Last December, I went to Christchurch, New Zealand to be part of the inaugural UNESCO Looking Beyond Disasters Youth Forum. Around 100 young leaders from different parts of the Asia Pacific region shared their personal stories of survival, courage, and hope in facing, responding, and recovering from natural disasters. It was one of the most inspiring conferences I’ve ever been to.
Looking Beyond Disasters (Credits: UNESCO New Zealand National Commission).
At the conference, I represented the Global Changemakers and shared my personal experiences as part of the ASEAN Volunteer Programme in Myanmar (Burma) in 2008 after the Cyclone Nargis, the worst natural disaster in Myanmar’s history. Overwhelmed by emotions, I was bawling almost the entire time I was talking about our experiences back in Pyapon. Good thing, no one captured it on video!
And continue what has been started in Christchurch with emphasis on strengthening the network of UNESCO International Youth Ambassadors Overcoming Disasters and on following up on the proposed action plans and the ‘Christchurch Communiqué’, the Second Looking Beyond Disasters forum has been scheduled this August in Sendai, Japan. Please see the details below from the UNESCO Bangkok website.
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Second UNESCO Youth Forum Looking Beyond Disaster, 16-19 August 2012, Sendai, Japan
We invite you to participate in an international forum with youth from different countries of the world, especially Asia and the Pacific, to share experiences of disasters and to develop realistic action plans to rebuild communities that meet the needs and aspirations of young people.
On March 2011, the Tohoku area experienced a record magnitude 9.0 earthquake that in its 10 minutes led to the world’s most expensive disaster and a tsunami (that was 15m high in places). Since then, they have experienced several major earthquakes and many thousands of aftershocks. Over 15,000 people died and thousands are still missing. The debris has spread across the Pacific Ocean. Sendai airport was flooded by the tsunami. While Sendai city has rebuilt, many coastal villages still suffer from debris. The first day of the forum, 16th August, will be a full day bus trip with chances to join in some community service as well as see the area.
While hazards are natural, disasters are not. Young people need to not only be aware of the risks and impacts of hazards, but also have take action to prepare for and respond to disasters. Young people have shown already their potential to create a world that takes a proactive stance against tragedies caused by disaster. Disasters can destroy communities but also rebuild them. As key agents of promoting change UNESCO has gathered young community leaders in the Youth Looking Beyond Disaster programme. The first UNESCO Youth Forum: Looking Beyond Disaster, was held in December 2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand, with 100 participants from around the world. Youth developed 25 action plans to rebuild communities from disasters. Some of these will be presenting the implementation of their action plans. Many new participants with experiences from rebuilding communities will join the network in the Sendai meeting from other communities around the world.
The expected outcomes include:
- Strengthening a new global network of young people across Asia and the Pacific empowered to share experiences and exchange ideas on disaster and community;
- Saving lives and reducing the suffering from disasters;
- Giving hope in concrete ways for self-recovery of communities from disasters;
- Support for youth-led projects to be implemented in different countries;
- Development of evaluation skills to assess efforts already made;
- Learning lessons from the rapid recovery in this region;
- Examining the psychosocial issues and challenges of community rebuilding, and stigmatization of communities faced with fears of low-level radiochemical exposure;
- Getting communities and the policy structures ready for rapid response to disasters;
- Following up on recommendations on information flow in disasters; youth resilience, rebuilding communities and disaster response; and
- Considerations of academic and community infrastructures that can assist youth;
Who can come?
The conference is especially for youth who have experienced natural disasters, and the challenges that means for their communities. There will also be some students specializing in disaster recovery, and a few experts to assist in mentoring. We seek participants in their late teens through their twenties. There will also be some older persons who are setting up structures to enhance youth community service, and youth involvement in recovering from communities. If you have any inquiries you can write to the organizers.
How to apply?
There is no application fee. Applications to participate should take the form of an expression of interest email composed by you that outlines (in less than 500 words) why you would like to participate in this forum, post-disaster activities you have been involved in, and/or suggestions for an action plan to develop with other participants.
Please also explain what you have learnt from facing a disaster in your community.
