Housing organization, Habitat for Humanity Philippines (HFHP), announces today its 2017 launch of Young Leaders Build. The campaign is Habitat’s largest youth movement in the Asia-Pacific region.
Organized for the sixth consecutive year, the regional campaign is driven by dynamic and socially responsible youth to ensure decent housing for all in a region where one in eight people live in slums, according to the United Nations.
The Philippines is currently facing a housing crisis with 5.5 million Filipino families lacking access to their own safe, decent home.
“At Habitat, we aim to serve these families in need by partnering with others to build better communities, and a better nation—together. We believe the best way to face this crisis is work alongside the next generation of empowered youth leaders who are socially conscious and energetic to volunteer, fundraise and advocate for poverty alleviation,” Charlie Ayco, HFHP managing director and CEO said.
HFHP has engaged more than 1.2 million volunteers in the past fiscal year, which garnered more than 2.5 million volunteer hours, and the organization looks forward to engaging even more youth volunteers through the Young Leaders Build campaign in the coming months.
The Young Leaders Build was pioneered more than a decade ago by Alexandra Eduque, founder and chairwoman of the Habitat Youth Council, who kick-started the project as a national effort.
Now, due to the campaign’s successes, it is now a global youth movement. “We look forward to this year’s Young Leaders Build to be more empowering to the youth and more transforming for the families and communities we serve,” Ayco added.
In the coming months, youth, celebrities, schools and corporate supporters will volunteer, raise funds and lend their voices to help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Events planned across the region include workshops, rallies, runs, volunteer trips, a youth forum, an advocacy grant program and a Twitter party.
The multi-month Young Leaders Build campaign will culminate on Apr. 22 with thousands of young people taking part in simultaneous activities across Asia-Pacific. These include house building, school cleaning, fundraising events, and advocating for decent housing on social media.
The campaign in the past year saw a record 2,448,914 supporters from 16 countries and one Special Administrative Region in the Asia-Pacific region. Volunteers worked on 420 houses and served 7,620 families. The campaign raised US$ 1.6 million to enable families to have a decent place to live.
Join the Habitat Young Leaders Build community on Facebook bit.ly/HabitatYLB. Post on social media with the hashtag #HabitatYLB. Follow on Instagram @HabitatYLB.
