A 21-year-old student from the Philippines has credited child development charity Compassion with inspiring the creation of his popular anti-extremism social media campaign.

Adam Adnay lives on Mindanao, a group of islands in the southern part of the Philippines.

A regional centre for agriculture, the area is known as the breadbasket of the Philippines. However, it's also one of the country's most dangerous places and home to several violent militant groups.

It was after a devastating rebel attack on the city of Marawi last year that Adam Adnay's social media campaign, 'I Am Mindanao' really came into its own.

'The goal of "I Am Mindanao" is to educate college students about violent extremism in Mindanao, strengthen their sense of pride as Mindanawons, and empower them to take part in countering it,' says Adam.

The son of a taxi driver who earned P200 (US$4) per day, Adam had been enrolled in leading child development charity Compassion UK's sponsorship programme as a child.

With the charity's support, he worked hard and earned a place at Xavier University, one of the area's top colleges, to pursue a bachelor's degree in development communication.

His degree course required him to start a social media campaign of his own, and 'I am Mindanao,' which now has more than 40k followers on Facebook, was the result.

The attacks on Marawi happened just a few months after the campaign had begun and 'I Am Mindanao' was the first social media-based group to give information about the ongoing crisis.

The real-time information it was providing helped the campaign take root very quickly and it was soon recognised by other leading universities, colleges and civic groups across Mindanao.

As a result, Adam and his team were invited to host several talks and symposiums and initiated a variety of related activities such as leadership camps and cross-cultural youth seminars.

Whenever he was given the chance, Adam made his mission clear: 'Young people should be educated about the onset of violent extremism in our land and most especially, they should be prevented from joining these terror groups and instead, to pursue their studies and help in opposing the doctrines of these violent extremists,' he says.

'I am Mindanao' was created as part of the Peer to Peer: Facebook Global Digital Challenge.

The initiative, run by US-based EdVenture Partners in partnership with Facebook, challenges students in universities worldwide to design and implement a campaign countering violent extremism using Facebook as the main platform.

The best campaigns are then given the chance to travel to the USA to compete for prizes, and Adam and his team were delighted when they were chosen to go.

They visited Washington DC and presented their campaign to an international panel of senior leaders and policymakers.

Although his campaign wasn't among the top three prize winners, Adam says it was still a wonderful experience.

It was an amazing opportunity to visit the US. and speak on behalf of Mindanao,' Adam says. 'I also cherish having friends who belong to the international community. My personal goal is to have at least two friends from all the countries of the world, and now I have a handful from four continents already.'

Adam says that the help he received from his local Compassion project as a boy inspired him to carry on doing good work as an adult.

His goal in life is to establish his own charitable organisation to help educate Filipino children living in remote mountain villages, where modern comforts are scarce.

'It was in one of our [Compassion-run] leadership camps where I discovered my purpose in life,' Adam explained. 'Our mentor challenged us to plot our future on a "dream board" by writing our short-term and long-term goals. We were asked how we would like to give back, and I answered, "To really serve the communities." I am ready to give back to those who are in need.'