The Role of the Youth in Poverty Alleviation

1. The Role of the Youth in
Alleviating Poverty
Mr. JANVIE SOQUEÑA - AMIDO
Founder and Executive Director
Youth First Initiative Philippines – A Social Enterprise
Email: janvieamido@gmail.com Twitter: @Itsjanvie
February 6, 2015
West Visayas State University -Main

3. “Poverty reduction is not only about meeting basic needs,
it’s also about participation, influence and power.”
Hanna Halin, President of LSU 2007-2009

4. Let us talk about Young People
and its Perspectives

5. Snapshot of the Filipino Youth
Sources: National Youth Commission and National Statistics Office
Total Philippine Population as of March 2010 is
92,337,852 and 30% of that is composed of youth, which
27, 701, 355. In 2014, we already have 100 million and
the population of the youth increased to 32 million.
15-17 years old (Young Youth)
18-24 years old (Young Adult)
25-30 years old (Core Youth)

7. Arguments for a Youth Perspective
Poverty Reduction
• Poverty Reduction requires knowledge of youth-specific terms and
conditions
• Young people are experts regarding our own daily life and in ways
of reaching young people
• Youth organisations contribute to the strengthening of democracy
and the respect for human rights

8. • Without a Youth Perspective development policies fail to identify
youth organisations as actors of change
• The Millennium Development Goals specifically address young
people
• Investing in young people has more potential than ever, since
young people today are the most educated generation ever.

9. The number of people worldwide aged 12-24 years has
reached 1.3 billion, the largest in history. It is also the
healthiest and best educated – a strong base to build on in
a world that demands more than basic skills.
Paul Walfowitz, President, World Bank Group

10. Young people are seldom recognised as a resource in
decision- making processes. Instead, young people are
systematically excluded from important arenas of
decision-making and development processes. As a result,
their perspectives are often absent in policy-making. At
the same time, many youth organisations remain
drastically under-resourced and ill-equipped to participate
in development process and efforts.

11. Development objectives cannot be met if young people
are not involved and taken into account. A Youth
Perspective in poverty reduction is especially relevant
given that 2/3 of the population in low-income countries
are under 25 years old. In addition, most of these young
people have significantly limited opportunities to exercise
their Human Rights such as freedom of association.
Upholding a Youth Perspective is therefore an important
means of protecting young people’s rights.

12. A Youth Perspective in poverty reduction contributes to
greater efficiency by increasing probability of making
efforts that suit different groups of young people.

13. More than 500,000,000 young people live in
poverty.

14. The UN Millennium Development Goals have specific
outcome indicators targeted for
youth (15-24).
The Development Goal Report 2009

16. Youth Perspectives on MDGs
MDG 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty
According to the UN’s World Youth Reports 724 million young people live
on less than USD 2 a day. If you were given more consideration in poverty
reduction strategies, their ability to help themselves escape from poverty
would increase.
MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education
115 million children are not in school and 100 million children ho start school
will be forced to leave before they learn to read and write. It is important for
young people to complete their education in order to escape poverty, and
youth organisations can support this goal by providing non-formal education.

17. MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower
Women
Strict gender norms can be especially harmful for girls and young women
who may find their freedom of movement, educational, personal and
economical development, and security severely limited. Young people can
break traditions and social constructions related to gender inequality and bring
about change.

18. MDG 4: Reduce Child Mortality
Every year 11 million children in the developing world die before the age of
five, and since infants born to teenage mothers are 80% more likely to die,
young mothers need to be specifically targeted t help reduce child mortality.
A Youth Perspective can this strategically identify young mothers’ special
needs.

19. MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health
Millions of young women experience complications when giving birth and
some of these births end either in long-term morbidity or maternal mortality.
A youth perspective clearly links data at a national level on young people’s
level of education, achievements, child marriage rates, and early childbirth
rates to age-specific maternal mortality rates.

20. MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases
An estimated 11.8 million young people live with HIV/AIDS today and many
major actors have integrated them into their HIV/AIDS related programs.
Youth-led reproductive health education and peer to peer education has
proven to be effective in tackling the pandemic.

21. MDG 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Young people are more willing to take action t achieve environmental
sustainability. This is due to the fact that it is young people that have to deal
with the consequences of not taking environmental sustainability seriously
today, as many of the effects of pollution will only become evident over the
long term.

