I attended the DREAM EXPO MNL held in the Asian Development Bank from June 11-13, 2014.  It was a 3-day event but I could only attend the first two days because there was a conflict with my college orientation. But it was still worth the two days of listening and interacting to the 30+ Philippine social innovators from different places in the country.

The event was organized by the Office of Sen. Bam Aquino, IdeaSpace Foundation, ADB Youth Initiative, Global Shapers Community - Manila Hub, Works of Heart and The Dream Project PH.  This is the greatest combination of collaborators who put together an event that inspired young people like me.  From the speakers presentations I tried to learn about their social innovations and how I can apply their experiences to my own projects.

The first day was about ?The Dream Destinations?, which aimed to give us young people a virtual tour of the Philippines seen through the social initiatives and projects of the different speakers from different regions.  On the second day, focus was on ?Best of Manila? which showed innovations by speakers from around the Metro Manila area.   What I missed was Day 3 where IdeaSpace Foundation mentored the participants in a ?Best of Manila Bootcamp? on how to create, begin and carry out social innovations in our communities.

It was significant that Day 2 was June 12 and the day that the Philippines celebrates Independence Day.  I can?t think of a better way to celebrate Independence Day than to be part of an event that encourages responsibility for ones own community and environment by mentoring future leaders to create and sustain social innovation projects.