Making life-changing opportunities available to the marginalized out-of-school youth rests heavily on the shoulders of local actors who champion young people. It is through community-based individuals and organizations that services and programs reach people in need.
To uplift the lives of out-of-school youth and their families, local actors who serve youth directly must likewise be elevated and enabled to rise to ever-changing economic, cultural, and political landscapes.
Over the past two years, through Opportunity 2.0, USAID has awarded grants worth up to Php 115 million to 67 youth-serving organizations, training schools, and higher education institutions that enable them to empower out-of-school youth.
As a USAID grantee, organizations receive a package of support tailor-fitted to their capacities and local context:
- Funds to upskill OSYs in their city, pursue OSY research, or conduct OSY development training for other local actors in their community,
- Capacity building training for its trainers on new modules that include Life Skills, Work Based Learning (WBL), Be Your Own Boss (BYOB), Higher Education and Training Readiness Orientation (HERO), and Peer Coaching,
- Tools, techniques, and guidance on delivering, upscaling, and sustaining enhanced youth programs,
- Technical assistance on positive youth development, grant management, flexible teaching methods, and alliance building, and
- Access to the local network of youth champions, the Youth Development Alliance, and opportunities to participate in city youth development planning, resource sharing, and linking with local industry.
To date, 5,000 OSYs have already advanced through USAID grants and millions more will benefit as USAID-supported research and capacity building are institutionalized in local organizations.
Deputy Mission Director Rebekah Eubanks led the Grants Learning Summit where a new grant was awarded to support the Department of Education’s research agenda.
Through its Opportunity 2.0 grants program, USAID is strengthening the local capacity of Philippine institutions and organizations to respond to the needs of Filipino OSYs.#
