The ASEAN Foundation has finally concluded the ASEAN Foundation Influencer Programme (AFIP) with the announcement of the three best influencers on Tuesday, 11 July 2023.

The three influencers were selected as winners for their consistency and creativity in developing social media contents that helped spread ASEAN awareness throughout the implementation of the programme. A total of 67 contents were developed by them, reaching over 1,489,060 impressions on TikTok and Instagram. Below are the names of the Three Best Influencers of AFIP 2023:

• 1^st Place: Thy Lineth (Cambodia)
• 2^nd Place: Muhamad Solahudin Al Ayub (Indonesia)
• 3^rd Place: Fryadiva Meshia Sihabudin (Indonesia)

As the winners of AFIP, they will be awarded cash prizes totalling USD 1,000 as well as certificates of recognition. They will also be flown to Bangkok, Thailand, for five days to attend and support the promotion of one of the ASEAN Foundation’s flagship initiative, eMpowering Youths Across ASEAN: Cohort 3.

AFIP is a new outreach initiative by the ASEAN Foundation that aims to harness the power of social media influencers to build greater awareness of ASEAN among its people. The programme, which was started with a call for applications in October 2022, identified and selected 28 influencers out of hundreds of applicants from ten ASEAN countries to help the ASEAN Foundation in spreading the message of “What Makes ASEAN Great” to the local communities using their creativity and network.

Since the start of the campaign by the 28 influencers in January 2023, more than 371 posts had been produced and circulated, reaching over 6,019,711 accounts in the last six months. The contents created by the influencers mainly touched on three important topics: Arts and Culture, Education, and Environment.

Following the selection of the influencers, a series of online meetups were organised to provide the influencers with guidance and relevant updates related to AFIP as well as two intensive trainings on personal branding and how to create viral education contents on TikTok delivered by industry experts.

The meetups also gave an opportunity for the influencers to connect with each other and have an interface session with the leaders of ASEAN Foundation, namely the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia to ASEAN and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of ASEAN Foundation, H.E. Ambassador Heng Sarith and the Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation, Dr. Piti Srisangnam.