YOUNG activists of Negros convened on Saturday, July 20, at the Bell Hotel to discuss their projects and widen their membership to budding changemakers.
Officially known as the Negrosanon Young Leaders Institute (NYLI), the group shared their accomplishments within the previous fiscal year to all of its members.
Member and activist Coileen Awitt said, “This event unifies the three different batches of this organization since 2017. More than just a discussion forum, it is also a time for the youth to build their professional networks.”
Additionally, executive director Keveen Gaitan said, “We dream of more young people who are at the frontline of addressing the key issues and concerns affecting their families and their community.”
The event started with ice-breaker sessions, where each member played fun games. The assembly itself was set at a very personal tone: the speakers and hosts constantly assured the audience to loosen their nerves (due to anxiety) and joked about the small accidental mishaps in their presentations. Ultimately, the scene resembled a close-knit family passionately addressing the problems of the Negros Island.
According to its mission statement, NYLI commits to “equip Negrosanon Youth through education, empowerment, engagement, and experience -- by providing them with safe spaces for action-driven dialogue, discussion, and self-discovery to become catalysts of change in their communities.”
One of their educational priorities was particularly sexual reproduction education, a problem that has been the root cause of mass overpopulation throughout the country. Furthermore, the organization also supported Youth for Climate Hope, an organization that has aided in the advocacy of a coal-free Negros. This group was also one of the reasons that Bacolod City was recently declared to be in a “climate emergency.”
Through all its projects, NYLI has widely impacted the Negros community: “12,304 people benefited from their programs ... 313 youth have applied ... 15 projects were implemented ... [and] 2,396,039 were reached through Local Advocacy Initiatives.”
Another custom that happened during the event was honoring previous leaders in the organization and promoting new leaders into higher positions.
According to Gaitan, the main accomplishment of the meeting was the fact that it opened up opportunities for young people to go into social and environmental change: “There’s so much of opportunities, for young people like us, to be part of a bigger movement: of a collective movement of socially aware individuals continually thriving for justice and equity,” he said.
Asked about the importance of having organizations and meetings like this, Gaitan said, “Gatherings and forums such as this allows us to consult and communicate our plans with our co-leaders.”
“We believe that through these meetings, we can define and establish a common goal as an organization.”