Overview   

In 2020, the ASEAN Foundation launched a new programme entitled Bridges to the Future: ASEAN Youth Employment in collaboration with Plan International and with the support of Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, which aims to support ASEAN youth in not only acquiring the necessary 21st-century skills to (re)enter the workforce but also building a more sustainable and secure economy post-pandemic.   

The programme will become a host to market-driven vocational training and job-matching sessions that targets vulnerable young people in the region. This is reflected by the fact that youth have increasingly been more prone to be unemployed compared to adults in light of the pandemic. With the outbreak of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, the situation has been further exacerbated as young workers suffered a disproportionate amount of job losses. Young people across Southeast Asia such as in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam accounted for as much as 45% of job losses at the height of the pandemic in 20201.  

On 17th of June 2022, the ASEAN Foundation launched the research report entitled Mind the Gap: Mapping Youth Skills for the Future in ASEAN report. The Foundation conducted the research from March 2021 until May 2022 on Youth Job Market and Skills Demand Study in 10 ASEAN Member States (AMS), it comprised several key stages such as data collection through surveys, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews with key informants in the region. The study process conducted by the ASEAN Foundation aims to analyse and produce a comprehensive landscape of youth employability in the region, focusing on the vulnerable youth workers in the post-pandemic. The research intends to map out the future skills required by underserved youth across 10 countries in the ASEAN region. This research focuses to capture three main points namely i) the employability landscape of the youth aged 18-29 in ASEAN in pandemic and post-pandemic scene, ii) the most demanded skills in the job market, and iii) the barriers for underserved youth to enter the job market. 

The findings from the report aim to not only inform private entities and policymakers across the region but also to engage with young people from 10 AMS, within the discussion of youth employment in ASEAN. As part of ASEAN Foundation’s continuous initiative to disseminate the findings from the research and in conjunction with the celebration of World Youth Skills day 2022 and to continue to promote key elements of the Bridges to the Future: ASEAN Youth Employment programme, we are calling youth across the region to join the ASEAN Youth Creative Content Competition. 

Objectives, target, & format

We invite ASEAN youth to join the creative content competition to help us disseminate the findings from the Mind the Gap: Mapping Youth Skills for the Future in ASEAN Report in a youthful and creative way. Youth can submit their creative content through Instagram within the period of 11-31 July 2022.  

Beyond serving the purpose of engaging more ASEAN youth in this programme, there are two main objectives as below: 

To raise awareness and improve knowledge of ASEAN youth on the current trend of the job market and skill demand by encouraging them to explore the findings from Mind the Gap: Mapping Youth Skills for the Future in ASEAN report, where the research itself can be one of the main sources of the creative content youth will develop 

1. To invite ASEAN youth to engage in discussion around youth employment in the region and supporting the recovery process in the region, particularly for the vulnerable job seekers, through the social media platform 

The target participants of this campaign are youth and the general public in ASEAN.  The creative content competition will be conducted with the following details:  

Competition period: 11 – 31 July 2022 

Platform: Instagram 

The winners will be three selected works by the jury that will win the total prize of USD 1,000 

• 1st Winner : Certificate, prize of USD 500 – Tablet  
• 2nd Winner : Certificate, prize of USD 300 – Audio Device  
• 3rd Winner : Certificate, prize of USD 200 – Headset/Headphone Bluetooth  

Theme :  Bridging the #ASEANYouth to the Future Work   

Sub-themes :  

1. Being Resilient for Youth during the COVID-19 Pandemic  
2. Developing youth skills for future employment  
3. Creating an inclusive work environment for young people  

Key message :  

Explore ASEAN youth employment current issues and spread the encouragement to enter the career gate. 

Timeline: 

III.   Requirements and eligibilities 

Who can apply?  

• Creative and talented youth that holds an ASEAN Member State passport (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and resides in the country of citizenship 
• The applicants must be aged 18 to 35 years old at the time of the deadline of submission on 31 July 2022 

• The applicants must submit any type of Instagram post; photos, posters, infographics, reels, IGTV, single post or carousel post. NOTE that works in the form of video or motion graphics should have a maximum duration of two minutes 
• The applicants should not be an ASEAN Foundation’s or relevant partners' employees  
• The applicants should not violate copyright and offend particular group(s) of people (e.g racial, ethnic, and religious issues) throughout the post created 

Entry and selection criteria:  

• The applicants need to follow @aseanfoundation and also ensure that the profile is accessible to the public 
• Each post or creative content must clearly and creatively address “Bridging the #ASEANYouth to the Future Work” 
• The post and caption should be in English, or if created in the local language it should be complemented with English translation 
• The applicants must post original and authentic work(s) in their own Instagram feed and tag @aseanfoundation. The work(s) need to be original and has(have) not been submitted to a similar competition before and should be unpublished. The work needs to incorporate the content provided by the BTF Report and promote ASEANJobs.org within the type of Instagram post created  
• The post needs to cite the original source, if the participants take or quote from one’s source as a reference 

• The applicant should upload and post one (or more than one of) their content to their respective social media channels and tag @aseanfoundation with the hashtag #bridgestothefuture #aseanfoundation #ASEANYouthForTheFuture 
• The applicants are encouraged to put interesting, insightful and engaging captions to support the visual work submitted to the competition 
• After uploading your content on your Instagram feed, please complete the application form at bit.ly/BTF-creative content-form   

  Assessment/curation criteria

• Creativity: The content is interesting, unique, and youthful (50%) 
• Theme suitability : The creative content clearly and creatively represents the theme of “Bridging the #ASEANYouth to the Future Work” through positive youth perspectives (30%) 
• Aspirations and messages : The content conveys aspirational thoughts that are inspiring and engaging to the viewers (20%) 

  Additional note

• The jury's decision cannot be contested 
• The jury has the right to cancel its decision if in the future it is known that the winning work of the competition violates other people's copyrights (plagiarism) or participates in similar competitions or has been published on other social media 
• Copyright remains with the creator of the work, while the committee has the right to publish it