WYA Emerging Leaders Conference 2015

by | Nov 17, 2015 | Activities

Executive Director and Founder of Silid Aralan, Inc. (SAI), Mr. Arcie Mallari, shared his speech of “Why Redefine Education?” as the opening keynote speaker in the World Youth Alliance’s (WYA) Emerging Leaders Conference 2015 held at The Bayleaf Intramuros last October 15-17, 2015.

World Youth Alliance (WYA) is an accredited ECOSOC Civil Society NGO that is devoted to building harmony among youth from developed and developing countries. Through their trainings which provide intelligent discussions about human dignity and humans in general, they empower the youth to work at regional and international levels to impact policy and culture. Their members work with international organizations, primarily the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU). Also, by getting accredited, they are able to have more opportunities internationally. WYA operates in six regional offices: Africa –where WYA first emerged, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and North America.

Emerging Leaders Conference is an annual event of the World Youth Alliance Asia Pacific (WYAAP) for the youth to learn about the different issues of the present and how they can apply their roles as leaders through a variety of talks, forums and interactive activities. This conference also gives the youth opportunities to share ideas, build networks and collaborate for projects and partnerships.

This year conference’s theme was “Redefining Education: Breaking Barriers, Empowering the Asia Pacific Youth.” It addresses how education –is the best tool to ensure the youth of future generations are constantly developing and how it can be redefined by looking beyond the classroom’s borders and maximizing the opportunities modern technology is offering us.

Mr. Mallari was the opening keynote speaker of the conference; he shared his journey of how through circumstances and encounters with the people of different state of affairs, he redefined education. He shared his enlightenment about the education system that affects the hopes, dreams and perceptions in life and of the future of many children and how these inspired him in creating SAI eight years ago in partnership of the local government and other businesses.

He stressed about the importance of co-learners and learners’ passion for learning that serves as the strongest cornerstone of education. He discussed how educators must be the ones to create the best climate for the best education not by using the standardized education but by giving the learners their own spaces of learning. There was also an open forum where the participants of the conference were able to ask questions to Mr. Mallari.

Mr. Mallari talked about how SAI is now partnering with the Department of Education (DepEd) for the future establishment of SAI, more than just supplemental learning, and how SAI envisions education in the future.

Other speakers on the first day of the conference were Dr. Antonio Torralba for The Status of Education in Asia Pacific, Ms. Noreen Bautista and Mr. Lim Weiyuan for Youth and Social Entrepreneurship, Ms. Linh Dao and Ms. Joan Magno for Breakthrough for Preparing the Youth for Employment and the for the zyouth Fellowship Night, the guest speaker was Dr. Onfore Pagsanjan of Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU) High School Department.