COHORT ONE IN A GLANCE

In 2019, 100 youth change-makers were selected from a total of 2,650 applications across 10 ASEAN countries. The selected youth participants were grouped together with 9 other participants from different ASEAN countries and each group were paired with an overseas Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)/ Social Enterprises (SEs) to design the two-week community project in the thematic areas of Community Empowerment, Arts and Culture, Environmental Diversity and Education. The community projects were implemented in 10 community sites in Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia, supported by a total of USD 200,000 project grants.

• 17,827 Individuals positively impacted
• 1,016 Mangroves seeds planted
• 600 Kilograms of food waste collected
• 47 Teachers equipped with new teaching tools
• 1 New training center for youths were built
• 5 200 litres capacity water filter installed

REGIONAL ORIENTATION & CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOP

The workshop that were held from 21 to 27 January 2019 was opened with a launch ceremony that saw Prof. Suthiphand Chirathivat, the Executive Director of ASEAN Studies Centre of Chulalongkorn University and Lee Yoong Yoong, the Director of Community Affairs of the ASEAN Secretariat delivering their remarks, followed by a keynote speech from H.E. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, the Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Thailand. Datuk Nora Abdul Manaf, Maybank's Group Chief Human Capital Officer also presented her welcome remarks, emphasising the importance of the programme.

This workshop serves as an important milestone due to its role in equipping all participants with the necessary skills and knowledge ranging from Design Thinking Workshop, Sharing Sessions, Introduction to ASEAN, UN SDGs Tools, Project Cycle Management Cycle and Project Preparation as well as Project Deliberation and presentation to successfully help them to implement their projects. In the course of the 5-day workshop, the participants, now divided into 10 groups according to country placement and selection of themes, will be trained to develop project plans covering a broad range of developmental issues that will help them to implement their community projects.

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

From 17 February to 2 March 2019, all participants were mobilised to the designated countries with 3 projects each in Malaysia and Cambodia and 4 projects in Indonesia. Over the period of the project deployment, the participants along with their respective partner CSO went to ground engaging directly with the communities to understand the local issues at hand, and through the process gradually building the trust with the beneficiaries to deliver on the projects mandated.

From projects focusing on arts and culture to food waste management, eco-tourism to children’s education, all our participants enthusiastically went about bringing positive change to the communities, befitting their role as change-makers. Getting soaked in torrential rain or sweating it out under the hot sun clearly were not a deterrent to their spirit, and we are very encouraged that the resulting impact from the projects will definitely contribute to cultivation of goodwill for Maybank with the engaged communities.

In ensuring the sustainability of the projects deployed, all participating CSOs and participants were tasked to come up with sustainable plans which will be taken up by the CSOs upon the two weeks project deployment phase ended as the teams handed over their projects to their partner CSOs, leaving their positive marks on the communities served and bringing home invaluable lessons and memories in their journey as an ASEAN change maker.