More than 30 ASEAN youth leaders shared their views with the Deputy Secretary-General of the ASEAN on what young people can do to help move the region forward sustainably.
All participants of the 2021 ASEAN Youth Fellowship (AYF) gathered in Singapore from 27 to 31 October for the third edition of the programme, organized by the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) and the National Youth Council Singapore (NYC) in Singapore.
Their suggestions came as a response to the Chairman’s Statement from the 38th/39th ASEAN Summit, emphasizing the importance of unity in promoting ASEAN’s sub-regional development, especially in narrowing the development gap, enhancing ASEAN’s regional competitiveness and connectivity, and ensuring sustainable and inclusive development. It also highlighted the need to elevate the roles of youth in realizing the goals and to ensure that they are prepared to respond to complex global challenges.
Over five days, the 33 Fellows took part in a series of dialogues that explored innovations in public health management, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, and partnerships among the ASEAN communities, and the role youths can play in amplifying impactful voices responsibly to build a sustainable future.
They also visited Sustainable Living Lab (SL2), Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm, EWR2, an automated e-waste recycling plant, and Insecta, Singapore’s first urban insect farm that rears the black soldier fly to help turn food waste into biomaterials for industrial use, as part of their field trips.
The third run of the ASEAN Youth Fellowship programme continues to be a regional leadership development programme that aims to develop an active network of emerging ASEAN young leaders across diverse sectors.
Participants are young professionals between 27 to 35 years old and ASEAN citizens. For 2021’s iteration, due to travel restrictions, the participants selected had to be based in Singapore for the programme duration. — GNLM
