The Youth-Inclusive Learning Academy (YILA Academy) is a regional initiative dedicated to strengthening inclusive education, ecological literacy, and peacebuilding among youth in Southeast Asia. Conceptualized under DEEP EnGender in 2025, YILA Academy provides a co-learning space for young people aged 16–25, particularly those from marginalized and underrepresented communities, to co-generate knowledge, share lived experiences, and develop community-based responses to social, ecological, and peace-related challenges.

Building on this foundation, the YILA Academy Special Batch 2026 is implemented as part of the Rotary Peace Fellowship Social Change Initiative (SCI), with support from Rotary International and the Otto & Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center at Bahçeşehir University. Through this collaboration, YILA Academy aligns its youth-led learning model with the Positive Peace Framework and Rotary’s global peacebuilding agenda.

Why This Programme Matters

Across Southeast Asia, young people continue to face overlapping structural challenges, including limited access to quality education, restricted civic participation, economic precarity, and the uneven impacts of climate change. These conditions are further intensified in conflict and post-conflict contexts, where social trust is fragile and opportunities for intercultural dialogue remain limited.

YILA Academy responds to these realities by reframing education as a relational and peace-oriented process. Rather than treating learning as purely technical or outcome-driven, the programme emphasizes empathy, communication, ethical reflection, and dialogue as foundational capacities for sustaining peace and social cohesion. Youth are positioned not as passive beneficiaries, but as active partners in shaping knowledge, narratives, and collective action.

Programme Overview and Structure

The YILA Academy Special Batch 2026 brings together 30 youth participants aged 16–25 from Southeast Asia and officially began on 17 January 2026. The programme consists of 10 structured online sessions, designed as an integrated learning journey combining dialogue, practice, and reflection.

A significant portion of the programme is dedicated to storytelling, which receives the largest share of learning time across the ten sessions. Storytelling is treated not merely as a communication technique, but as a peacebuilding practice that supports empathy, voice, ethical awareness, and intercultural understanding. Through story listening and story sharing, participants learn to articulate lived experiences, recognize difference without hierarchy, and build trust across social and national boundaries.

The opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Nilüfer Narlı, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Director of the Center for Society, Health, Behaviour and Preventive Studies at the Otto and Fran Walter Rotary Peace Center, Bahçeşehir University (Istanbul, Türkiye).

Mentors and Learning Facilitation

The Special Batch features guest mentor sessions that strengthen participants’ practical communication and leadership capacities. Kendall Sooter, a tenured professor of Communication Studies and Environmental Science and Engineering at Cabrillo College (California, USA), leads a dedicated session on the art of storytelling, focusing on narrative clarity, ethical voice, and public meaning-making.

Simran Rawat, Global Environments Networks (GEN) Programmes Lead and Communications Liaison at Global Diversity Foundation, facilitates a session on public speaking, supporting participants to communicate confidently, responsibly, and persuasively in public and civic spaces.

Most sessions are led by Anna Christi Suwardi, PhD, FHEA, YILA Academy mentor and Rotary Peace Fellow, ensuring continuity, reflective facilitation, and a safe learning environment grounded in inclusive and dialogical pedagogy.

Learning Focus and Expected Outcomes

Across its ten sessions, YILA Academy Special Batch supports participants in developing capacities that extend beyond the programme itself. These include:

• empathic communication and nonviolent engagement
• storytelling and story listening as tools for peace and social understanding
• intercultural dialogue across diverse identities and contexts
• ecological awareness connected to lived experience and responsibility
• youth-led initiative design that translates learning into community action

The emphasis on storytelling throughout the programme enables participants to connect personal narratives with broader social and ecological realities, strengthening both individual confidence and collective awareness.

Connection to Positive Peace and the SDGs

As a Social Change Initiative within the Rotary Peace Fellowship framework, the Special Batch contributes directly to SDG 4 (Quality Education) by advancing inclusive, participatory, and values-based learning. It supports SDG 13 (Climate Action) by fostering ecological literacy and narrative-based engagement with climate realities. It also advances SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) by strengthening youth participation, intercultural trust, and everyday peace practices.

The programme reflects the Positive Peace approach developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace, particularly in its focus on human capital development, acceptance of others’ rights, and constructive relationships across communities.

Looking Ahead

YILA Academy Special Batch 2026 represents an important step in expanding youth-led peace education that is grounded, relational, and action-oriented. Through its ten-session structure, strong emphasis on storytelling, and regional diversity of participants, the programme strengthens a growing network of young people committed to inclusive education, ecological responsibility, and positive peace in Southeast Asia.

Beyond the cohort, YILA Academy continues to build sustainability through alumni networks, shared learning resources, and community-based replication of dialogue and storytelling practices. In this way, YILA Academy is not only a programme, but an evolving platform for youth to practice peace through empathy, communication, and collective action.

