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The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative “YSEALI” Seeds for the Future Small Grants Competition is excited to announce the 2024 grantee winners! Up to $15,000 has been awarded to each of the 16 winning teams, which represent the 11 YSEALI member countries, to fund projects on the themes of civic engagement, economic empowerment and social entrepreneurship, education, or environmental issues. The YSEALI Seeds for the Future Small Grants Competition has been administered by the U.S. Mission to ASEAN since 2014. This year is YSEALI Seeds’ 10th year anniversary.
This year’s projects range from the Cambodian team, “Labor Plus,” which seeks to eradicate exploitation by empowering young workers through the simplification of labor rights into an understandable curriculum and training program, to Indonesia’s “Wildlife Coexistence Quest,” which will raise awareness of the importance of protecting sharks in the region.
These are just some of the regional projects that will be funded through YSEALI Seeds to showcase the power of the Southeast Asian community. Follow YSEALI Seeds on Instagram to see the teams’ journeys throughout 2024!
The 2024 YSEALI Seeds for the Future kick-off workshop took place in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 26-28, 2024, and was the first time the selected grantees had the opportunity to meet in person. The kickoff workshop, organized by Cultural Vistas and supported by U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, featured several trainings on the fundamentals of project and grant management, social media content creation, branding, monitoring & evaluation techniques, and more. During the workshop, the grantees had the opportunity to share their project action plans with their fellow grantees, solicit feedback from alumni mentors, build external partnerships, network with U.S. State Department and USAID contacts, and create new networks across the ASEAN region.
This year, the teams had the opportunity to visit the historic Ayutthaya UNESCO World Heritage Site, “Wat Chaiwatthanaram,” and learn about the site’s cultural significance to the region and how the U.S. Embassy Bangkok’s Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) program has helped to preserve the site for future generations through its partnership with the World Monuments Fund.
YSEALI Seeds for the Future program is a small grants competition that supports innovative initiatives in Southeast Asia. It provides funding for the region’s most promising young leaders to carry out projects that improve their communities, countries, and the region across the program themes of civic engagement, economic empowerment and social entrepreneurship, education, and environmental issues. Cultural Vistas began administering the program in 2017.
The YSEALI community consists of bright young leaders, 18–35 years old, from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam who are making a difference in their communities, countries, and the region. Learn more about the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative here.
2024 YSEALI Seeds for the Future Grant Recipients
| Brunei | Digiverse |
| Cambodia | Labor Plus |
| Indonesia | Humba SHEpreneurship |
| Indonesia | Wildlife Coexistence Quest (WCQ) |
| Indonesia | #KakakAman |
| Laos | #SeatForTheFuture |
| Malaysia | Tanam Kunyit / Cultivating Pride |
| Myanmar | Cutting Carbon |
| Philippines | Project Kariton |
| Philippines | Saribuhay: Storytelling for a Greener Tomorrow |
| Singapore | The Adulting Community |
| Thailand | Green Talent Generation |
| Thailand | Touchable: Touch to Feel, Feel to Learn |
| Timor-Leste | Project Happy Cart |
| Vietnam | I Am VolunTEEN |
| Vietnam | EmpowHER Tech |