CTR Reference No.

CTR 2021/ 428 700

Title of the project

Youth-led Network for the Right to Information

Implementing organisations

• Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN)
• Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – Philippines (FES-PH)
• Generation Peace (GenPeace)

Project Location/s

1. Isabela
2. Naga
3. Laguna
4. NCR (Quezon City & Manila)
5. Cebu City
6. Dumaguete
7. Cagayan de Oro
8. General Santos
9. Upi
10. Kabacan

Operational Duration

(start date – end date of activities)

Jan 2022 – Jan 2025

Allocated budget

(EU contribution only)

€390,874.75
PHP 21,498,110.98

Overall and Specific objectives (simplified – for publication)

Overall Objective

• To support and strengthen critical youth engagement in promoting national and local democratic processes in the Philippines

Specific Objectives:

• To equip progressive youth and youth-serving organizations in effectively raising awareness about disinformation among youth and non-youth voters, especially in the context of the upcoming 2022 National, Local, and Barangay elections and post-election formation of the new government amidst ha pandemic.
• To develop channels and tools that enable truth-seeking and critical information engagement among youth and students and promote access to national and local government data to ensure the accountability and transparency of the newly elected governments at the national, local and barangay levels once they are in government.
• To foster policy frameworks for youth access to information and freedom of expression.

Main target groups

1. Youth and youth serving organizations
2. Young information champions
3. Educators
4. Youth in technology and creatives
5. Duty bearers

Main activities (simplified – for publication)

Capacity Building

• Organization of three training-workshops for youth and youth-serving organizations.
• Organize a series of trainings for information champions.
• Training of teachers/educators
• Training of local government information officials

Networking

• To organize a national conference of the Youth Network against Disinformation.

Grassroots Dialogues

• To conduct at least 30 dialogues with local community stakeholders.

Platform Creation

• To set up online platforms (website, pages, channels) for content distribution.

Content Creation

• To produce audio-visual content for the online platforms.

Research

• To conduct Media and Information (MIL) research.

Pilot testing and finalization of the MIL toolkit.

Partnership

Signing of at least 10 partnership agreements/MOA between schools and 10 local governments.

Sustainability of the Project

CYAN will ensure sustainability of the project impact through the following four key strategies:

1. Financial Stability

• The coalition will draft as part of its coalition planning and operations document, a resource mobilization strategy. The strategy maps the coalition resource needs as well as the possible resources of these resources that can be targeted by the coalition.
• FES – through their support on Access to Information initiatives – commit to support initiatives on access to information and against disinformation in their succeeding program cycles, as part of their political reform agenda.
• Partner local governments will be enjoined to support local activities of the network and to ensure sustainable access to government data of their local constituents.

2. Institutional sustainability

• Coalition strengthening workshops will be incorporated into the regular Steering Committee meetings and the other coalition activities to expand participation, ensure ownership of stakeholders, and deepen commitment of network members to the initiative. formal commitments through a pledge and/or membership agreement with the network members will be secured in the duration of the project to ensure their commitment even beyond the project period.
• The project will also publish several knowledge products to provide foundation and institutional memory for the network activities, guiding new network members and leaders after the project is concluded. These knowledge products will also serve as reference to the public and interested parties who want to build up on the project outputs and outcomes.
• The Steering Committee will also have a leadership program and transition strategy to ensure that the network has a pool of second-line leaders. These includes capacity-building of the partner youth organizations and the youth information champions/truth ambassadors who can also take on leadership role in the steering committee.

3. Policy level sustainability

• The project also aims to partner with 10 local communities where access to information policies are expected to be adopted at the end of the project. These policies will provide platforms, tools, and framework, on the local community’s commitment to freedom of information and against disinformation.

4. Environmental sustainability

• As part of CYAN’s commitment to environmental sustainability, the network will adopt a green procurement policy where contractors and suppliers with the least carbon footprint will be given weight in the selection process. Parameters for this procurement policy includes choosing providers who use biodegradable materials, renewable energy source, environment-friendly facilities, among others.

Target SDGs

Goal 16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

Link to more information on the project (website/Facebook page/etc)

YNFORM does not have its own page yet, but the lead project implementer (CYAN) has its institutional Facebook page. Please access this link: https://www.facebook.com/CYANPilipinas