Send your email to sawakato@yahoo.com and d.macer@unesco.org
Dr. Sawa Kato and Dr. Darryl Macer, RUSHSAP, UNESCO Bangkok, 920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong, Bangkok 10110, THAILAND
Organisers
The organisers include the Regional Unit in Social and Human Sciences for Asia and the Pacific (RUSHSAP) at UNESCO Bangkok, Miyagi International Association (MIA), and Eubios Ethics Institute, in collaboration with Sendai International Relations Association (SIRA), Asia-Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO (ACCU), and several other collaborators.
General
The conference will be informal, and meals, lunches and tea breaks will be provided in the conference package which is approx. USD50 per day including shared accommodation and food. English is the working language, but some interpretation into Japanese will be available. It is possible to develop action plans in other languages, but an English translation should be provided. It is intended to make the conference a memorable time together in sharing lessons and friendships, in various ways across cultures.
Financial issues
We are seeking financial support for assistance but we do not expect to be able to cover the travel of participants, therefore registrants should be prepared to gather their own expenses to travel to Sendai, and pay the meal and accommodation package at JPY25,000 for university students, and JPY22,000 for high school students for the meals and accommodation from 15th afternoon checkin to 20th morning checkout. Accommodation will be booked in either Western or Japanese style rooms at a central venue, Espol Sendai (www.seinenkaikan.or.jp), where the forum will also occur.
No safety concerns
Sendai is 94km from the site of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant where there were 3 meltdowns. The forum will not be going near this area, and we consider Sendai, a bustling and exciting city of over a million persons, safe for visitors to participate in the short period in the area. Although one of the topics of some participants will be recovery from Fukushima disaster (and some are part of existing action plans), we do not encourage youth to go near the exclusion zone which is about 20km from the reactor site. Travel from Tokyo to Sendai is not near the site also, by the highway bus, Shinkansen, or air flight.
You may wish to take the opportunity to travel in Japan to experience the beauty of the country and hospitality of its people before or after the Forum. Ideas can be exchanged on the Facebook group “Looking Beyond Disaster: UNESCO Youth Forum”.
Verbatim
“Admit it: the world is messed up. But what we do with that admission is what makes a difference. The thing we can’t do is grow numb. It does not amaze me that we would turn to self-medication and busyness to crowd out the discomfort of a world in pain. But that is the one thing we cannot do. We must avoid numbness at all costs. We cannot imagine a better world without acting. We cannot merely dream of the solution; we must be the solution.”
- American blogger JEFF GOINS on his blog entry
‘We Cannot Grow Numb to the World’s Pain‘.
Verbatim
“Trapped. It’s not because you are making the wrong decisions, it’s because you are making the right ones. We try to make sensible decisions based on the facts in front of us. The problem with making sensible decisions is that so is everyone else. If you always make the right decision, the safe decision, the one most people make, you will be the same as everyone else.”
- British author PAUL ARDEN on his 2006 book
“Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite”
On Kony and the Use of Social Media in Social Movements
Recently, a couple of friends on Facebook and Twitter have shared a YouTube video entitled ‘Kony 2012’ saying that it’s a must-see and one of the best documentaries they have seen. As curious as I was, I clicked the play button and watched the 30-minute documentary on the plight of child soldiers in Uganda. (Click the photo above to watch the video.)
Named after the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, the film and campaign “aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.”
The film is incredibly well-shot and has a very compelling story. No wonder, the video had more than 100 million YouTube views in a mere six days. But aside from praises (and millions of retweets and shares), there have also been several criticisms and heated Facebook conversations on the validity of Kony2012′s claims, the ephemeral nature of Internet memes, and the wonders of click activism.
The communication theory called “Mass Media Effects” posits that mass media do shape how we see the world. There are millions of stories that mass media (and even alternative media and indie filmmakers) do not (or has yet) to cover (i.e., divide among ethnic groups in Burma, displacement of indigenous groups in the Amazon due to dam constructions, or even the public education crisis in the Philippines). It just so happened that the people behind the Kony2012 campaign, the Invisible Children, did an incredible job covering one perspective on the current situation in Uganda and that’s the reason why people are talking about it. The question now is, “How long will it last”?
