Opportunities like the One Young World Summit in Montréal, ‘even if short, can make a lasting impression on a young person.’ They ‘open the world up in many unexpected ways.’
“You are the future,” said Rappler CEO and 2021 Nobel laureate Maria Ressa at the last day of the One Young World Summit in Montréal, on Saturday, September 21.
“You must fix what my generation has broken, and we’re still there with you. We will help you, but we go in with our eyes wide open,” she continued.
In the audience, on front-row seats reserved hours ahead in anticipation, sat Rappler’s five delegates to the summit.
Rhoda May Ebad is a Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson from Barangay Poblacion, Alabel in Sarangani. She took three flights to get to the summit. It was her first time outside the Philippines.
Dr. Princess Gairanod is a pediatrician, chief resident for patient services of the Philippine General Hospital. The day before her flight, part of the hospital was burning and she had to field frantic calls from staff.
Dun Concha Abiera leads both a media and information literacy advocacy group and marketing agency. A trans woman, the summit’s opening ceremony was the first time she donned a Filipiniana, and wore it proudly.
Jerry Yubal Jr. is a student journalist from Baybay, Leyte, executive editor of the Visayas State University student paper, Amaranth. It was his first time on an international flight too. In his hometown, where politics get violent, he and his fellow student journalists constantly face the threat of red-tagging.
Alyssa Belda is a young inclusive mobility advocate who has fought for our cities bike lanes and public spaces. During the whole trip, she was observing gutter heights, bike lane widths, the sharpness of street corners, and Montréal’s lovely public spaces.
It was a joy bringing these five passionate young people to the summit where, each day, they told me about the interesting people they met, collaborations they are cooking up, and ideas they picked up.
It was a moment of pride to see them watching Maria, a Filipina on the world stage, showing them what was possible, daring them to dream.
Rappler was able to bring Rhoda, Cess, Dun, Jerry, and Aly to the summit because of Maria’s key role in the program. Despite some obstacles, including the then-impending Air Canada strike that nearly dashed their participation, it was definitely worth it.
“We all came to the One Young World Summit seeking to make our voices heard. We left, not only with a louder voice, but also with a new network to protect and keep hold,” said Jerry in his notes posted on the Rappler Communities app.
“With a new network of young leaders rallying behind me and the insights I gained from the many sessions I attended, I can confidently say that I am ready to continue the fight for my advocacy and inspire others to spark social change,” he added.
Opportunities like this, even if short, can make a lasting impression on a young person. It opens the world up in many unexpected ways. The summit was attended by over 190 countries. There were delegates even from North Korea. The speaker lineup was a plethora of personalities — from Cher to Queen Rania of Jordan. The youth delegates were an impressive bunch — from Arhum Ishtiaq, a Pakistani behind a deaf accessibility startup, to Adrianna Pinzariu, a Romanian-American who uses AI to detect human trafficking.
But I’ll let the Rappler delegates themselves tell you about their experience. We’ve compiled their notes and insights from each day of the summit here. You can read the complete notes in various chat rooms in the Rappler Communities app.
ICYMI
It was World Car-Free Day last Sunday, September 22!
What are the joys brought by people-centered public spaces? Dinna Dayao of Move As One Coalition, one of our Make Manila Liveable partners, calls them “spa for the soul.” Read other love letters to people-centric streets here.
We’ve also published the full results of our AI-powered public consultation with Quezon City on a proposal to declare Tomas Morato Avenue car-free on Sundays. I was able to present the full report during a committee on laws and appropriations meeting of the QC Council last September 12.
Partly because of these findings, QC Councilor Irene Belmonte amended her draft ordinance. The key change was making the car-free period last from 6 am to 12 pm on Sundays, instead of the initial 6 am to 6 pm plan. Majority of residents asked for a shorter time period first, as a trial run.
Belmonte says our public consultation initiative was useful to her because it addressed a key limitation of the traditional public consultation process.
“The traditional way of public consultation that we do is just ‘yes,’ or ‘no,’ are you in agreement with the ordinance or not. The respondents don’t each have an input when they attend our public hearings,” she said at the committee meeting.
“What Rappler did was, each participant had a response…. They were able to declare if they agree, and why they agreed. We got a lot of input from the hybrid consultation conducted by Rappler.com,” she added.
The proposed ordinance has been passed on second reading. We’ll write about the ordinance once it has been signed. – Rappler.com
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