More time needed to implement BARMM’s youth transition priority agenda

In mid-2019, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) chief minister enjoined all the ministries and other government agencies to prepare their respective agendas for the duration of the region’s transition phase (i.e., from 2019 until the election of new officials in May 2022). One of these agencies was the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC), the entity that was previously known for more than two decades as the Office for Bangsamoro Youth Affairs.

As a government agency, the BYC adheres to the vision, mission, framework and participatory strategies of the National Youth Commission’s medium-term (2017 to 2022) Philippine Youth Development Plan (PYDP). Although the PYDP covers all Filipinos, the BYC believed that it was important to craft its own agenda to be able to respond appropriately to the peculiar history and social context of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) youth, who belong to three major ethnicities — the Moro, non-Moro Indigenous People and settler community. The region has a large land area with varying terrain with difficulties in transportation, communication, basic health and social services. Many communities are hampered by persistent poverty, recurring armed conflict, natural catastrophes and poor human development indices.