About

EMERGE! 2010:
A Week of Dialogue, Creation & Collaboration
April 24 to May 2, 2010
Manila, Philippines

A groundbreaking initiative for leaders,
educators, artists and social entrepreneurs.
Join us in co-creating an emerging reality.

Presented by PAGASA Youth (Philippines)
in collaboration with
Think OutWord (USA), YouthSection (Europe) and WeStrive.org (USA)

“Some people think the movement is defined primarily by what it is against, but the language of the movement is first and foremost about keeping the conversation going, because ideas that inform it never end: growth without inequality, wealth without plunder, work without exploitation, a future without fear. To answer the policeman’s question, “these people” are reimagining the world.”

- Wolfgang Sachs, as quoted by Paul Hawken in Blessed Unrest

In the midst of a worldwide economic, political and environmental crisis, the Philippines has been deemed the most corrupt country in Asia. Polar ice and oil supplies are disappearing faster than anticipated. Armed conflicts rage across the globe. And on the heels of Typhoon Ondoy and the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, Filipinos are looking at the 2010 presidential elections with much hope and not a little trepidation. These are exciting times we live in. The question is, where is the youth in all this?

Some have decided to be mere spectators. Many care deeply about the country but do not know what they can do to help. Society has bought the media’s portrayal of Pinoy youth as apathetic and powerless. Sadly, even the youth themselves have begun to believe it too.

But with every crisis comes opportunity. The rock-bottom of lawlessness, poverty, materialism, environmental destruction and mediocre and repressive governance has led us to a vacuum, a chance for young Filipinos to step up and break free from the limiting identities imposed upon them. Indeed, what has been mistaken for youthful apathy is in fact, deep-seated dissatisfaction with old, dysfunctional ideologies and worldviews. Einstein famously said that one cannot solve problems with the same consciousness that created them. The worsening of the Philippine situation after EDSA 1 and 2 clearly illustrates this: what is being called for, prayed for now, is the New.

This is precisely why EMERGE!2010 is happening in the Philippines. Just as a phoenix can only rise from the ashes, this nation’s utter decay presents a unique opportunity. There is a tremendous sense of potential in the air, a palpable energy that is being felt on a global scale, where young people are called to reimagine and co-create a new reality. To redefine ourselves—as individuals, as Filipinos, and as part of a greater humanity.

As such, EMERGE!2010 is geared towards helping young people process their inner conditions as individuals in relation to their role in the world. It is clear that true social transformation must be rooted in personal transformation, which can be nurtured and allowed to flourish in communion with others.

Because lasting change can only be brought about by sustained action, EMERGE!2010 is planned as a trigger event for a larger journey of youth-focused social renewal. As facilitators, PAGASA Youth envisions a four-phase emergent dialogue process that will invite Filipino youth to IMAGINE a new Philippines, to strategize means to ACHIEVE this vision, to renew and REBUILD the system, and ultimately, to SUSTAIN this renewal.

By creating spaces for free and authentic dialogue to occur, we hope to make immanent a creative impulse that can help transform the Philippines, and perhaps, even the world.

Click here to download brochure.