The International Youth Council (IYC) is an international civil society organization dedicated to giving young peoples across the world both a collective voice and a mechanism to support global sustainable development. In 2007, the IYC was founded at the 4th Annual Youth Assembly at the United Nations (YA@UN). The then alumni of the Youth Assembly formed the International Youth Council to sustain
efforts and communication between nations. IYC is present in 28 nations worldwide and is a staunch supporter of human rights and equality. In 2012, IYC expanded in South East Asia, establishing the first ASEAN chapter, in the Philippines. IYC in the Philippines was founded in 2012. The International Youth Council was brought to the Philippines by founders Alvin Dakis, Joey Dela Cruz, Maane Cauton, and Neil Lomibao after processing the necessary application for Country Chapter recognition. In April 14, 2012, the first IYC country chapter in South East Asia was chartered. IYC Pilipinas is a duly recognized national youth organization by the National Youth Commission and the National Anti-Poverty Commission. IYC Pilipinas is currently a member of the NAPC Youth & Students Sectoral Council and actively participates and advocates for the welfare of the Filipino youth together with its partner youth organizations, government agencies, and communities. We co-organized the 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights held last January 2014 in Manila. We also organized several youth-led events and empowerment workshops like the Emerging Youth Leaders Program, The DOH Secretary’s Cup, among others. Our leaders, also named as Young Diplomats, have represented IYC-Pilipinas in several national and international gatherings such as the Philippine Model Congress, the National Youth Parliament, and the recently held World Conference on Youth in Sri Lanka. Some IYC Pilipinas members are based in other countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, South Korea, Pakistan, Canada etc. We are lobbying to send official youth representatives to the UN General Assembly (Philippine Delegation), the Youth Assembly at the United Nations, other high-level decision-making conferences where our Young Diplomats will actively engage in negotiations. We also advocate for meaningful youth representation and participation in the United Nations agencies in the Philippines, and also national and local governments where young people participate in policy development. In the grassroots, we partner extensively with different youth organizations to ensure that our concerns were gathered from different barangay “barkada” to high-level policy decision-making levels where our trained young diplomat actively engages policy makers and influencers. We believe that we should be the influencer of the influential – a potent force of more than 25 million in the country.
