ASoG holds its first face-to-face training session on governance for the YouthLed LEAD fellows

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The YouthLed LEAD Fellows with the ASoG training team and resource speakers. Photo Source: The Asia Foundation | YouthLed

The Executive Education program of the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG), as one of the training partners for the second run of the Leadership and Democracy Fellowship* (LEAD Fellowship) program of the Youth Leadership for Democracy (YouthLed) project of The Asia Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), held its first session of the training course entitled “Introductory Course on Governance for LEAD Fellowship Cohort 2” last July 16, 2023 at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center, Makati City.

The training course, which runs from July 2023 until March 2024, is a three-phase learning program that aims to empower the youth as champions of democracy and develop young Filipinos as ethical servant leaders for their organizations, communities, and the nation. Forty young leaders (also referred to as “fellows”) are participating in the sessions to better understand both domestic and international government through the course. Additionally, it aims to broaden their perspective on the country's national governance and democratic difficulties, as well as how young people may strengthen our democratic institutions. The modules will help the participants to navigate politics through organizing and strategizing effective campaigns, including practical guides to improve their skills in the art of governance. The course will also give participants the opportunity to discuss political issues and trends with known local and national leaders and academicians.

The first session, with the title “#Anuna: The State of Governance,” aims to provide the fellows a deeper understanding of the current state of governance in the country and globally. At the start of the session, the participants wrote down hashtags that best describe the current landscape of the Philippine government, and shared the reason behind it.

Participants posted their hashtags and categorized them either under excellent condition of the Philippine government, good condition, or needs improvement. 

Highlighting the session were lectures from the resource speakers. ASoG invited Ms. Mayfair “Maya” B. Bongco, Municipal Councilor of Orani, Bataan, to talk about the current state of Philippine government. In her talk, Councilor Maya presented the achievements, best practices, and challenges in the local  government in the past years up until the present. She also inspired the fellows by sharing her journey as a public servant, and challenged them to be advocates and defenders of good governance.

Assistant Professor Arjan P. Aguirre, from the Department of Political Science of Ateneo de Manila University, also gave a lecture about Philippine governance in the lens of an academician. In his lecture, he presented emerging definitions of democratic governance. He also shared the current state of democratic governance in the Philippines. Lastly, he discussed why democratic governance is important and enumerated ways to establish and sustain democratic governance. The lecture was followed by a panel discussion featuring the two guest speakers.

Councilor Bongco and Prof. Aguirre answer the questions of the participants during the panel discussion.

Also present during the session was Ateneo School of Government Dean, Dr. Philip Arnold P. Tuaño, who gave an overview of ASoG’s mission and a short inspirational message, and presented certificates of appreciation to the guest speakers.

The session concluded with an activity where the fellows created their own hashtags representing how they can personally contribute to the future of Philippine governance as changemakers, aspiring leaders, and as governance champions. The participants will convene again in November 2023 for the second phase of the course.

                The participants sharing their hashtags to the rest of the group

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*The LEAD Fellowship is a fellowship of the Youth Leadership for Democracy (YouthLed), a program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Asia Foundation. The training partners of the LEAD Fellowship include the Asian Institute of Management, Ateneo School of Government, and Ayala Foundation, Inc.