A week well spent in Washington DC

It was a quarter to 12 midnight. I was onboard a Malaysia Airline aircraft bound for London then for Washington DC. A sense of patriotism engulfed me.

I was thrilled. Appointed as YSEALI Youth Advisor, I was going to represent Malaysia to attend the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit in Washington DC held from 6-9 October.

Being in youth training business for the past 2 years, I have had the privilege to work with thousands of youth from age 12-27 to help develop their skills in entrepreneurship and financial intelligence. But never have I had the opportunities to learn about the non-profit organization landscape in the Western countries and how they champion causes and issues that the youths are facing.

It unveiled the unprecedented chance for me to learn from the best minds in the world in advancing economic opportunities for youth through the non-profit sector.

A series of activities awaited me in Washington DC. As soon as I arrived, I was invited to a dinner with the President of Malaysia-America Foundation, Mr. La Porta, who also formerly served as the Political Advisor to U.S. Commander-in-chief of NATO in Southern Europe. I felt honored to have a dinner with someone of that high profile, not to mention to be picked up by him at my hotel. We had a fruitful discussion about how our organization - LEAD Institute can work with Malaysia-America Foundation in Malaysia. I also learned a lot from him about foreign affairs in Asia.

The first morning of the summit was amazing! We had a line-up of back-to-back meetings and discussions in store for us in the U.S. Department of State. At that instance, I felt like I was a diplomat.

YSEALI Youth Advisors in Harry S Truman Building in U.S. Department of State

We were first arranged to meet with the Acting Assistant Secretary of Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs – Ambassador Scot Marciel. He is indeed a man with depth. Through the discussion, I could tell that he clearly understands every single issue happening in South East Asia. I also took the opportunity to highlight to him the good work that our government has done in the past few years to promote entrepreneurship in Malaysia.

With the Acting Assistant Secretary of Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs – Ambassador Scot Marciel

Next, we had a Facebook Chat with youths from ASEAN to hear their voices and bring their concerns to the summit which was about to begin in 3 hours. Some questions posted to me were really tough.

Live Facebook Chat with ASEAN Youths

Following that, we had a meeting with all news desk officers from ASEAN to discuss about the youth concerns and how YSEALI and the U.S. Department of State can help address that.  Through the discussion, I gained a good understanding of how U.S. public diplomacy and foreign affairs work and the U.S. government vision and objectives in facilitating the integration of ASEAN Economic Committee by 2015.

Shortly after the discussion was over, we were arranged to meet two Directors from the National Security Council of the White House. Oh my god! I was so excited! I have always read from the news about President Obama’s National Security Council, but never would I have imagined I would actually meet them. The discussion was centered on how U.S. government can foster a stronger tie with ASEAN through non-academic and professional exchange programs. During the discussion, I chipped in my idea – an internship program for ASEAN students, which I think is a new idea that can complement the existing U.S. exchange programs.

After a series of meetings and discussions concluded, we headed down to Hotel Renaissance for the 3-day Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit, organized by Making Cents International. The summit convened over 400 participants ranged from funders, to policy makers, to corporations, to researchers, to implementers and youth leaders from more than 55 countries.

The summit had 5 learning tracks – workforce development, financial inclusion, enterprise development, monitoring & evaluation, and gender. The track that I attended the most was the financial inclusion track, because I wanted to learn from the different practices in other countries that can help improve my financial education program for youth – Young Money Master. I picked up a few new ideas, studied the tough issues facing the poor in Africa, and learned about a creative mobile app to champion financial literacy in America.

The 3-day summit has been nothing short, but an eye-opening experience for me. I met amazing people from many different countries who were running different training programs to advance youth economic opportunities. Most importantly, I gained a deeper understanding about how non-profit organizations and foundations operate, seek funding, do marketing, develop their training programs, use online open courses, and how we can leverage on technology to facilitate economic progress of low-income people globally.

My trip concluded with a session with Microsoft – Generating Opportunities for Technology Innovation held in Microsoft Innovation and Creativity Center. I was excited to experience the state-of-the-art technology in the center too.

Browsing Web at Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center

The 1-week trip has passed so quickly. All in all, I made many new friends, exchange ideas, met senior U.S. diplomats, and improve my knowledge in social innovation. I think after this trip, I really understand the meaning of social innovation. I am certain that I will make good use of the knowledge, experience, and ideas gained from my trip to Washington DC.

In these few weeks, I will be meeting with my partners and stakeholders in Malaysia and see how we can learn from my new ideas gained from my trip to Washington DC and practice them in Malaysia. Perhaps, in the near future, I will develop my own mobile app or mobile game to promote financial education.