1.1. Project background
The idea of FAO participating in population education for rural youth had its earliest beginnings in an Expert Consultation on Rural Youth and Young Farmers in Developing Countries that was held in 1985 at FAO Headquarters in Rome as part of the United Nations International Youth Year. The relationships among youth, rapid population growth and rural development was considered. Later that same year, these issues were also discussed at a national workshop in Zimbabwe, sponsored jointly by FAO and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Over the following years, discussions with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) resulted in the first inter-regional rural youth population education project, Integration of Population Education into Programmes for Rural Youth in Low-Income Countries, INT/88/P98. The project began in early 1987 and ran through 1991. During the project, existing population education materials were collected, reviewed and analysed. Core educational concepts relating to population education issues were selected to eventually form the basis of the FAO prototype leader guides. The methodology is based on an experimental educational model using adult local volunteer leaders to facilitate a series of learning activities with groups of rural youth. This activity-based educational methodology comes from extensive experience with successful out-of-school rural youth programmes around the world.
Early in the project, workshops were held with youth workers, leaders and rural young people in Swaziland, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe in Africa. The purpose was to discuss the appropriateness of the selected topics and determine how they could be most effectively introduced into ongoing programmes for out-of-school rural youth. Based on the conclusions reached at these workshops and a collaborative effort with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, prototype leader guides were prepared and printed. They were then introduced to national youth professionals in a series of regional workshops in Chile, Kenya and Thailand. Field tests of the materials were carried out at village level in Kenya, Sierra leone and Zimbabwe in Africa and Chile, Colombia and Guatemala in Latin America.
The leader guides consist of an introduction and ten self-contained booklets or modules on basic concepts of population education, including: (1) Population and Agriculture, (2) Population, Employment and Income, (3) Population and Environment, (4) Population and Nutrition, (5) Population and Health, (6) Family and Family Size, (7) Responsible Parenthood, (8) Human Growth and Development, (9) How the Population Changes, and (10) Community Involvement. After completion of the prototype leader guides, they were field tested in the respective languages in English and French-speaking Africa, and in Spanish in Latin America.
Based on the success of the introduction on a pilot basis of the FAO population materials in Africa and Latin America, a Sub-Regional Workshop on Population Education for Rural Youth was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 30 September to 4 October 1991. Participating countries included China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. During the workshop a number of innovative programmes for rural youth in different countries of the region were discussed, both in population education and other linked aspects of concern to the participants, such as employment and income generation. A strong recommendation coming out of the workshop was for an exchange of visits by the participating countries to study the programmes in each country concerned, since there are many similarities among the countries of the region which would allow the replication of successful ideas.
As a result of this recommendation, project TCP/RAS/2255, Population Education Methodologies for Out-of-School Rural Youth, was developed and approved for funding. The original design called for a Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries (TCDC) arrangement where representatives of the five countries would participate in a four-week training workshop; two weeks in the Philippines and a further two weeks in Thailand. Both workshops were to include field visits to observe successful rural youth programming related to population education.
There were many delays in making the final arrangements for implementing the project, with subsequent adjustments in design. A major change occurred when the Government of Thailand informed FAO that, not having made prior budget allocations, this country would not be able to host the rural youth population workshop. At that point, a decision was made to hold the training only in the Philippines.
1.2. Outline of official arrangements
The workshop and study tour, titled Inter-Asian Training on Rural Youth Population Programmes, was held from 16 to 29 October 1994 at the Philippine Centre for Economic Development on the campus of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. The organizers of the workshop were the Population Commission of the Government of the Philippines, in coordination with the Presidential Commission for Youth Affairs. A three-person delegation came from each of the five countries of China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The total FAO contribution was $US 56000 and the Commission on Population (POPCOM) of the Government of the Philippines, the executing agency of the project, made all the logistical arrangements and prepared the entire three-week programme activities, including the workshop sessions and a three-day field trip.
The national government's commitment to enhancing youth welfare, with support from local and community leaders, and the private sector of POPCOM's Agenda for Adolescent Development, made POPCOM a fitting and responsive partner in this inter-Asian subregional programme for rural youth. POPCOM is the overall coordinator of the Philippine Population Management Programme (PPMP), which seeks to promote improved quality of life by ensuring a balance between and among, population, resources and environment to achieve sustainable development.
PPMP's thrust on adolescent development constitutes a major component of the national population education programme. It supports rural development, recognizing heavy rural to urban migration, largely among young people. POPCOM coordinates rural youth programmes to provide opportunities and resources for empowering the growing number of rural youth as active agents of development.
1.3. Objectives of the project
The objectives of the project were to:
- assist the governments of China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam to identify and better understand suitable youth programmes and activities which could be used in rural youth population education, vocational training and employment programmes;- enable China and Viet Nam to share the rural youth population education activities being undertaken in the respective countries under the FAO/UNFPA-funded project INT/92/P94, Integration of Population Education Programmes for Rural Youth;
- introduce the FAO population education methodologies and materials; and
- lay the groundwork for possible initiation of rural youth population education activities in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, using funds from INT/92/P94.
