ASEAN Youths’ Preparatory Meeting for the ASEAN People Forum

Where: Garden of Fruition (Suan Nguen Mee Ma), Bangkok
When: 16-19 February, 2009

The three-day preparatory youths’ forum will be held from 16-19-11 February 2009 at Garden of Fruition, Bangkok to prepare young people from ASEAN countries for their participation at the ASEAN People Forum, to be held at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok from 20-22 February 2009.

The forum will be co-organized by ActionAid Thailand ,Thai Volunteer Service and RRAFA, where approximately 45 youths from ASEAN countries will participate and play an important role in the preparatory regional meeting. During a three day preparatory meeting, participating young people will have an opportunity to build their knowledge and understanding on ASEAN and its mechanisms (ASAEN Charter and three principal (political, economic and social) pillars) as a regional body that plays important role in the region. They will also have an opportunity to prepare for their participation at the ASEAN People Forum.

The objectives of Young People’s Participation at the ASEAN Youths’ Preparatory Regional Meeting are:

• To provide an opportunity for young people to share their experiences, good practices and models of successful youth led interventions in the region specifically related to key challenges faced by ASEAN people such as the food crisis, human rights and peace, energy and environmental crisis (natural resources management) and people participation

• To contribute to the formulation of measurable advocacy targets (specific targets/goals with indicators) for the governments at the regional level and ASEAN and present their recommendations at the ASEAN People Forum

• To establish preparation processes leading up to the ASEAN People Forum and to select youth representatives to meet with ASEAN leaders in a meeting in Chiang Mai

• To ensure follow-up mechanisms (in terms of sharing of outcomes/implementation of the recommendations of the Preparatory Meeting and the ASEAN People Forum) with wider groups of young people in the region, and to see follow up institutionalized in relevant organizations, youth network and projects in the region

• To promote the participation of young people, especially young women, in the governance of ASEAN and strengthen the institutionalization of meaningful participation of young people within civil society

APF Youth Network: Hear the Voices of ASEAN Youth

Supaporn Chonnapataweep
Youth representative

APF/ASEAN Youth Network


APF/ASEAN Youth Network is the network of young people from ASEAN countries, particularly from the Greater Mekong Sub-region which is coordinated by Action Aid Thailand ,Thai Volunteer Service (TVS), RRAFA and Youth for Local Wisdom Network. The involvement is about 50 of young people from local community and urban area. Although we are from different countries and have different background but we do have something in common. We believe in youth power and when we go together is making this world were the better place.

The objective of ASEAN youth network are to provide an opportunity for young people to share their experiences, good practice and model of successful youth led interventions in the region especially related to key challenges faced by ASEAN people such as the food crisis, human right and peace, energy and environmental crisis (natural resources management) and people participation

Secondly is, to contribute to the formulation of measurable advocacy targets for the governments at the regional level and ASEAN and present their recommendation to the ASEAN leaders

Thirdly is, to promote the participation of young people, especially young women , in the governance of ASEAN and strengthen meaningful participation of young people within civil society

Last 2 month, I attended to Mekong Youth Camp for Social Development. This is the activity that held for Network of young people as a platform to share experiences and common concerns particularly on the food and energy crisis including peace, globalization, GNH movement and also discuss about the ASEAN Charter and the three pillars.

During the camp, after we reviewed ASEAN charter was having some concern about the charter as ASEAN is going to promote a people-oriented ASEAN in which all sectors of society are encouraged to participate in. The question is ‘how to promote the participation and taken seriously from every sector…what’s about marginalized people, ethnic minority, urban poor or rural community?

ASEAN countries have a lot of diversity so the key that challenge the engagement is how to make the meaningful participation of the people in every sectors especially poor people who really face the problem. How would ASEAN do to get the voice from them?

However, we appreciate the improvement of ASEAN that you have an establishment of Senior Ministerial Meeting on youth, that’s the good initiate, but we still concern that it may not yet reach all the group of youth such as poor youth in rural area who couldn’t easily access to the information or someone who not capable to speak English so this must be very challenging to make the meaningful participation from all of us.

Youth and children are often treating as the second to adult although we are the right holder ourselves. We have been regarded as the next generation, the future but we don’t have to wait that long, we can start now so our recommendation is to create concrete mechanism to ensure the participation of youth especially the poor people and the Implementation of ASEAN which will have effect on people should ask for the agreement of people in every sectors.

Due to the financial crisis, it may causes social issue such as the unemployment crisis which would worsen the food situation in region so it would be very helpful to create concrete measures to cope the crisis and implement the social protection policy to guarantee the employment and recent living wage.

The issue in our community is not one’s responsibility, these happen from all of us and effect to everyone so we should solve the problem together and you should develop youth capability to joint activities among youth in ASEAN country, so we can share our experiences and be the co-worker to develop our region together ‘cause the sustainable growth is from the power of unity.

Mekong Youth Camp for Social Development

About APF/ASEAN Youth Network