ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) met with the Baguio City Government and the Cordilleran Youth Center (CYC) to present the learnings from the Safe and Sound Cities (S²Cities) programme implementation in the Philippines at the SIGLAT Youth Innovation Hub in Baguio City last November 14, 2024: (L-R) Miel Taggaoa, CYC Finance Officer; Jameela Antoniette Mendoza, ICLEI SEA Communications Assistant; Patricia Joan Daloria, CYC Project Manager; Micaela Rimando, Economist III of the Baguio City Planning, Development, and Sustainability Office (CPDSO); Kristianne Jemi Santos, ICLEI SEA Senior Project Officer; and Chris Noel Hidalgo, ICLEI SEA Communications Head.

ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) shared learnings from Safe and Sound Cities (S²Cities) programme implementation in the Philippines with the Baguio City Government and the Cordilleran Youth Center (CYC), a youth organization and the local grantee of S²Cities in Baguio. 

Implemented in the Philippines in the cities of Baguio and Naga, the local run of the S²Cities programme revealed insights and opportunities for local governments to strengthen the ways they involve the youth in developing safer cities, particularly through innovation and participatory planning and governance. 

The ICLEI SEA Secretariat, represented by Kristianne Jemi Santos, Senior Project Officer; Chris Noel Hidalgo, Communications Head; and Jameela Antoniette Mendoza, Communications Assistant, presented the learnings in a meeting with Baguio City Local Government Unit (LGU) and CYC representatives at the SIGLAT Youth Innovation Hub last November 14, 2024. 

Micaela Rimando, Adrian Leung, and Pauline Maye Rimando of the Baguio City Planning, Development, and Sustainability Office (CPDSO) represented the LGU; while Patricia Joan Daloria and Miel Taggaoa represented CYC in the meeting, which also served as a platform to explore further opportunities for local collaboration and review the achievements of the programme. 

ICLEI SEA documented the journey and learnings of the S²Cities programme implementation in the Philippines through the case studies on Baguio City and Naga City. 

The SIGLAT (Synergize, Innovation and Gravitate Leadership towards Adaptive Technologies) Youth Innovation Hub, inaugurated in September 2023, is an outcome of the S²Cities programme in Baguio City. 

S²Cities is a global programme aiming to improve the safety and well-being of young people in urban environments. It seeks to understand urban systems better and their influence on safety and well-being, build capacity within these systems, and enable youth innovation to solve critical challenges for safer urban environments. It is led by the Global Infrastructure Basel (GIB) Foundation, hosted by the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, with the support of Fondation Botnar.   

ICLEI SEA supported S²Cities’ implementation in 2023-2024 by facilitating the programme’s engagements with the LGUs. 

Phase two of the S²Cities programme is currently being implemented in the Philippines in both Baguio and Naga. 

ICLEI Southeast Asia (SEA) met with the Baguio City Government and the Cordilleran Youth Center (CYC) to present the learnings from the Safe and Sound Cities (S²Cities) programme implementation in the Philippines at the SIGLAT Youth Innovation Hub in Baguio City last November 14, 2024.