The campaign’s use of social media in informing the public on the conflict situation in Uganda is truly admirable. But, I just really hope that they’re not just ‘talking the talk’ but, at the same time, are also ‘walking the walk’.
While we do recognize the strengths of social media on development work and social movements (the recent Arab Spring and the Occupy Movements would be perfect examples), oftentimes, online campaigns without on-the-ground work don’t get enough traction and it just remains “online”, floating aimlessly in the abyss of the World Wide Web.
Hopefully, this brouhaha over the Kony2012 campaign opens our eyes that there really are a lot of problems and other issues around the world that needs to be addressed, some have strong media coverage and some don’t.
If you’ve been moved by the film and decided to support the campaign (and have the capacity to do so), then, by all means, support their cause. But, if you’ve seen it, shared it to your friends, and cursed Joseph Kony in all eternal damnation, but plan to do nothing after, then, that’s a different story.
If you’ve been moved by the film and decided to make this world a better place, think of an issue or an advocacy that you’re really passionate about. Then, think of ways on how you’ll go about with it.
Be realistic and set achievable goals (and, take note, it doesn’t have to be grand). You don’t have to do a project in Africa or Asia or Latin America, just to say that you’re making an impact. You can start in your own community or in your own backyard.
Start pitching your ideas to your friends or to people that might be interested. Learn to collaborate and look for people that will inspire and challenge you at the same time.
And the most important part of this process is actually DOING your project. A lot of people are really good in drafting plans but not in actually implementing the project.
A few weeks ago, my friends from the Global Changemakers network and I were invited to share our experiences on how to use digital technology in driving social change. In the Baguio leg of the seminar series, blogger Niña Terol-Zialcita shared her insights on armchair activism. She said, “It’s easy to get tempted into being an ‘armchair’ activist. People mistake going online and posting and sharing information as activism and advocacy but that is just one part of it. The real work needs to be done on the ground, with real people, real social networks, real change that affects the lives of people and communities.”
Now, go out into the world and do good. Be more than a slacktivist. Facebook ‘likes’, retweets, and colored wristbands are not enough.
* This entry is adapted from a conversation in a friend’s Facebook post about Kony2012.
UPDATED: #LBcrimespree rundown
Rundown of reported crimes in Los Baños, Laguna in the past few months.
August 2011: Jenny Ortiz, 23 years old, was shot when an HM bus bound for Cubao was robbed 8 a.m. along Barangay Lalakay. Suspects panicked when they saw two police officers on board the bus.
October 2011: UPLB BS Computer Science student Given Grace Cebanico raped and killed; body dumped in Barangay Putho-Tuntungin.
December 2011: A high school student was reportedly abducted by an unidentified man pretending to be a CSB (UPLB security officer).
January 2012: Two suspects were caught for attempted carnapping in Batong Malake.
February 2012: Fake CSB members rob student, steal laptop and other valuables.
February 2012: Teen sampaguita vendor raped and killed; body dumped near a junkyard in Demarces Subdivision.
February 2012: A 37-year-old resident hold-up victim was shot along PCARRD road. Police claims that a ‘love triangle’ (and not a hold-up) was the cause of the shooting.
March 2012: UPLB BS Agri student Ray Bernard Penarada stabbed to death after failed hold-up attempt in Umali Subdivision.
March 2012: 32-year-old resident of Barangay Batong Malake was stabbed by his own brother after a drunken brawl.
Note: This does not include unreported cases of apartment robberies, cellphone snatching, and budol-budol gang incidents in Los Baños.
Sources: LB Times; Interaksyon; ABS-CBN News; Bagong Los Baños Facebook page
Driving Social Change through Social Media (Baguio)
Following its successful run in Manila, Davao, and Bacolod, British Council Philippines finally brought the “Digital Technology for Social Change” seminar series to Baguio, the Summer Capital of the Philippines.
Held at the St. Louis University last February 20, the forum gathered about 100 students and young professionals from Northern Luzon to discuss social media’s potential in driving social change.
