Organization: Equitable National Alliance on Integrated Care for Sensory Impairments and Rehabilitation Across the Life Course
Title: “Local Government Leadership in Action Lead with Youth: Accelerating Ear and Hearing Care for Every Child through Education and Policy Convergence”
Al title (for format and translation – not permanent:
Local government leadership in action lead with youth: accelerating ear and hearing care for every child through education and policy convergence
Description:
Convergence Partnerships and Multi-stakeholder Collaboration for Inclusive Ear and Hearing Care with Youth at the Heart of Hearing Health Equity
The primary aim of the Activity is to Accelerate Action Implementations on Ear and Hearing Care through Shared Commitment and Creative Convergence of Initiatives for the effective Establishment of National and Sub-national School-Based Ear and Hearing Care Program making Hearing Care for Every Child a Reality.
The Convergence Partnership event, co-organized by the Safe Listening Peer Support Multiplier Network with Milliconnections at the Equitable National Alliance on Integrated Care for Sensory Impairments and Rehabilitation Across the Life Course, represents a groundbreaking initiative that bridges local action with national and global advocacy. At its heart, the event is co-led by young people who are actively walking towards the journey of shaping education and hearing health policy, ensuring that youth voices are not only heard but also trusted in decision-making spaces.
At its core, the activity aims to accelerate the implementation of ear and hearing care across communities and classrooms through shared commitment and creative convergence of initiatives that have resulted in Youth declarations and Role assertions in education and policymaking. We share the vision of helping establish a national and sub-national school-based ear and hearing care program in the Philippines, to make hearing care a reality for every child. This means embedding best practices into community systems through strategic partnerships that ensure dignity and equity and strengthen both education and healthcare systems, especially towards increased interoperability. This WHD activity would position hearing health within the broader national health strategy, framing it as an essential component of inclusive education and child development.
The type of activities that have been implemented in celebration of World Hearing Day 2026 using a multistakeholder collaboration approach are as follows:
-Hosting Activities and Seminar-Orientation geared towards Raising Public Awareness on Hearing Loss and Safe Listening
-Launch the Convergence of Initiatives, which will be a set of programs that are ready for implementation at the community-based level in youth-led events with support from partners
-Launch of the National Coordinating Committee and National Steering Committee on School-Based Ear and Hearing Care Programs with Designated Co-Chairs; Policymaker Liaison to the NSC and Subnational Committee Chair and Co-Chair were identified for the effective establishment of the National and Subnational School-Based Program in the Philippines
-Conducted the Initial National and Subnational Subgroups’ Meeting: Empowering Sectoral Representations for a Transformative Future in Ear and Hearing Care, with a follow-up activity entitled “From Launch to Leadership: Building Systems for School-Based Ear and Hearing Care
-Launch the WHD 2026 campaign entitled: “Local Government Leadership in Action Lead with Youth: Accelerating Ear and Hearing Care for Every Child through Education and Policy Convergence. This event likewise highlighted the role of Youth in education and policymaking, being at the Heart of Hearing Health Equity
-Launch of the Pioneering Mission Station and Conduct of Annual Hearing Health Program, setting the trend to include hearing screening in the regular check-ups. Hence, along with hearing screening, vision screening, and dental health education, fluoride treatment was provided. A possible upcoming schedule for the speech assessment and teleaudiology services, sometime in May 2026 will be conducted.
-Came up with a locally-grounded hearing screening process flow in the given context of the pilot locality of Siniloan, Laguna, that decentralized referral network & ensured everyone gets access to the needed interventions.
All the envisioned activities in 2024 became a reality in the year 2025, and towards 2026, giving a clear testament to the effectiveness of the safe listening platform for action or Heart (hearing preservation task-sharing) Project, given the support and tools needed.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e_9_iAEufYMhgMFKElMCP6k_w0JsudoB1wRdwtfgffo/edit?usp=sharing
Primary site: WPR – Philippines
Region: WPR
General Photos
Training of trainers preparing teachers for screening
EHC Mission Drive-Empowering Sectoral Representations
Accelerating Action Implementation on Ear and Hearing Care
Annual Hearing Health Program Launch at the Mission Station
Types of Engagement:
Live event: Yes
Screening: Yes
Traditional media: No
Social media: Yes
Special needs populations: persons with disabilities (including hearing loss), children and adolescents, rural or remote population
Met with individual policymaker: Yes
Participation of policy makers: Yes
Participation of influencers: No
WHO technical tool used: Yes
WHO educational and social media used: Yes