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August 21 2019 · Alumni Spotlight, Participant Experiences

Five Innovations to Shape Southeast Asia’s Future

The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Seeds for the Future small grants competition provides funding to Southeast Asia’s most promising young leaders, enabling them to carry out projects that uplift communities across the ASEAN region through civic engagement, education, economic growth, and sustainable development. Being involved with the competition has helped me realize that building the leadership capabilities of young social innovators, leaders, and agents of change is one of the most effective ways to overcome the world’s biggest challenges.

July 29 2019 · Alumni Spotlight

Open Apertures, Open Minds: YSEALI Alum Photographs for Advocacy

Seeing Mount Kinabalu in Borneo as a thirteen-year-old-child was a turning point in Gab Mejia’s life. It was the first mountain he had seen up close and he felt a strange, yet powerful, desire to summit it. Though he was unsuccessful during that first attempt, the experience led to him discover his true calling in life. Gab kept returning to the mountains and volcanoes in Philippines to learn hiking and experience nature. During these many trips, he discovered that, even more than summiting mountains, what he really loved to do was use his camera lens to tell stories and share…

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January 3 2018 · Features

Sowing the Seeds for ASEAN’s Bright Future

What could you do for your community if you had the funds and mentorship to make it happen? That was the call to action for 2017’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Seeds for the Future grantees.  And all 20 responded by pulling off projects that not only impacted their local areas—they affected the ASEAN community as a whole.

June 30 2017 · Features

Why We Care About Southeast Asia

I climbed aboard the USS Enterprise as a child living in Singapore, when the ship and its crew refueled in the newly-independent nation’s outer harbor before heading back to support the conflict in Vietnam. I had ‘a clue’ about the conflict because my parents insisted on making sure my older siblings and I were aware of our surroundings, and, well, Southeast Asia was a theater of warfare. Now, this region – the ASEAN region – is locked in a tug-of-war between China and the United States, both nations seeking to win the hearts and pocketbooks of its 625 million inhabitants,…

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February 22 2017 · Features

Why These Young ASEAN Leaders Will Change the World

Sixty-five percent of Southeast Asia’s population is under the age of 35. This makes it crucial to empower the region’s youth to invest in and make changes in their communities. Enter: The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Seeds For the Future Grants Competition. The 2017 grantees, each receiving grants ranging from $8,300 to $15,000, were selected from a competitive pool of nearly 400 applications. Their projects are as diverse as the Southeast Asian region itself, covering all 10 ASEAN members states and topics ranging from food insecurity to training special education teachers. But they share a common goal: to positively…

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