4Rs in Bantayan: Raising Awareness, Creating Ripples of Change for Health and Nutrition
The RAFI Center for Leaders (CFL), through the Coffee Talk initiative of Dolores Aboitiz Children’s Fund’s Early Childhood Nutrition (DACF ECN), facilitated 4Rs (Rights, Roles, Responsibilities, Realities) session at the Bantayan Municipal Social Hall on August 28, 2024.
4Rs is one of CFL’s advocacy activities that aims to raise awareness of the rights of the youth, the roles they play in their community, the responsibilities associated with their roles, and how their realities or actual experiences can shape the roles they play especially in their communities.
Along with DACF ECN and the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Bantayan, the facilitators welcomed around 40 youths who manifested immense potential to lead their fellow youth.
The primary objectives of the activity are to surface the youth’s perceived 4Rs, understand better ways to effectively fulfill their roles and responsibilities, navigate through their realities, and leverage them.
This is a milestone for RAFI programs as this is the first collaboration between CFL and DACF ECN, recognizing the importance of youth participation concerning health and nutrition, which perfectly aligns with each of the program’s main focuses.
One of the main facilitators of the program, Rachel Alfante Sollano, emphasized the importance of maximizing the learning opportunities given to the youth. She stressed that learning is activated by the learner, so the youth have to engage with the learning process. According to her, change can only happen if we go through such an important process.
The team then collectively expressed their hope for the youth to continue the ripples of change in the community.
“The belief and the hope that the future of our community is still the youth. And I think it’s time for the youth to take up the challenge and prove it to the community,” shared one of the main facilitators, Francis Hingabay.
The youth undoubtedly holds the future. But more than that, they hold the candle of tomorrow, and it’s our duty to ignite the spark—for them to keep the passion burning.