Iloilo City participants engage in TCI’s tailored coaching, training, and use of practical tools to strengthen adolescent health services.
Known as the “City of Love,” Iloilo City in the Philippines has evolved into a dynamic urban center and a leading educational hub, attracting young people from all corners of the country. But with this rapid growth came urgent and complex public health challenges, particularly for the city’s young population.
In 2019, Iloilo City’s Adolescent Health and Development Program (AHDP) encountered a perfect storm of disruptions. The election of Mayor Jerry Treñas ushered in a leadership transition at the City Health Office, coinciding with the retirement of key AHDP personnel, leaving critical gaps in program continuity and institutional memory. At the time, the city had only one Level 2 Adolescent-Friendly Health Facility, located at the Arevalo District Health Center. While supported by an Information and Service Delivery Network (ISDN) and local ordinances, the program’s reach remained limited and fragile.
Just as momentum was building, COVID-19 struck, disrupting vital adolescent health services and stalling progress. In 2019, the adolescent pregnancy rate had already reached a concerning 36 births per 1,000. Even more alarming was the case of a 10-year-old child, the youngest recorded pregnancy in the city, laying bare the gaps in protection and care for the most vulnerable. By 2022, adolescents made up over 18% of the city’s population, amplifying the urgency for comprehensive, youth-centered interventions.
Rebuilding from the Ground Up
A turning point arrived in 2022 with Iloilo City’s partnership with The Challenge Initiative (TCI), a global program focused on accelerating and sustaining effective family planning and adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH) solutions through strong local government ownership. Iloilo graduated from TCI’s direct support in May 2025.
The partnership built on the existing technical working group, transforming it into a comprehensive City Leadership Team that united diverse stakeholders under a shared vision. Government leaders from key departments collaborated with the Department of Education, local colleges, and skills development agencies like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. The Iloilo City Police lent critical enforcement support, while the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation ensured meaningful youth representation. Together with healthcare professionals and community-based organizations, they built a truly inclusive and coordinated leadership structure – one that championed adolescent health as a shared responsibility.
Central to this transformation was TCI’s assessment tool, which functioned as both an evaluation instrument and a strategic mirror, helping stakeholders identify gaps and assets while emphasizing locally owned solutions.
With the ISDN foundation reestablished for the first time since COVID-19, newly appointed program officers and coordinators, many with limited prior experience, gained clarity and confidence through TCI’s hands-on training, mentorship, and practical tools. This empowered them to implement strategic innovations that improved service coordination, expanded reach, and made adolescent health systems more adaptive and responsive. Through the Health Leadership and Management Program, these individuals evolved from support staff into proactive leaders, advocates, and drivers of community transformation.
Youth Engagement and the Call for Community Gatekeepers
Participants take a peer educator training in Iloilo City.
Creative youth engagement emerged as a defining pillar of the revitalized adolescent health program. Through a memorandum of understanding, the city established KaTEenAran, a teen center at Nabitasan Integrated School, providing structured programming to address the social and reproductive health needs of marginalized youth.
Innovative new platforms gave adolescents space to lead and express themselves. The city-wide NewscasTEENg competition nurtured confidence, public speaking skills, and peer connections while spreading vital health messages. The Teen AD Facebook page evolved into a dynamic digital hub, reaching over 2,900 members with adolescent-focused content and services – extending support far beyond clinic walls.
Through the AHD Film Advocacy Contest, in partnership with the University of the Philippines Visayas, young people discovered their voice through filmmaking and storytelling. Meanwhile, the Peer Helpers Training program built a network of trained youth advocates who offered peer-to-peer support, harnessing the unique power of young people to uplift one another.
Together, these initiatives placed adolescents at the center of the movement, no longer just beneficiaries, but co-creators of change.
Strengthening Demand Generation Manpower
The city also invested heavily in comprehensive capacity-building activities. All 224 Barangay Service Point Officers received retooling with updated family planning indicators, ensuring that every barangay had informed frontline educators and mobilizers.
Additionally, Iloilo City’s commitment to youth-centered health was powerfully demonstrated through grassroots-led efforts like the inaugural Adolescent Summit on June 7, 2024, co-organized with the Barangay Council of Sooc, Mandurriao, and spearheaded by the City Health Office. The summit reached 200 adolescents through activities such as healthy young ones sessions, parent-teen talks, and family planning profiling.
Participants in Shape-A Teaching Training.
Momentum continued with the second Adolescent Summit at the Regional Evacuation Center in Brgy. Sooc, Arevalo. With the theme “Strengthening Adolescents for a Brighter Future: Informed, Enriched and Empowered,” the summit convened 132 adolescents aged 13-19 from across Arevalo District. Key discussions focused on HIV awareness, child labor, and Kwentuhang Pangkabataan. Usapan Sessions, facilitated by the City Population and Health Offices, also engaged mothers in family planning counseling.
The city’s sustained commitment to youth empowerment was further demonstrated during the Youth Day Celebration at Ramon Avanceña National High School, where 92 young participants engaged in interactive sessions on teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, mental health, and violence against women and children, reinforcing their role as informed and empowered advocates for their own well-being.
Iloilo City’s adolescent-focused efforts are clearly making an impact – meeting young people where they are, and ensuring services are responsive to their realities. As Florence Joy Rubido, AHDP Nurse Coordinator, shared:
We have achieved substantial progress. All district health centers in Iloilo City now have at least one adolescent-friendly health facility, and all adolescent focal persons from our nine district health centers have been capacitated through the AHDP foundational course in October 2023.”
This momentum extended into the community. Out-of-school youth were trained as peer facilitators, while the Sexually Healthy and Personally Empowered Adolescent, or SHAPE-A Teacher Training Program, equipped educators with the tools to guide students through adolescence, effectively positioning schools as critical frontliners in AHDP delivery. Meanwhile, parent-teen talks helped dismantle cultural barriers, opening up safe spaces for vital conversations around reproductive health, mental well-being, and relationships.
High-Impact Policy Support
Strong policy and legislative backing laid the groundwork for Iloilo City’s sustained progress in adolescent health. On the national level, Executive Order No. 141 (2021) declared adolescent pregnancy a national priority, while at the city level, Ordinance No. 2017-048 institutionalized the ISDN, reinforcing a coordinated, multisectoral response.
The impact has been significant: adolescent pregnancy rates declined sharply from 36 in 2019 to 23 in 2024, demonstrating how strategic governance and evidence-based action can drive real, measurable change in young people’s lives. Modern contraceptive prevalence rates (mCPR) were also maintained above the national standard of 30.
Global Recognition: A Historic Moment
The culmination of these efforts came on April 28, 2025, when Iloilo City was formally recognized as a “Global Self-Reliant City” by TCI. This prestigious recognition, celebrated by the Commission on Population and Development Region VI, validated Iloilo City’s leadership in implementing innovative and sustainable community-driven health programs. Since partnering with TCI, the city emerged as a model for effective and sustainable health programs in under two years.
Sustainability and Innovation
Iloilo City’s youth health movement stands as a powerful model for sustainable, youth-driven change. At its core lies visionary local leadership, deep community ownership, and a youth-centered approach that places young people at the forefront of program design and delivery.
A testament to this commitment is the city’s remarkable 620% increase in local budget allocation for adolescent health from 2024 to 2025, ensuring that essential services continue to reach young people, particularly women and girls, well beyond the initial wave of implementation.
Increase in local government commitment for Iloilo.
With sustained support and the catalytic guidance of TCI, Iloilo City continues to scale impact, championing a generation of informed, empowered, and resilient youth.