22. MDG 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Building alliances and forging partnerships with governments, civil society,
youth-serving organisations, and the media in order to leverage resources for
investing in young people, are crucial to achieving the MDGs.

23. Now, let us talk about poverty and its statistics

25. According to NSCB, 2006…
• 24 out of 100 Pinoy families did not earn enough to
satisfy their basic food and non-food requirements.
• 30 out of 100 Filipinos had income short of the minimum
cost of the basic requirements.

26. Which provinces are the poorest?
Source: National Statistical Coordination Board
The poorest provinces in 2003 in terms of poverty incidence
of families is Zamboanga del Norte (64.6%), followed by
Maguindanao (60.4%) and Masbate (55.9%).
• Surigao del Norte
• Agusan del Sur
• Misamis Occidental
• Mt. Province
• Biliran
• Lanao del Norte

27. What is the minimum income needed by a 5-
member family so as not to be
considered poor?
Source: World Bank
If it has a combined earning monthly income of PhP 6,
195 or at least PhP 200.00 a day in order to meet their
most basic food and non-food

28. Who are the poor?
Based on RA 8425 or otherwise known as Social Reform
and Poverty Alleviation Act, poor refers to individuals
and families whose income fall below the poverty
threshold as defined by the government and/or those that
cannot afford in a sustained manner to provide their basic
needs of food, health, education, housing and other
amenities of life.

29. Key poverty related terms
• Poverty Threshold – refers to the minimum
income/expenditure required for a family/individual to
meet their basic needs.
• Poverty Incidence – the proportion of families/individuals
with per capita income/expenditure less than the per capita
poverty threshold to the total number of
families/individuals.

30. Main Characteristics of the Poor
Source: Asian Development Bank
• The majority live in a rural areas and work in the
agricultural sector, mostly as farmers and fishers.
• In the urban areas, such as Metro Manila, they are found
in slums and in the informal sector.
• They have large families (six members or more)

31. • A major income source of the poor is from enterprise
income (informal sector activities)
• A significant segment of the poor households are
“chronically poor”.
• In two-thirds of poor families, the head of the household
has only an elementary education or below
• They have no or few assets and minimal access to credits

32. Causes of Poverty
Source: Asian Development Bank, et al. 2008
• Low to moderate economic growth for the past 40 years
• Low growth elasticity of poverty reduction
• Weakness in employment generation and the quality of
jobs generated
• Failure to develop the agriculture sector

33. • High inflation during crisis periods
• High and persistent level of inequality (incomes and
assets), which dampen the positive impacts of economic
expansion and
• Recurrent shocks and exposure to risks such as economic
crisis, conflicts, natural disasters, and “environmental
poverty”.

34. Educational Attainment of
Heads of Poor Households
Source: Family Income Expenditure Survey public use files; author’s computations
6%
36%
25%
14%
14%
4%
0% 1%
Percentage
No Grade Completed
Elementary Attended
Elementary Graduate
High School Attended
High School Graduate
College Attended
College Graduate
Post Graduate

35. Who is vulnerable to what and why?
Source: Human Development Report Office
Vulnerability
Who? To What? Why?
The poor, informal
workers, socially
excluded
Economic shocks,
health shocks
Limited capabilities
Women, people
with disabilities,
migrants,
minorities, children,
the elderly, youth
Natural disaster,
climate change,
industrial hazards
Location, position
in society, sensitive
periods in the life
cycle
Whole
communities,
regions
Conflict, civil unrest Low social
cohesion,
unresponsive
institutions, poor
governance

36. Policies for
reducing
vulnerability and
building resilience
Preventing Shocks Promoting
Capabilities
Protecting Choices
Financial Regulation Universal Provision
of education and
health
Social Protection
Climate Change
Agreement
Full employment Job Creation
Early Childhood
Development
Promoting gender
and group equality
Building social
cohesion and
competencies
Macroeconomic
policies
Responsive
Institutions
Tackling
discrimination by
changing laws and
norms
Natural Disaster
Risk Reduction
Crisis and conflict
recovery
Social Cohesion

38. Human beings and the world over need freedom and
security that they may be able to realize their full
potential.
- Aung San Suu Kyi
Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and
more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of
courage – to move in the opposite direction.
- Albert Einstein