAM) from Kidapawan city; Bukidnon State University Dance Troupe; Ingat Kapandayan Artist Center from Jolo, Sulu; Voice of Mindanao (VoM) from Zamboanga City; and Youth Community Service Club – General Santos City Council. [Lorie Ann A. Cascaro]
