It all started on July 29th 2020. An event usually held in the Asia Pacific Region was brought online due to the reining pandemic. It was the first ever online Asia Pacific Youth Exchange and Global Social Innovation Idea Competition (APYE & GSIIC). This event brought together youths of the Asia Pacific region, and my team (photo below) made the members from Africa.
Nchofon (first from left) and the team
Forty teams all together with over 180 participants were welcomed in day one- the orientation day. On this day, with several workshops, we got to meet newer people, places and cultures. It was fun-filled and full of life.
Two days later, we had our pre-session. We were taught more about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Social entrepreneurship. Through workshops and assignments, we digested the lessons. We discussed about the problems in our community and how we can approach them given the knowledge we just acquired. My team had to work on our project outside the meeting hours. This was an opportunity for us to grow in group work.
On the 3rd of August, we had a high-level conference which marked the official opening ceremony of the event. Amongst the high-profile guests here present was the vice president of the Philippines (Hon Maria Leonor G. Robredo), Digital Minister of Taiwan, Deputy Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, Vice President of Keimyung University and Hanyang University, just to name a few. We also heard from other great persons positively influencing their community.
We kept working on our assignments and we were paired with mentors. We had an online presentation of our project on August 7th. Our project was on the proper preservation of patients' medical records for meticulous clinical decision making in the future. It entailed setting up a platform to easily collect, store and access patients' health data to enhance medical continuity.
This paved the way to more lessons, more about presenting our projects to our audience in a formal and professional way. Through the youth Co:Lab spring board program, we polished our skills. We kept having lessons and workshops till this day, the 28th of August 2020.
We came to the end of this intensive one-month program today. Pitches from all participating teams crowned the day. Much improvement was noticed in the manner at which the teams presented. All 40 teams had awesome ideas and amazing solutions. The top teams were rewarded too. We all returned exhausted but full of knowledge. It was a wonderful moment spent with other vibrant youths across the world, positively changing their community.
Nchofon Tagha G.
APYE Alumni.
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