YSEALI Regional Workshop: Advanced Media Literacy for Digital Creators

The grantee is expected to develop syllabus materials and an event program with participant and speaker biographies, as well as design banners, backdrops, and other printed materials. The grantee is expected to design a digital engagement strategy for workshop participants and social media audiences, including live video or live online engagement during the program.

Program Objectives 

• YSEALI is the U.S. government’s signature initiative to engage emerging leaders in Southeast Asia. The program aims to create a network of young Southeast Asian leaders who work across national borders to solve common problems. Through a variety of programs and engagements, YSEALI seeks to build the leadership capabilities of youth in the region, strengthen ties between the United States and Southeast Asia, and nurture a community of leaders who work across borders to solve shared issues.
• YSEALI is open to young leaders ages 18-35 who are both citizens and residents of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) or Timor-Leste. Responding to priorities from youth in the ASEAN region, YSEALI programs focus on four themes (Civic Engagement, Economic Empowerment and Social Entrepreneurship, Education and Environmental Issues).
• One component of YSEALI is the annual Regional Workshops held across Southeast Asia on strategic topics.
• This regional workshop on Advanced Media Literacy for Digital Creators will advance the YSEALI theme of Civic Engagement and the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines priority to support emerging leaders as democratic vanguards and promote media literacy.
• This regional workshop will convene around 100 emerging content creators, journalists, and advocates from ASEAN member nations and Timor-Leste for a five-day workshop in the Philippines. The workshop will advance participants’ knowledge and skills in critical media literacy.
• The workshop will also create and sustain a virtual network of emerging content creators to provide a safe space for exchanges of best practices and solutions to challenges. At the workshop’s finale, participants may compete for small grants to implement projects and/or campaigns to promote media literacy to fellow emerging leaders across the region and celebrate International Youth Day in August 2025.

Funding Information

• Total available funding: $250,000
• Award amounts: Award may range from a minimum of $150,000 to a maximum of $250,000.
• Length of performance period: 12-18 months
• Number of awards anticipated: One

Participants and Audiences 

• Participants will be content creators, journalists, and media literacy advocates from ASEAN member nations and Timor-Leste. Participants should demonstrate commitment to develop and sustain their projects. Participants should also be registered YSEALI members.
• The grantee will create an online application process and coordinate with the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines and other U.S. Embassies in the region to recruit and select participants from all ASEAN member countries and Timor-Leste. All participants must be proficient in written and spoken English. Participants must be citizens and residents of an ASEAN member country or Timor-Leste.
• The grantee will be responsible for arranging and using cooperative agreement funds to cover all elements related to participant and staff travel including international and domestic flights, visas, travel to and from airports, visas, accommodations, per diem, meals during the program, and insurance.

Priority Region 

• Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste.

Eligibility Criteria

• The following organizations are eligible to apply:
  • U.S. public and private educational institutions
  • U.S. not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks
  • Philippine-based or Foreign public and private educational institutions
  • Philippine-based or Foreign not-for-profit organizations, including think tanks
• In order to be eligible to receive an award, all organizations must have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.