Several speakers were invited to share their experiences with social media and how they use it in their “changemaking” work. Among them were Jay Salazar of ProPinoy.net, Micheline Rama of Dakila, Niña Terol-Zialcita of Writer’s Block Philippines, and JP Alipio of Cordillera Conservation Trust. Anna, Joseph, Ponce, Jecel, and I were also present at the forum to talk about the Global Changemakers programme and our own respective advocacy projects.
As with the Manila and Davao legs, the forum was also live streamed on the web through a webinar and through Twitter. Below is a compilation of all the #DigiTech4SocialChange Baguio tweets.
Exploring Ilocandia
Because of the strong Spanish colonial influence in the region, Ilocandia (or the Ilocos Region) definitely is a must-visit in the Philippines. Composed of four provinces in the Philippines’s northwest, this region is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites which includes the San Agustin Church of Paoay, the La Asuncion de la Ñuestra Señora Church of Santa Maria, and the City of Vigan.
St. Andrew Church and Bell Tower Ruins of Bacarra, Ilocos Norte.
Marcos Birthplace Museum in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.
San Agustin Church of Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
San Agustin Church of Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral of Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Calle Crisologo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Calle Crisologo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Calle Crisologo in Vigas, Ilocos Sur.
Calle Crisologo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Calle Crisologo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
La Asuncion de la Ñuestra Señora Church of Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur.
Ma Cho Temple in San Fernando City, La Union.
More photos here.
Keeping the fire burning
Be a candle, so you can light other’s paths. If you can’t be a candle, be a mirror instead, so you can still reflect the light.
This was (and still is) the main premise behind the WhenIWas20 initiative. The ideas that eventually became the building blocks of the campaign all came organically from six like-minded individuals who all envisioned a world where young people are taking charge in making the world a better place.
The WhenIWas20 campaign primarily aims to inspire and challenge young people around the world to become changemakers in their own communities. Through this campaign, we want to highlight the value of being involved with socially relevant activities and issues in our own communities.
To achieve this, the team came up with two approaches – the WhenIWas20 Profiles and the WhenIWas20 seminar series.
Taking advantage of the strengths of social media and the youth’s online presence, the campaign created an online repository of profiles, blogs, and list of opportunities via the campaign’s official website and other social networking sites (Facebook and Twitter).
The team also launched the WhenIWas20 Profiles featuring inspirational leaders and heroes from around the world talking about their experiences when they were 20 years old. The project intends to emphasize that these inspirational leaders and heroes did not become who they are in just one day and that their achievements are the result of the small things that they have started doing since they were young. Ultimately, the campaign aims its followers to reflect over this question: “If these people can do it, why can’t I?”
For the past months, the team have interviewed several inspiring people and featured their stories on WhenIWas20. Other profiles featured in the campaign (i.e., those who were not personally interviewed) were also developed after extensive biographical research. These WhenIWas20 heroes include international policy makers (UNDP head Helen Clark and ASEAN chair Surin Pitsuwan), celebrities (Channel V’s VJ Utt and Broadway star Lea Salonga), successful entrepreneurs (Apple’s Steve Jobs and YouTube co-founder Jaweed Kareem), and other young leaders (Divya Dhar, Sam Bowstead, and Gilmore Moyo).
To maximise the impact of the initiative and to engage young people who are not connected to the Internet, the WhenIWas20 teams from different Asia-Pacific countries also conducted various on-the-ground activities. Furthermore, members of the WhenIWas20 team have been invited to various international seminars and forums to share their experiences and the WhenIWas20 campaign.
WhenIWas20 member Omar Khowaja spearheads a women empowerment and livelihood program in the city of Herat in northwest Afghanistan. This program trains unemployed women from Zindajan District in dressmaking and embroidery. Aside from this, Omar also led a rice and oil distribution to 60 needy families in Herat.
WhenIWas20 member Yuza Setiawan was invited to give a talk to the students of Sekolah Bintang in Tangerang, Indonesia. He also continues his work as a member of the Indonesian youth parliament and with Idenesia, a social enterprise that aims to inspire Indonesians through short films and documentaries.
