From 7 – 9 October 2022, ASEF’s Education Department supported the ASEAN Youth Organization (AYO)’s ASEAN Youth Conference 2022, held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The conference was joined by ASEAN youth to explore the theme of “Collaborative Development Post COVID-19 pandemic”, with a focus on the youth’s contribution in implementing the agenda for peace, stability, solidarity, unity, prosperity and sustainability in ASEAN in accordance with Cambodia’s chairmanship of ASEAN, “ASEAN ACT: Addressing Challenges Together.” The aim for the youth delegates was to produce policy recommendations to be delivered to the ASEAN Secretariat. AYC2022 was sponsored by the Mekong Institute, the Selangor Youth Community and AYO Kreasi International and was hosted at Cambodia University of Technology and Science (CamTech).
Ms Reka TOZSA (Acting Director, Education) and Ms Freya CHOW-PAUL (Youth Project Coordinator) were invited to facilitate 2 workshops during the Conference.
On 7 October, Reka & Freya delivered a workshop within the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Pillar on “Interrelations between ASEAN and the European Union”. They shared about the work of ASEF and the best practices of the youth alumni on tackling different sustainable development challenges. They also highlighted the different opportunities and challenges for youth within Asia and Europe relations.
On 8 October, they delivered a simulation workshop where they presented the case study of ‘How to improve Higher Education in ASEAN’ and guided the delegates through the process of identifying the problems and subsequently proposing solutions and policy recommendations. This simulation was to prepare them for the final day of the conference where they would work together to develop policy recommendations for the ASEAN Secretariat.
ASEF is excited to see the further outcomes from AYC2022 and are delighted to see the enthusiasm of so many young people in ASEAN.
