Opportunity 2.0 of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the Valenzuela City Youth Development Alliance (VYDA) and the Valenzuela City Task Force on OSY 2018 the recognition “for leading powerful collaboration between stakeholders to facilitate youth access to education, entrepreneurship, and employment in Valenzuela City” in the 1st USAID Opportunity 2.0 National Youth Development Summit 2023 in Davao City, February 22-23, 2023.

“Nung panahon po ng kampanyahan, isa sa mga advocacy natin ay ang palakasin ang kampanya at programa para sa mga OSY o Out-of-School Youth at bilang Action Officer ng Task Force on OSY ng ating Lungsod. Ngayon, Sa tulong ng VYDA mas pinalakas pa natin ang mga programa para sa ating mga OSY.” [Back in campaign period, being the city’s Action Officer of Task Force on Out-of-School Youth, one of our advocacies is to strengthen the campaign and program for OSY. Now, with the help of VYDA, we made the programs more efficient for our OSY], Councilor Chiqui Carreon, in a facebook post acknowledging the USAID after receiving accolades from the recent youth summit. 

Valenzuela City youth representatives along with 14 other cities gathered and participated in the first-ever National Youth Development Alliance Summit that aims to provide a platform to share knowledge, good practices, and innovations to support out-of-school youth. This scheme is to make second chance education work for OSY, primarily with the help of the Department of Education through the Alternative Learning System (ALS), online technical-vocational training from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and the Youth Entrepreneurship Program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). 

USAID Opportunity 2.0 is a program where the United States of America funded a five-year 1.9-billion-peso program that started in March 2020. It is designed to support existing Philippine government mechanisms to support Filipino Out-of-School Youth (OSY) which seek to improve their education, employment, and livelihood outcomes until 2025. 

In terms of numbers, the USAID Opportunity 2.0 supports around 180 thousand OSY, estimated two thousand teachers and trainers, from 15 cities around the Philippines. 

Meanwhile, USAID Mission Director Ryan Washburn, in his remarks, reiterated the importance of working closely with Youth Development Alliance to achieve progress of the program, he said, “To make growth truly inclusive, make our work more sustainable, and to have a greater impact, we need to work more closely with all of you to provide each youth the opportunity for a better tomorrow.” 

Besides the recognition, VYDA was also awarded the Top 6 Excellence Award for Strategic Direction. USAID Opportunity 2.0 also recognized Mayor WES Gatchalian as a Champion of Youth with a Plaque of Commendation.

Opportunity 2.0 is a USAID program in collaboration with DepEd, TESDA, and the Education Development Center (EDC) that strengthens systems for the vulnerable sector of out-of-school Filipino youth to access learning and earning opportunities.

As of February 2023, there are 1,314 Out-of-school Youth reached by the VYDA. Through the Opportunity 2.0 program, different streams of initiatives play their part in supporting the youth such as Alternative Learning System (ALS), TESDA Online Program, and Local Service Providers. There were 52 employers engaged, 94 OSY trained in leadership, and 320 OSY Volunteers Mobilized for active participation in their development and achieved their full potential.

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