In February 2012, 24 students from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao visited Manila to participate in Mulat Pinoy’s workshop, “Social NetWorth: The Filipino Youth on Social Media and Popdev.” The workshop participants hailed from Manila, Quezon City, Calamba, Cebu, Iloilo, General Santos City and Davao, and were all college students and leaders in their communities.
Social NetWorth aimed to teach the participants about population and development (popdev) issues: in particular, how the population affects other things like the environment, employment and education. In addition, the participants learned about media and social networks, and how these can be used as tools to promote awareness of popdev.
During the workshop, the participants produced videos where they focused on a popdev issue and called the youth to action. These videos may be viewed on the Mulat Pinoy YouTube Account (http://www.youtube.com/user/mulatpinoy).
After the workshop, the participants returned to their communities to develop a Mulat Pinoy project of their own. The 24 participants were divided in pairs or groups, each with a cause, a vision, a mission and a blog.
The eleven (11) Social NetWorth Blogs are hosted by Mulat Pinoy, but completely managed by the participants. They produce all their own content, which aims to feature various population issues. One blog talks about street children, while another focuses on the unemployment problem. One pair is looking at environment issues in Davao, and a trio from Visayas is tackling the different ways in which poverty strikes rural areas. A pair from UP Diliman is exploring the pros and cons of sex education, while students from Miriam College are examining the question of overpopulation.
In addition to using these blogs as platforms for the discussion of population issues, the participants are using various social networks like Facebook and Twitter to invite other Netizens to join their discussions. To supplement the online discussion, they have also planned activities in their communities: forums and workshops to share what they have learned, debates, interviews, information campaigns and many more.
Visit the Social NetWorth portal at http://snw.mulatpinoy.ph to see how the SNW participants are talking about popdev in their communities.
Contact:
Regina Layug Rosero
Project Coordinator, Mulat Pinoy
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (+632) 4330456