One of our researchers facilitated the “Gender III” session at the Latihan Kader Utama (LAKUT) of IPNU–IPPNU Pemalang, the youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Islamic organization.

Held on 28 November 2025, the workshop brought together 30 young Islamic leaders from five regencies in Central Java. Under the theme Sangkan Paraning Dumadi (The Origin and Purpose of Existence), participants explored gender, inclusive leadership, and justice within Islamic and cultural frameworks.

Representing DEEP EnGender, Herlina Dedy Listiani facilitated critical discussions, participatory activities, and reflections on gender stereotypes, empathy, colonial legacies, and leadership roles.
This collaboration reinforces our belief that gender justice is not only a global agenda but a local necessity, rooted in everyday community realities.

Together with NU youth leaders and diverse facilitators, we affirm that inclusive leadership grows through collective effort across faiths, cultures, and generations.

Our DEEP Asia Coordinator & DEEP EnGender Circle initiator, Dr. Anna Christi Suwardi, completed her residency at Bahçeşehir University (BAU) in Istanbul, Turkey, from September to November 2025, as part of the Professional Development Certificate Program. The Rotary Center at BAU is a newly established center that primarily serves the MENA region.

Although She is based in Southeast Asia, her eagerness to expand her knowledge and skill in peace and conflict resolution has led to her selection to learn from the best practices in MENA. As a component of the fellowship, she will engage in roughly a year-long pre- and post-residency program.

This will commence with a two-week preliminary online course, followed by a ten-week on-site and field study experience. Upon her return from Istanbul, she will focus on her nine-month social change initiative project, concentrating on promoting peace in Thailand and Indonesia. Dr. Anna will collaborate with her DEEP EnGender team to implement her initiative. The program will conclude in an on-site capstone seminar back in Istanbul the following year. After completing her RPF, she is dedicated to continuing her efforts to foster peace for communities.

DEEP EnGender participated in the 9th Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum, held from 29 September to 3 October at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok, under the theme “Resilience for All: Catalyzing Transformational Adaptation.”

The forum provided a valuable space for exchange, particularly during the regional discussion on Developing a Blueprint for Upscaling Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) Built on Indigenous, Traditional, and Local Knowledge Systems, where diverse experiences and grounded lessons from across the region were shared.

At the same time, a critical gap emerged. Many discussions emphasized tools, frameworks, and project implementation, yet paid limited attention to the root causes of vulnerability, including extractive development models, entrenched power asymmetries, and the ongoing erosion of Indigenous land rights.

In this context, adaptation must move beyond technical and managerial solutions. Strengthening Indigenous rights to traditional territories, securing land tenure, and recognizing Indigenous governance systems are fundamental to just and lasting adaptation. These elements are also central to safeguarding Indigenous food systems, which are inseparable from ancestral lands, ecological knowledge, and cultural identity.
Looking ahead, climate adaptation must be repoliticized, centering Indigenous territorial rights, food sovereignty, and structural transformation, rather than relying solely on technical fixes.

From September 9–11, 2025, our circle initiator, Dr. Anna Christi Suwardi, represented DEEP EnGender at the RC48 Summer School Retreat in Montreal, Canada. The retreat was hosted by the International Sociological Association (ISA) Research Committee on Social Movements, Collective Action, and Social Change (RC48).

The program brought together scholars, activists, and practitioners from the Global South and Global North to reflect on the intersections of social movements and their contemporary developments, covering themes from feminist and women’s movements to climate justice.

Renowned Canadian voices in social movement studies, Prof. Lesley Wood (York University) and Prof. Chris Dixon (Carleton University), shared insights on grounding social movements as analytical frameworks while emphasizing the importance of sustaining solidarity between scholarship and activism. Unlike most formal academic gatherings, the retreat was intentionally communal and participatory, fostering stronger bonds and meaningful connections among participants.

Dr. Suwardi was selected to join this program based on her research on women’s digital movements for peace amidst two decades of conflict in the southern border provinces of Thailand. She presented her work through a creative video format, which was highly appreciated by fellows from Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, Chile, Austria, Germany, the UK, and Mexico. Her presentation highlighted how research and storytelling, when delivered through audio-visual means, can touch audiences in powerful ways beyond written text.

We are proud of Dr. Suwardi’s contribution and honored that DEEP EnGender’s perspective was part of this global exchange linking scholarship, activism, and solidarity for social change.

DEEP EnGender is honored and proud to be invited as one of the CSO representatives from Indonesia to the 2025 ASEAN Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, held on 9–10 September 2025.
This important agenda resonates with our ongoing commitment to advancing peace and gender justice as part of our broader mission of bridging divides through ecological regeneration, Indigenous food systems, and the right to education across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Together with our Project Coordinator, Fatin Jamjuree, MSW, & our Chairperson, Dr. Sadar Ginting joined this space of dialogue and exchange, sharing experiences and lessons with colleagues from across the ASEAN region. When it comes to so-called “best practices,” our Chairperson reflected that the term often feels blurry. What truly matters is the exchange of lived experiences, our own engagement with communities and stakeholders, as well as the stories that communities themselves share. These encounters reveal how local contexts generate diverse pathways for building resilience, sustaining peace, and advancing gender justice. Rather than assuming there is one “best” model to replicate, each story reminds us that peacebuilding is always contextual and evolving.