WhenIWas20 member Dwight Ronan has facilitated several workshops to students and young professionals in his hometown of Los Baños in the Philippines. Dwight was also invited to present in several international gatherings such as the 10th Asia-Pacific NGOs Environmental Conference (APNEC10) in Taiwan, UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassador (YPA) forum in Malaysia, and the UNESCO Youth Forum: Looking Beyond Disasters in New Zealand. At present, Dwight joins his fellow Filipino Global Changemakers in a five-city seminar series on how the youth can use social media to bring about social change.
WhenIWas20 member Ze Tong Leow of Malaysia has participated in various seminars in Kuala Lumpur such as the Silicon Valley Comes To Malaysia, H-Artistry Malaysia, TEDxMerdekaSquare, and Global Movement of Moderates conference. Together with Dwight, he also presented at the UNESCO YPA forum in Penang. He is now in Latin America to participate at the World Youth Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
WhenIWas20 member Andrew Lesa has been actively helping the Manurewa Youth Council, a group that engages youth in Auckland, New Zealand to contribute in community-driven activities. He was also invited to give a talk at the APNEC10 forum in Taiwan last November.
WhenIWas20 member Disha Sethi continues her work with the YP Foundation, a youth-led organization in New Delhi, India that enables young people to be involved in programmes related to gender, sexuality, health, education, arts, and governance.
When we first thought of the campaign in India last July 2011, we had no idea that the campaign would have reached as many people as it had for the past few months. Aside from the initial six Asia-Pacific countries, the campaign has already reached youth organizations and communities in other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Until now, more and more youth from different parts of the world have expressed their interest in replicating the idea behind WhenIWas20 in their own communities.
Aside from these, it also has been a humbling experience to listen and get to know people who continue to strive hard in selflessly serving their own communities.
On our interviews for the WhenIWas20 profiles, we noticed that people usually take some time in recalling what they did when they were 20 years old. Some of the people we interviewed even shared how moving it was to think about how much they have changed over the years. As Ze Tong puts it, “This goes to show how the campaign has made an impact, not only on our target audience, but also with the people who have shared their own stories.”
Looking back on his experiences with WhenIWas20, Yuza shares, “As young people, we can choose to be leaders of tomorrow and be a leader in our communities later in our life. Alternatively, we can choose to be leaders or today and be known as a great leader later in our life. Becoming a great leader requires a lengthy process. We can’t be like Oprah, Obama, and Jobs in an instant. Great leaders like them start when they were young, that is, when they were 20. This includes great leaders of Indonesia, from revolutionaries like Sukarno and Hatta, to entrepreneurs like Sampoerna and Bakrie. Alhamdulilah, I think this message resonates well with everyone whom we have shared the message of WhenIWas20 with.”
In some little ways we hope that we have touched lives and have inspired others to become changemakers in their own communities. And we can’t wait to hear the success stories from people who have been inspired to act and to live out their dreams because of the WhenIWas20 initiative.
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Do you have someone who inspires you so much? Do you wish to know what they were doing when they turned 20 years old? If your answer is yes, then you should nominate that person to be featured on the WhenIWas20 initiative!
Learn more about this initiative at WhenIWas20.com or at our Facebook page. E-mail us at editor@wheniwas20.com.
Originally published for the CAPs Friday blog on the Global Changemakers website.
Driving Social Change through Social Media (Davao)
For the second leg of its five-city tour, British Council Philippines brought the “Digital Technology for Social Change” seminar series to Davao City last February 4.
Around 100 students and young professionals from different cities in Mindanao gathered in Ateneo de Davao University and listened to the inspiring stories of Jay Jaboneta of Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, Eric Su of PicLyf, Shaina Tantuico of JeepneED, and fellow GCM Joseph Mansilla on his project, Transparency Talks, and his work with ICT4GOV. I also had the opportunity to talk about the WhenIWas20 project via webcast.
The following are the aggregated tweets during the Davao leg of #DigiTech4SocialChange. (You can also read the aggregated tweets from the Manila leg here.)
Verbatim
“Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. And watch your character for it becomes your destiny! What we think, we become.”
- American actress MERYL STREEP playing Margaret Thatcher
on the Oscar-nominated film ‘The Iron Lady’.
