On 20-23 February 2019, The South East Asian Leaders Organization (SEALO) organized and held the ASEAN Youth Engagement Summit (AYES), a high-level platform for the student leaders, young professionals and world changers from ASEAN Region. The summit provides an opportunity for its participants to be involved on key issues/topics in ASEAN and understand the youth role towards developing the region.
Through the ASEAN Youth Engagement Summit 2019, South East Asian Leaders’ Organization (SEALO) aims to:
- Understand the role of the ASEAN Youth in different fields while giving value to the Southeast Asian integration;
- Realize the importance of the youth towards attaining the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the ASEAN region;
- Widen the network to ensure long-term collaboration with fellow delegates, organizers, partner organizations, and other participants even after the summit;
- Equip young people with competencies to become skillful leaders;
AYES visions to hold a bigger, bolder, and better event this 2019 by catering 400+ student leaders, young professionals and world changers from the ASEAN region. The delegates can choose one of the six panels: Culture and Arts, Science and Technology, Environment and Energy, Health and Social Policy, Business and Economics, and Governance and Policy.
At the University of The Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, the event was opened by a welcoming message from Josuard I. Gonzales, The Chairperson of ASEAN Youth Engagement Summit. It was warmly welcomed as well by Amb. Ong Keng Yong, the Former Secretary-General ASEAN, and Ms. Elaine Tan, the Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation. Some of the keynotes from the welcoming message were the importance and the role of the ASEAN youth in developing the region and attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the importance of the event, and the significant contribution that can be made when the output of the summit could be published. The event’s activities consist of Plenary Sessions, Action Plan Competition, AYES Youth Chat, Expert Panel Sessions, Booth Exhibitions and Cultural Presentations from The Delegates Country from different ASEAN member.
On the 3rd Day of the summit, The Action Plan Competition was held. All of the delegates were divided into groups, to be given the chance to provide solutions and action plans to a partner organization. Previously on the 1st Day of the summit, the partner organization presented a main problem on which the delegates needed to deliberate. The delegates sought solutions with the assistance of the partner organization or through relevant research. The groups then presented their solutions and ideas to the assigned evaluators and judges. The inputs gathered during the competition can be considered and used by the partner organization in solving the ongoing problems of their community. Furthermore, this can also be an opportunity for potential collaboration between the partner organization and the delegate groups.
Anissa Indrastuti is one of the Indonesian Delegates from Bakrie University who won The Best Action Plan Competition for Governance and Policy. She won it with her group members, Khanh from Vietnam, Myn from Philippines, Cedrick from Philippines, and Dandi from The University of Airlangga Indonesia. They designed The Balanced Scorecard for Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council).
“First we designed the strategy map and KPI for the organization. We designed them based on 4 perspectives, there are Financial perspective, Learning and Growth perspective, Youth’s Satisfaction perspective as Customer Satisfaction perspective and Legislation perspective as Internal Business Process perspective. Yes, exactly we replaced the customer satisfaction and internal business process perspectives, adjusted to the organization needs”. Anissa (13 March, 2019).
On the final and 4th Day of the summit, the delegates from different ASEAN member states were given an opportunity to showcase their respective country’s heritage and culture. The presentations also featured the Awarding and Closing Ceremonies. Indonesia presented Ge mu Fa Mi Re dance from East Nusa Tenggara, southernmost region of Indonesia.
“The experience of meeting other delegates from other countries were so much fun, I have learned a lot about ASEAN, and is important for my studies, and I hope I could inspire any other students in Indonesia to challenge themselves on joining this type of event” Anissa (13 March, 2019)
