Outgoing Vice President Leni Robredo on Thursday, June 23, made an appeal to the youth, especially the young social entrepreneurs who finished an Angat Buhay program recently, that the country needs them in a post-pandemic scenario where more challenges lie ahead.
Speaking via Zoom to the participants of the Angat Buhay Social Entrepreneurs Program (ABY SEP) during its culminating ceremony, the country’s second highest official reminisced how it was only a year ago that her office called on the youth to participate in the said program.
Now, the participants are ready to start and do meaningful change, Robredo said.
“Patunay kayo sa matagal na nating sinasabi (You are proof of what we’ve been saying all along): if we are to emerge stronger from this pandemic, we need young people like you as we work our way towards a better normal,” Robredo, who is due to step down from power on June 30, added.
“We need more young social entrepreneurs who will step up to the plate, more innovators, more change-makers, more passionate and more ground-breakers ready to take on the greater task of rebuilding our nation.”
She expressed hope that the participants emerged from the program armed with the skills, solutions, and “a deeper sense of the values that bind us together.”
The “next step” for the participants as they completed the program is to share and apply what they learned in their respective communities, especially with the youth.
“With young people like you leading in the frontlines, I am confident that we can overcome the challenges that may lie further ahead,” Robredo said.
ABY SEP is a social enterprise development program of the Lasallian Social Enterprise for Economic Development (LSEED) Center in partnership with the Office of the Vice President (OVP).
LSEED is the flagship unit of De La Salle University in areas of social entrepreneurship and social innovation.
It applies locally the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals by working with students and marginalized communities.
The center implements various programs in areas of student formation & social enterprise development, curricular and co-curricular integration, research, internship & volunteerism, advocacy, and internationalization.