YSEALI Regional Workshop on Advocacy and Strategic Communications for ASEAN Nations

Deadline: 30 June 2019

The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has announced an open competition for organizations to submit applications to implement a five-day workshop (two travel days and three full workshop days) in Malaysia to boost the strategic communication and advocacy skills of NGOs in Southeast Asia, pending availability of funds.

Program Objectives

The Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) is the U.S. government’s signature initiative to engage emerging leaders in Southeast Asia. The program aims to create a network of young Southeast Asian leaders who work across national borders to solve common problems. This program will be one of a number of regional workshops hosted by U.S. embassies around the region and will involve participants from the 10 ASEAN countries and East Timor.

The workshop’s aim is to build strategic communication and advocacy skills of NGO leaders and civil society advocates working in the areas of human and wildlife trafficking and environmental sustainability. The workshop should help participants become more effective, particularly in how they work with government, including techniques and methods for influencing policy. The workshop should also focus on working with the media, including developing messaging for both traditional and social media.

Funding Information

Award Ceiling: $250,000
Award Floor: $100,000

Specific Requirements

Design and implement a five-day workshop (two travel days and three full workshop days) to be held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia to take place in June 2020. They anticipate 60 total participants.

In addition to providing training and skills building in communication and advocacy, the workshop should:

Build upon prior public, private, and civil society activities around the topic of human and wildlife trafficking and environmental sustainability;
Bring together expertise to make a case for how best to empower change makers and promote better advocacy and strategic communications in Southeast Asia;
Delineate what technical, policy, media and communications knowledge will be taught to participants;
Describe daily activities to show how and where learning will take place and how each activity connects to the overall objective of teaching the knowledge and skills needed to create solutions. Course content should be flexible enough to be relevant to participants from different countries;
Include workshop speakers, facilitators and/or mentors that represent both the United States and Southeast Asia;
Promote the unity of ASEAN and the United States as a partner in ASEAN’s efforts to promote sustainable economic growth. As such, the workshop should include a cultural component, such as a Southeast Asian or Malaysian cultural appreciation event or excursion, or a local community service activity.

The selected organization will also be responsible for:

Managing the recruitment, application and selection process to include an online application form. Participants must come from all ASEAN member countries plus Timor-Leste, and will be YSEALI members with whom embassies in all 11 nations have direct contact. They also have to be citizens of ASEAN or Timor-Leste and residents in ASEAN or Timor-Leste.
Create and implement a logistics plan that includes airfare, lodging, and food for all participants, presenters and staff.
Organize and implement collaborative follow-on projects to be implemented by teams of participants after the workshop is completed.
Create and implement a plan for monitoring and evaluation of participants during and after completion of the workshop and describe how the program’s outcomes will achieve the specific objectives described in this narrative.
Design a digital engagement strategy for workshop participants, including but not limited to social media outreach that enhances the in-person training. Digital engagement should tie into existing YSEALI social media properties.
Design and implement a method of sharing key aspects of the workshop with the thousands of youth who have signed up as YSEALI members, but are unable to attend the actual workshop. Examples include offering online versions of workshop materials including videos of presentations and shareable digital versions of hand-outs or similar materials.

Participants and Audiences

Participants will be ages 18-35 from 10 ASEAN nations: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, plus Timor-Leste. Participants will be registered YSEALI members, who have demonstrable interest in issues relating to advocacy, civil society, NGO work, issues of human and wildlife trafficking or environmental sustainability or conservation, whether through paid employment, volunteer work, unpaid internships, or coursework and who show promise in becoming socially active in effecting positive change in their communities. They may have attended YSEALI events, activities, exchanges, workshops and other related YSEALI programs.

Eligibility Criteria

The following organizations are eligible to apply: