Mini Fund for Youth Projects 2020
AYF's Mini Fund for Youth 2020 is to support right-based & youth-led activism and movements at national and local level across countries in Southeast Asia during the coronavirus pandemic. We support programs, initiatives, activities with underlying values human rights, democracy, justice, peace, and freedom that target young people aged 15-35 years old.
Project Officer : Anukriti Banerjee is a geography student and is passionate about fostering inclusivity and community wellbeing activities. She is fluent in four languages and hopes to empower vulnerable groups through her collaborations with ASEAN Youth Forum. Apart from her role as AYF Mini Fund’s Project Officer, she has previously hosted open spaces on mental health, migrant worker inclusion and participated in interregional dialogues on community building through arts and culture, among other endeavours.
Brunei Darussalam
COPE FOR HOPE
Cope for Hope is an early stage project led by university students in Brunei with the aim of educating young people about mental health and related issues through advocacy training workshops and coalition building activities. Five workshops were conducted over a period of five weeks with the goal of providing a safe space for mental health advocates and allies to strategize agendas to address gaps in national and campus agendas on mental health. Student leaders worked actively with government officials and other experts to fight mental health stigma and encourage the youth to be involved in mental health advocacy.
copeforhope.bn@gmail.com | @copeforhopebrunei
family heads and their students discussing our workshop on intergenerational traumas.
Ending the first night of the program by celebrating one of our participant’s birthday!
post-training photos with family heads who stayed
CAMBODIA
LOVEISDIVERSITY
Started in 2018, this is a project which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights in Cambodia through internet activism. On the issue of LGBTQ+ rights, Cambodia still has a ways to go in addressing stigma and other challenges and initiatives like LoveisDiversity are important in bridging those gaps. The team even has support from The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. For the duration of the Fund, the team engaged with popular social media influencers to spread awareness and increase their reach even more – and they were highly successful as two magazines even contacted them in December to feature their work.
social media contents of the campaign
with the founder of green lady Cambodia
with Mr. Lay Bunleng (Young Social Influencer)
CAMBODIA
JOJEK
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a grave impact on the tourism industry and this is even more true for countries like Cambodia which depends so heavily on it for its national income. Understanding the need to help youth in tourism affected by the pandemic, team JoJek planned for a series of upskilling workshops to help youth gain digital literacy and other skills to help them stay relevant in the job market – be it tourism or any other sector.
JoJek Team
Agenda planing and engagement strategy
INDONESIA
NORTH SUMATRA'S TRANSGENDER ASSOCIATION (PETRASU)
Petrasu, a project for championing the rights of transgender people, is the first of its kind in the Simalungun, Indonesia. The initiative, started in Nov 2020, surveys the conditions of transgender women in the selected communities to create a network of advocates who can safeguard the legal and social rights of trans people who are otherwise discriminated and may be abused by the people in their families and communities. Petrasu trains the select advocates to be familiar with legal processes such as transitioning with safety and dignity and also maintain the general physical and mental wellbeing of trans people. This is an early stage project with a big potential to become a strong support network for the transgender community in the remote districts of Indonesia where such services may be otherwise unavailable.
Petrasu Team Meeting
Survey and Interview
Training
MYANMAR
TEENS AND DREAMS
Teens and Dreams is an inter-university project which conducts various activities for young people’s welfare across Myanmar. This year, they focused on mental-health activities with support from the Fund. They conducted a competition, “Your Story Matters”, for young people to showcase their talents and get involved in artistic activities to provide relief from the long periods of isolation. Schools and universities in Myanmar have been closed for well over 8 months – few have online learning – which means that previously active youth are almost completely cut off from their friends and social life. Thus, this project has been timely and effective in its goal to promote mental health activities and awareness.
teensndreams.info@gmail.com | Teens and Dreams on Facebook | @tnd_teensndreams
one event being live-streamed on Facebook
TnD Team
THAILAND
DEAFABILITY
Deafability started in 2020 in the Deep South of Thailand (Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat and nearby areas), following the results of a research which identified 300 deaf children in the community but little to no resources for their education and wellbeing. The team, in collaboration with the local Association for Deaf People, found that schools with appropriate audio-visual support are distant from the hometowns of these deaf students and religious curriculum does not support inclusive education. These students were thus unable to converse in Thai sign language and had no standard medium of communication. Parents and teachers are also unaware of future opportunities and careers for deaf people. Thus, Deafability had a clear aim – to educate deaf children, parents and teachers in Thai sign language to help them integrate better into the society. The team distributed handmade flashcards, hosted workshops and streamed the sessions on Facebook for a wider audience to join.
Workshop Documentation
THE PHILIPPINES
TUGON RESCUE
“Tugon” is the Tagalog word for rescue/save (or so I was told by the team). This project is a few years in the making and is led by university students. Tugon Rescue planned and implemented a programme to teach water hygiene to a residents of a slum in Manila. The team distributed 6 water filters and taught the residents of the slum how to use them. These will work for the benefit of more than 20 families. The group also shared knowledge and experiences on proper hygiene practices and sanitation to educate 86 youths in total. All this was done live and with respect to the local safety guidelines for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Educating children on sanitation and hygiene
Educating parents about filtration for clean water
Tugon Rescue Team
TIMOR LESTE
ZAGER
Zager was started by a local artist in Timor-Leste who saw the potential of art as a medium to promote conversations on gender-quality and advocacy against gender-based violence. Zinha (Leader) decided to paint a mural depicting gender diversity when she learned of increased instances of violence against LGBTQ+ people in the news – including of a mother who was killed while protecting her child from a rapist. To commemorate the life of the deceased mother and the other victims, Zinha and her friends painted a large mural on the wall of a football field in the city – so that passing cars and people would see the mural and question the artists behind its meaning. The project was simple, well-planned and efficiently implemented.
the mural, each character represent diverse identity
the mural
VIETNAM
PSYCHO-EDUCATION AND APPLIED RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE DEAF (PARD)
Trainers training about tools such as Photoshop, Adobe Effect, and presentation skills to support Sign
Language News Program for deaf members in Vinh Long.
Local workshop for members of Vinh Long Deaf club
Group photo with everyone signing the sign name of Vinh Long Deaf club and PARD Vietnam
VIETNAM
YUU ORG
Experiental Trip in the Forest
Documentation of Youth Engagement Training Initiative