Bacoleña youth governance advocate Jemhra Rose Garcia will represent the Philippines in the Global Democracy Fellowship of the Presidential Precinct in the United States.
The Presidential Precinct announced on June 11 the 20 fellows from around the world who will join the program in Charlottesville and Williamsburg this summer.
Garcia is a former Sangguniang Kabataan chairperson of Brgy. Handumanan, Bacolod City.
She is the founder of Project Pagsibol and the Philippine country lead for the Democratic Futures Project of the University of Virginia.
She also serves as regional executive director of CANVAS Asia, with work focused on youth governance, civic participation, community organizing, and democracy support.
The Global Democracy Fellowship is an immersive program for emerging and established leaders working to strengthen democracy.
The program includes leadership development, workshops, simulations, site visits, networking, and professional exchanges focused on representation, rights, and civic participation.
Fellows will also engage with civil society leaders, faculty, citizen journalists, community-based media founders, and democracy practitioners.
The six-week program will include sessions on advocacy strategies, constitutionalism, public debate, conflict de-escalation, free and fair elections, and democratic governance.
Garcia said her acceptance to the fellowship came after years of intentionally saying no to fellowships to give herself time to reflect and regain clarity.
She said she hesitated when she was encouraged to apply in January because the program felt like a high-level engagement with a global network of democracy and policy practitioners.
“But I said yes. And I gave it everything I had,” Garcia said in a Facebook post.
She said the opportunity is a tribute to her younger self, who endured difficult days but continued to live in alignment with her values.
“From Sangguniang Kabataan to the global stage,” she said.
Garcia said the fellowship is also for the communities that allowed her to grow and work with them, as well as for her friends and family who kept her going.*
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