“Peacebuilding is always contextual and evolving. There is no single model, only diverse pathways shaped by communities themselves.”

Key reflections emerged from the following sessions:
Gender-Responsive Climate Action & Disaster Resilience for Peace and Security, and Preventing & Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE)
This dialogue underscored how inseparable peace and climate justice are, and how addressing violent extremism requires not only security responses but also inclusive, gender-responsive approaches rooted in resilience.
Intersectional Perspectives & Human-Centered Security in Thailand
Here, diverse groups such as conflict-affected caregivers, women fishers, rural farmers, and migrant women shared how they face layered vulnerabilities, yet also lead as peacebuilders, environmental defenders, and community leaders.
The Role of Youth, Persons with Disabilities, and Indigenous Communities in Advancing the WPS Agenda in ASEAN
This exchange highlighted the transformative power of inclusive participation. Youth, Indigenous voices, and persons with disabilities bring diverse perspectives and resilience strategies that are vital to reimagining peacebuilding in our region.

Moving Forward
For DEEP EnGender, participation in this summit is not only about representing Indonesia but also about amplifying the voices of communities across Southeast Asia who live at the intersection of climate vulnerability, conflict, and gender inequality. The insights gained from these discussions reaffirm our belief that peacebuilding is most effective when grounded in local realities and enriched by inclusive participation.
We look forward to bringing these lessons into our ongoing initiatives, from strengthening Indigenous food systems in Indonesia to empowering youth storytellers through the Youth-Inclusive Learning Academy (YILA), and from advancing ecological justice to championing the right to education for marginalized groups.
As we return from the 2025 ASEAN WPS Summit, DEEP EnGender remains committed to turning dialogue into practice, working alongside communities, civil society partners, and policymakers to build a more peaceful, just, and sustainable future for all.

On April 19th, 2025, DEEP EnGender proudly launched the Youth-Inclusive Learning Academy (YILA Academy)—a vibrant, virtual initiative designed to empower the next generation of changemakers across Southeast Asia. YILA Academy is more than just a program; it is a movement. It builds on the momentum of our previous youth-led project, Indigenous Rights to Education for Sustainability, which was selected for the Youth Empowerment Fund 2024, supported by Global Youth Mobilization and funded by the European Union.

This year, YILA Academy proudly welcomes 21 passionate youth leaders aged 15–18 from Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. These young voices are united by a shared commitment to sustainability, justice, and collective regeneration. The 2025 cohort represents a rich diversity of backgrounds—rural and conflict-affected areas, urban centers, and international classrooms. Among the participants are artists, environmental defenders, aspiring educators, tech-savvy innovators, and inclusion advocates. Many have overcome barriers such as limited access to education, disability, or social stigma, and now bring with them stories of resilience, creativity, and courage. Despite their different paths, they all share one powerful vision: a future that is sustainable, inclusive, and equitable for all.

The program was opened with a powerful keynote by Prof. Alberto Gomes, founder of the Global Deep Network. He encouraged participants to become the “lamp”—a Sanskrit term for Deep—that shines a light on the path toward ecological regeneration and a more compassionate world. His remarks set the tone for a journey centered on empathy, awareness, and action.

YILA Academy will run from April 19 to June 14, 2025, consisting of nine weekly sessions held every Saturday. The academy focuses on building key communication skills—storytelling, public speaking, and sustainability advocacy—through interactive workshops, deep reflections, and collaborative discussions. These sessions are designed not only to strengthen participants’ voices, but also to provide a space where ideas are exchanged and collective solutions are nurtured.

The learning journey is led by Dr. Anna Christi Suwardi, Ph.D., a certified educator under the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) with Fellow (FHEA) status. She is supported by a passionate team of instructors, including Mr. Bandar Sinsae, Ms. Waenarima Waeyama, Ms. Bonyapat Moonrat, and Ms. Phoelina Tiew from Mae Fah Luang University, as well as Mr. Afalendra Fathineyza S. from Samakkhi Wittayakhom School International Program. Together, they guide participants through a transformative process of personal and collective empowerment.

Through YILA Academy, these youth are not only gaining essential skills in communication and leadership, but are also forging bonds across borders and cultures. The academy provides a platform for them to amplify unheard voices, challenge injustice, and work toward systemic change. It is not simply a training program—it is a collaborative journey where young people lead the way in reimagining the future and shaping sustainable solutions grounded in empathy and equity.