SEALNet’s First Youth Leadership Summit 2013 (YLS13)
Email: yls13[at]sealnetonline.org
Executive Summary
Having worked in Southeast Asia and sponsored more than 35 projects since 2005, SEALNet has planted the seeds of service leadership in countless youth service leaders in the region. With driven passion, many of these youth leaders have established themselves as some of the most prominent voices of service in their communities and have in turn inspired us at SEALNet to continue the work that we do.
Recognizing this powerful strength in our young counterparts, YLS13 seeks to become an inaugural program that brings them together for a week-long service leadership summit, in which they can share their work, widen their perspectives, and grow as service leaders alongside their peers from across the region. With the central summit theme being regional and collaborative service leadership, participants will get to develop long-lasting friendships with their counterparts in hopes of future collaboration that will drive our region forward. They will also get to further hone their service leadership skills through our unique leadership curriculum that focuses on self-development rather than simply the hard skills of project management.
It is our hope that this summit becomes a giant leap toward the founding vision of a unified Southeast Asia driven by a collaborative network of passionate and driven service leaders from across the region.
Approach
YLS13 is a one-week-long service leadership summit, bringing together youth service leaders from across Southeast Asia for a week of shared experience under 3 main goals.
First and foremost is to connect like-minded peers who are eager to change and address service needs through their passion and entrepreneurialism. This is achieved through cross-cultural sharing activities, discussions of service needs, regional service brainstorming, team-building exercises, and hands-on projects.
The second goal is to demystify and enable service on a larger scale through a platform for sharing of ideas among participants, organizers, as well as SEALNet founders and mentors who have had extensive experience in the social service and entrepreneur sector. This will help participants gain wider perspective beyond that which they are exposed to in their communities as well as be inspired to take their projects and dreams a step higher.
The last goal is to push participants’ personal growth through our leadership curriculum that we use for our project leaders’ training. The curriculum addresses personal development and emphasizes the importance of learning that takes place throughout their work as service leaders. The participants will gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their motivation, and their limitless potential to grow.
Logistics
Who: The following application is targeted for high school to university level students who are passionate about Southeast Asia and its development, and who are driven to take action by participating in the summit. YLS is open to those who are either in their last 3 years of secondary education, in pre-university, or at the university level. We highly encourage past SEALNet mentees to apply and to get reconnected with SEALNet and our extensive network.
When: The summit dates are set for July 6, 2013 through July 14, 2013. Please make sure that you can attend for the full duration of these dates before applying.
Where: The Youth Leadership Summit will take place in Singapore.
Cost of attending: While all on-site expenses will be covered by SEALNet, you are held responsible for your own travel expenses to Singapore. In addition, each participant is responsible for fundraising $200 USD towards the summit. Please note that this fundraising contribution is NOT a participation fee. In case of extenuating financial circumstances, please do not hesitate to contact us at yls13[at]sealnetonline.org for more details on financial aid.
To participate, apply online between March 9 – April 6, 2013. Please note that the leadership summit application is separate from our two-week long summer service leadership projects. As such, the deadline for the leadership summit is different from that of the regular service leadership projects.