TUNZA

From 25 to 27 September 2013, 50 participants from 15 different countries attended the ASEAN Water Dialogue Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. The youth participants served as rapporteurs, speakers, and even facilitators in discussions during the conference. The theme of the conference was Water Security Cooperation in ASEAN: Revisiting the Long Term Commitments and Building Capacity for Youth Engagement.

The conference was a means to monitor the progress of national and regional strategies towards Southeast Asia's vision for water by 2025 and followed up on the 2013 Chiang Mai Declaration on Water Security and Water-related Disaster Challenges as well as Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Resolution 69/8 on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and ESCAP Resolution 69/12 on building resilience. It also focused on youth engagement in water security and water-related disaster management.

The youth participants presented their visions, objectives, and proposed projects during the conference. The participants interacted with each other and exchanged and distributed souvenirs and giveaways from their organizations to other participants. Videos of SEAYEN and the ASEAN Future Leaders for Water program in Chiang Mai, Thailand, were presented, and a freedom wall was put up for youth leaders to write their thoughts on YOUTH.

At the conference, youth participants were also given the chance to interact with policy makers and officials from ASEAN and take part in discussions on the direction of ASEAN's water activities. The officials responded well to the contributions of the delegates and look forward to working with the youth more in the future.

Additionally, SEAYEN, alongside representatives from United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), Asia Pacific Youth Parliament for Water, and Asian Development Bank, was given a separate session to discuss youth's role in water as well as to develop programs and projects. Through this discussion, SEAYEN could better understand how the youth envision ASEAN, how the youth can work with the governments, and what activities can be conducted to attain the objectives.

SEAYEN delegates from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Korea were given time to participate in and demonstrate an eco-debate. It was, according to many people at the conference, the most interesting part of the whole program. From surveys conducted before and after the debate, it was found that after witnessing the eco-debate, many law making bodies believe that youth should be more involved in policy making and implementation with regards to water issues. The session served as a teaser for the eco-debate SEAYEN will be helping graduates of the SUSI programme to launch that will take place early next year in the Philippines.

SEAYEN coordinated with members of the Thai Government's Department of Water Resources (DWR), Korea Water Forum (KWF), and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to launch a Social Media Competition. Through this platform, participants can use social media, including blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, to discuss water issues and solutions. Judges from the Thai Government DWR, KWF, and ADB will select a winner to participate in the Asia Pacific Youth Parliament for Water in South Korea in 2014.

SEAYEN launched a Self-Video Contest to continue generating more discussion about ASEAN water issues. The winners will get the chance to participate in the Singapore International Water Week in 2014.