Inaugural MyASEAN Youth Award promotes youth volunteerism among ASEAN youth

On 19 June, TalentCorp and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) awarded the inaugural MyASEAN Youth Award 2017 to MyASEAN Internship alumni, Nur Farhana Nadirah Hassan for her social impact project, Tohor Revolution.

The MyASEAN Youth Award (MAYA) was organised in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of ASEAN’s formation. It aims to strengthen youth involvement and participation in building the ASEAN community and promote the spirit of youth volunteerism among ASEAN youth. It also serves to recognise ASEAN youths who have created outstanding social impact or innovations in their home countries or MyASEAN Internship host countries.

The MyASEAN Youth Award is a platform for ASEAN’s change-makers.  As ASEAN celebrates our 50th anniversary as a regional economic bloc, we need to consider the trail that we have left behind in the past 50 years and also reflect on the ASEAN journey that we would like to chart in the next 50 years.”

“I am confident that our ASEAN youth will build a region that is more closely integrated and transform ASEAN into one of the most important regional economic blocs,” said MITI Minister, YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed. 

Nur Farhana, 24, was among three shortlisted candidates, who presented their project proposals to a panel of judges consisting MITI Secretary-General, Datuk Seri Jayasiri Jayasena; Leaderonomics CEO, Roshan Thiran; and TalentCorp CEO, Shareen Shariza Dato’ Abdul Ghani.  

“We are very happy to witness three very high-quality presentations tonight, which made the judging process very tough for us. We hope that more MyASEAN Intership alumni will participate in the Award next year,” shared Shareen. 

Nur Farhana emerged the top winner with her presentation of the Tohor Revolution project. Tohor Revolution is a long-term social impact project, focused to improve the health and hygiene levels, access to education and socioeconomic status of the aborigines in Kampung Tohor, a village located between Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. The project also forms the fundamental of an adaptable social impact framework that can be implemented in other rural or post-disaster areas in ASEAN countries. 

“I am very honoured and grateful to be given the opportunity to share Tohor Revolution with a wider audience,” said Nur Farhana. 

With the help of this grant, I am hopeful that the project now will be able enter its third phase, where we focus on developing a stable source of income for the people of Tohor.”

Nur Farhana will receive a RM10,000 grant to further develop the Tohor Revolution project, in addition to a pair of return flight tickets to any ASEAN destination.