LP4Y
Life Projet 4 Youth
Location of impact : Philippines
Grant : 5000€ in 2020-2021 (Project PayataSport in Payatas) and 5000€ in 2021-2022 (Projet TDC in Tondo)
1) PayataSport : Socio-professional integration of excluded young women & mothers living in Manila.
2) Training & Development Center (TDC) : Supporting the development of a Micro Economic Initiative for the socio-professional reintegration of 108 young men and women each year
Since 2009, LP4Y has been helping young adults, aged 17 to 24, living in extreme poverty and victims of exclusion, to reach social and professional integration. To do so, LP4Y sets up training centers near urban or rural poverty areas.
1) PayataSport, Payatas
Payatas, located north of Manila in the Philippines, has more than 270,000 inhabitants, half of whom are young people and children often suffering from malnutrition, violence and infectious diseases.
Since 2018, Life Project 4 Youth (LP4Y) has opened a Life Project Center (LPC) specialized in supporting young women, often mothers at a very early age, who are the first victims of the difficult situation in Payatas. LPC hosts 2 programs for 17 young mothers each: Fashion 4 Youth and PayataSport.
This project aims to support the social and professional integration of 17 young women and mothers as well as their children, who form part of the PayataSport programme. By joining LP4Y, these young women are accompanied by a coach and follow an innovative educational path, based on entrepreneurial values, known as the Professional Training for Entrepreneurs. This 9-month apprenticeship and 3-month employment support program allows them to develop the know-how and interpersonal skills necessary for their employability. Throughout their career, these young women gain self-confidence and develop their life project in order to integrate into the professional world with a decent long-term job.
Young mothers also benefit from the Little Angels Academy, which welcomes their children while they are undergoing training as well as when they start their first job.
2) Training & Development Center (TDC), Tondo
With a density of 64,869 inhabitants per square kilometer, the Tondo district in Manila, Philippines is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Located in the northwest of Manila, just behind the port, where the air is saturated with pollution, Tondo is a mix of slums, open dumps and industrial areas. More than 100,000 people live below the poverty line and 70% of them are young adults and children. People live in shared housing of less than 10 m2 per family, without access to running water and electricity.
Women and children are the biggest victims of the situation in the slums. All those who enter the LP4Y program have one thing in common: their motivation to get out of poverty.
In 2011, LP4Y created a Training Development Center (TDC) in Tondo. This pedagogy is based on the development of a Micro Economic Initiative (MEI) managed by the young people within the program, allowing them to live a professionalizing experience that gives them the keys to build their own life project and integrate professionally.
The TDC of Tondo is developed on a Micro Economic Initiative (MEI) called Care 4 Change. Managed by 3 teams of 17 young women, it aims to provide support to slum communities. The Young Women in the program organize:
- The sale of basic necessities for children at low prices (diapers, milk,..)
- Preventive workshops on nutrition and children’s well-being (3 workshops already conducted with a dozen participants who had never had this type of social interaction)
- Welcoming mothers from the community in a place of trust in order to support them and redirect them to the appropriate structures according to their needs (pediatricians, health centers, education, social and prevention services of the city hall, emergency numbers, specialized NGOs, etc)
The LP4Y approach at a glance
- Life Project Money (LPM): A weekly allowance paid to young women that allows them to immediately get out of extreme poverty, to focus on their training, to manage a budget and to learn how to save money which is essential for their professional integration.
- Economic Micro-Activity: Organised in departments like a small company, young people from the different programmes collectively contribute to the development of PayataSport. The Young Women organise sports courses and tournaments for local communities, as well as awareness campaigns in schools on the benefits of practicing sports. Through this activity, they participate in improving the living conditions of disadvantaged populations and act as agents of change within local communities. In 2019, more than 1,500 inhabitants from underprivileged backgrounds had access to sports activities organized by the Young Women of PayataSport.
- Professional exhibition: Young People from their programmes discover the professional world via company tours, an internship, theme-based training, testimonials from professionals from different sectors of activity, and simulated job interviews.
- Life Project Plan (LPP): Thanks to individual and group personal development sessions, they can develop their Life Project.
the organisation carrying the project
Life Project 4 Youth (LP4Y), created in 2009, is an international movement that develops innovative solutions and is 100% dedicated to the social and professional integration of young adults, aged between 17 and 24 years old, in situations of extreme poverty and exclusion.
Its 3 missions are :
- Advocate the cause of excluded young people living in poverty
- Accompanying the most excluded young people towards socio- professional integration through entrepreneurship.
- Encourage all innovative entrepreneurial initiatives in favor of the inclusion of young people.
Through its actions, LP4Y contributes to meeting 11 Sustainable Development Goals (SDOs), mainly: #1 No Poverty; #4 Quality Education; #5 Gender Equality; #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth; #17 Partnerships for the Achievement of the Goals.
Since its creation in 2009, LP4Y has received several awards for its work in favor of Youth inclusion. In 2015, LP4Y received the “French Abroad” Trophy from Le Petit Journal and was awarded the Total Foundation’s “Coup de Coeur du Jury” prize. In 2016, LP4Y was honored with the special distinction of the “Prix des droits de l’homme” of the French Republic and the Life Project Center in Tondo, Philippines, was awarded the “Favorite Prize” by the Jury of the Raja Women’s Awards Foundation. In 2017, the Green Village received the “Convergences Awards” in the International Category to highlight the diversity of partnerships in this project. In 2018, LP4Y was among the 12 finalists for the “WISE” Award for innovation in education and also won the “Air Liquide Foundation Award” for its actions in New Delhi.
how are donations used
For the project, the total cost of supporting one young person towards social and professional integration is €1,560. Donations also help cover the training costs and the Life Project Money of the young people, which is the weekly allowance they receive.
The Life Project Money is about 80€ per month, for a young woman. This tool is part of the LP4Y pedagogy, and allows young women to receive training, to learn how to manage a budget, to plan for the future and to become autonomous. Part of this allowance is directly saved, allowing each young woman to make purchases essential to her professional integration once she has graduated from the Professional Training for Entrepreneurs.
Over the past 10 years, LP4Y has developed a frugal business model with very low operating costs and where the majority of funds are directly allocated to program development (88% of the total budget). The permanent team is mostly made up of volunteers (International Solidarity Volunteer contracts, Civic Service and local contracts). This is a founding principle that has proven its effectiveness in terms of expertise and sustainability.
Since June 2019, LP4Y Paris has benefited from the IDEAS label (Institut du Développement de l’Éthique et de l’Action pour la Solidarité), which was created by Caisse des Dépôts, the Ordre national des Experts Comptables and the Compagnie nationale des Commissaires aux Comptes. This label reviews 120 indicators to attest to the implementation of good practices in governance, financial management and monitoring the effectiveness of action.
key figures
Today LP4Y is present in 13 countries in Asia, Europe, the United States and the Mediterranean zone through 20 Life Project Centers, 3 Green Villages, 4 Little Angels Academies and 2 Labs (New York and Paris).
In 2019, 75% of the Young Adults trained in the Life Project Centers and Green Villages were able to enter the decent professional world, and 66% of them are women.
In 10 years, LP4Y has developed a strong integration ecosystem mobilized for young people: Hundreds of full-time Catalysts working in the field, volunteer Catalysts mobilized in Europe and the United States, and more than 500 partners (companies, institutions and NGOs).
Since 2009, nearly 2,500 young people have been supported towards social and professional integration, and more than 19,000 people have been positively impacted.