CIFAL Atlanta Helps Host Participants of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative

21 March 2016, Georgia, United States - From 1 February to 4 March 2016, CIFAL Atlanta, in partnership with Kennesaw State University (KSU), welcomed 21 young leaders from Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam as part of the U.S. State Department’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). Their four-week academic residency was spent on the KSU campus, where the participants developed a deeper understanding of human and civil rights through the study of U.S. history—most notably the civil rights movement.

They also participated in community service projects, leadership and ethics training sessions and met and learned from numerous distinguished guest speakers. During the fifth week the participants had the opportunity to visit three cities in Alabama and Tennessee, all of which were of significant importance to the civil rights movement. Their educational study tour and programme concluded with a visit to Washington D.C., where they had an opportunity to engage with policymakers, governmental representatives, businesses, and think tanks.

The overarching goal of the programme was to train the selected participants to become multifaceted community leaders capable of designing and implementing their own needs-based community service projects in their home communities, provide participants with an overview of the U.S. civil rights movement as an example of how U.S. citizens have shaped U.S. history, government, and society both as individuals and groups, and to strengthen and expand KSU’s and CIFAL Atlanta’s connections and programmes in Southeast Asia.

Photo: Young leaders gather at Kennesaw State University as part of the U.S. State Department’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative in partnership wtih CIFAL Atlanta