Imagine, in one room, different NGO’s working to help underprivileged youth to find a job and representatives from Companies finding ways to support communities and reach out to those who are in need. Such a dream come true!20160909_091630

Well it did came true. The French Embassy has organized an NGO forum on Youth Employability last September 9 in Ateneo de Manila. We were very happy to have been invited by the French Embassy to participate in this event. Present there were 18 companies and 11 NGO’s with their beneficiaries and some more representatives coming from the academe.

The event was opened by a message from Dr. Maria Luz C. Vilches (Vice President for the Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila) and H.E. Thierry Mathou (Ambassador, Embassy of France to the Philippines). Then Ms. Ruth R. Rodriguez (Chief Labor and Employment Officer, Bureau of Local Employment, Philippine Department of Labor and Employment) talked about the present situation of Job market in the Philippines giving us an insight on how we can align our programs to these realities.20160909_121830

It was followed by testimonies from 2 NGO Alumni who are now employed and are successful in their career, An IT-Analyst and a Project Consultant Service.

The event became more interesting in the afternoon when the participants are grouped, NGOs and Companies, to have a roundtable discussion. This discussion talked about the challenges that the youth encounters in finding a job and ended with coming up with suggestions and recommendations that the NGO’s, Companies and beneficiaries may utilize. Many brilliant ideas arise such as creating a website where NGO beneficiaries can connect to companies, or Companies implementing/ committing to a certain percentage of their labor force to be coming from NGO beneficiaries and other more.

20160909_140045It then ended with mock interviews conducted by the company representatives where the NGO beneficiaries learned about the companies and where they received valuable tips and advises on how to ace their job interviews.

It was really a great experience for the NGO’s, Companies and especially for the beneficiaries. All the participants expressed their gratitude for the fruits of this event and their desire to make this an annual event. This was indeed a great opportunity to make things happen. It is a delight to see everyone working together to making a more humane society.