The Cordilleran Youth Center (CYC) has been awarded 2nd Place (First Runner-Up) in the youth-led category of the inaugural UNESCO Prize for Global Citizenship Education (GCED), a prestigious international award recognizing initiatives that foster critical thinking, intercultural understanding, human rights, peace education, and active civic participation.
The announcement was made on December 9, 2025 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, where CYC’s flagship program, Youth In Action (Ilocano: Tignay Agtutubo), emerged as one of the strongest entries globally, earning the distinction. The Prize received 150 nominations from 76 countries for this first edition.
“This recognition is for all Cordilleran youth, for all Filipino youth striving to live up the challenge as ‘pag-asa ng bayan.’” said Christian Dave Ruz, Executive Director of the Cordilleran Youth Center. “CYC and our flagship program Youth In Action is built by young people and all our partners who continue to imagine and contribute meaningful actions in building a just world. The heart of this program is our firm belief that the power of the youth lies with our union with other marginalized sectors and cross-border solidarity.”
The Cordilleran Youth Center (CYC) is a youth-led non-profit organization founded in 2005 in Baguio City, Philippines. It works with various youth organizations including student councils, campus publications, advocacy and activist groups and community-based organizations. CYC’s flagship program, Youth In Action, focuses on providing relevant education that translates to youth organizing and inspires civic action. It highlights the development of pedagogical innovations that connect local and indigenous knowledge with universal values of collectivism, compassion, human rights, peace education, and social justice.
“Youth across the globe faces the same challenges of exclusion, threats and lack of opportunities. It is with these we find our shared vision as global citizens for a better world. This global recognition highlights our embedded Filipino culture of pakikipagkapwa at pakikiisa” said Ruz.
CYC shares this recognition with all its volunteers, partners, mentors and allies. The organization also acknowledges the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) for nominating CYC and supporting its journey toward global recognition.
“We pledge to continue even better and stronger. We look forward in expanding our work and building more partnerships and engagements across and beyond the region,” Ruz added