Bohol to host 6th NYP

By: Bruce Eric Gideon T. Zabala

BOHOL 'S famed perfect setting coupled with the renowned Boholano hospitality makes it again the ideal venue for the 6th National Youth Parliament. The event, a gathering of more than two hundred youth leaders nationwide converging here at the capital city of Tagbilaran also exposes local youth to a wide range of issues affecting the youth sector in efforts to formulate policy recommendations in the pursuit of advancing youth concerns. Set at the posh Bohol Tropics Resort October 22-26, 6th NYP anchors on the theme, “Nurturing Youth Advocates”. According to National Youth Commissioner Benjie Oliva, coordination in line with the preparations are now underway between the office of Governor Erico B. Aumentado and the Sangguniang Kabataan Provincial Federation president Frances Bobbith Cajes-Auza to iron out the kinks in this significant undertaking. Oliva, who also  represents the Visayas and Chairman of the 6th NYP National Organizing Committee added that among the issues to be tackled during the Parliament are the Magna Carta for Students' Rights and Youth Migration.

The forum also takes SK Reforms, Youth Networking/Localization of the Medium Term Youth Development Plan, Information and Communication Technology, Adolescent Reproductive Health and Constitutional Reforms. Youth representing the sub-sectors in-school, out-of-school, working and youth with special needs are expected to be here with leaders of national youth organizations to push their main concerns. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is also supportive of this gathering by mobilizing its resources and networks to ensure a wide participation of the youth and for it's success. Subsequently, an inter-agency body, both from the government and NGOs was also organized to ensure meeting of set objectives.

Empowering youth advocates, the 6th NYP will also provide capability development to the youth parliamentarians (YPs) for the next two years. They would be trained to do advocacy and networking being advocates of youth development polices and programs in their localities. For the past decade, convening the NYP has been a grueling task for the National Youth Commission, expending considerable resources and efforts every other year. The hard work proved to be fruitful and resulted in having policy recommendations from each batch since the NYP was first convened in 1995. Convening of NYP in the past also saw the organization of Regional Task Forces, while most recent batch became partners to a number of attempts to localize the Medium-Term Youth Development Plan (MTYDP). Guest speakers during the 6th NYP are Jose de Venecia, Secretary Arthur Yap and Secretary Mike Defensor.

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