In collaboration with Impact Malaysia, an initiative under the purview of the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) for youth development and social impact, the Youth Environment Living Labs (YELL) recently launched Akademi Impact 2022. Akademi Impact is an incubator program organized every year by Impact Malaysia to spur youth-led impact projects. In 2022, Akademi Impact will be focusing on environmental and climate issues to address the escalating issue of climate change happening worldwide.
The call for participation is to youth residing in Malaysia between 18 – 30 years of age and aims to seed-fund 10 youth-led environment and climate action projects, through a mentored environment. Youths are invited to submit their proposals for Akademi Impact from the 1st of October and registration closes on the 5th of November. Akademi Impact takes place over a duration of 4 months beginning 30 November 2022. Within the 4 months, 10 selected teams will undergo 2 on-site workshops, and spend the rest of the 3 months piloting their project ideas until March 2023.
CULTURALIZING SOCIAL IMPACT
“Akademi modules utilize impact principles from the ideation phase, to ensure the projects are solving problems in a measurable manner,” said Ahmed Faris Amir, CEO of Impact Malaysia.
“The program is designed to build the participants’ capacity on understanding issues in a systematic manner, to ideate impactful solutions and to instill the culture of impact assessment in social projects from the beginning, and not only at the end of the project.”
Akademi Impact’s 2022 Earth Champion Edition is seeking project ideas that are themed around three environmental aspects:
- Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resource Management;
- Environmental Pollution and Waste Management; and
- Climate Mitigation and Adaptation.
Akademi Impact is divided into 3 parts, namely Roadmap, Management, and Pilot. The Roadmap will be covered in the first 5-day workshop, in which participants will be diving deep into the issue of climate change and the environment, analyzing case studies, refining their project ideas through expert reviews, and preparing their roadmap for project implementation. A field visit will be organized to learn from practitioners in the field.
After a week, participants will join a second 5-day workshop to polish their capacities on project implementation with topics surrounding project management, financial management, impact management, and communications. Participants will experience a combination of masterclasses and clinic-style workshops. Toward the end of the workshop, all 10 projects will have a feasible work plan to pilot their project ideas.
Lastly, Pilot is when participants are deployed back to their communities to test their project ideas. This will be made possible with seed funding from YELL up to RM5,000 per project, for implementation until March 2023. Participants will be coached periodically and the progress will be documented in a web series on Impact Malaysia’s Instagram account as well as the YELL network resource hub, yell.my, to share and inspire other youth on climate action.
EMPOWERING CHANGEMAKERS FOR CLIMATE ACTION
“We want to reimagine youth participation in climate and environmental policy and action in Malaysia, where youth are the key agents of change supported by partnerships across the public and the private sectors. We are delighted to collaborate with Impact Malaysia to design Akademi Impact 2022 to support young change-makers,” said Manon Bernier, Deputy Resident Representative UNDP Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam.
“While children and youth are among the most vulnerable to climate change, they are far from powerless. It is their ideas that can lead the way to combat the effects of climate change. We welcome Akademi Impact, for accelerating youth-led solutions to address climate change and its consequences in terms of health and well-being, education, and future opportunities” said Saskia Blume, Deputy Representative a.i. for UNICEF in Malaysia.
“Young people are becoming more aware of the challenges and risks posed by the climate crisis as they are the next in line to inherit the world for the next generation. Therefore, it is critical for us to facilitate and grow the voices of the younger generation, as well as to empower their passions to express their environmental concerns through their creative ways of thinking. Through Akademi Impact, we will give young people the space and resources they need to take action, and we believe that will lead us to achieve greater results. – Wan Faizah Che Din, CEO of Amanah Lestari Alam
Akademi Impact is open to all Malaysian youth, with priority given to Sabah & Sarawak youths, the Orang Asli community, people from the B40 category, and people with disabilities (OKU). This program is free and participants will be given free accommodation, traveling allowance, meals during classes, and funding for the pilot phase of 10 selected projects.
Registration for Akademi Impact starts on 1 October 2022 and will end on the 5th of November 2022. Interested applicants can apply at bit.ly/akademiimpact2022. For further information, kindly visit www.impact.my/akademi or yell.my/akademi.