Advancing intergenerational responsibility and youth leadership in rebuilding resilient communities

More than one hundred youth representatives from 12 Yolanda-hit towns and cities in Cebu, Leyte, and Eastern Samar participated in the three-day Visayas Youth Summit organised by Bulig Visayas, with support from Bantay Kita and Terre Des Hommes Germany.

The summit was the culmination of a series of provincial gatherings that attempted to define the role of the youth in the rehabilitation efforts of the affected communities.

Bannering the theme, “Advancing Intergenerational Responsibility and Youth Leadership in Rebuilding Resilient Communities,” the summit featured discussions on the situation of the youth in the Visayas more than a year after the typhoon, the issue of climate change, and mining in fragile communities like Manicani and Homonhon islands in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and the town of MacArthur in Leyte.
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The summit went on to define the role of the youth in reducing the vulnerabilities of their communities, articulating a youth agenda, and establishing some form of organization to productively engage government. EITI was seen by youth representatives from the communities of Manicani as an arena for exacting accountability both from the government and the mining company operating in their island.