Zoom presentation for young Southeast Asian leaders.

Young leaders gather on Zoom to discuss food security
One of my favorite East-West Center programs brings young leaders from throughout the region together, first in Honolulu, to study and plan natural resource protection projects together. Called Yseali (Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative), the last cohort met in Hawaii beginning in late September.

I got a chance to virtually meet part of this cohort on Friday via Zoom. These young leaders, ages 20-25 and from Laos and Myanmar, weren’t able to come to Hawaii with their peers because of  administration visa policies that blocked their travel here. So, we’re giving them as much of the experience as we can in a virtual setting.

Our Friday session was a discussion of food security in the region, and featured excellent presentations by Jefferson Fellows (see previous posts) Danielle Keeton-Olsen, a reporter in Cambodia, and Leilani Chavez, a journalist in the Philippines. Their presentations paved the way for an interesting discussion of food insecurities in Laos and Myanmar. The Ysealis all overestimated food insecurity in their home countries, which is 30% in Myanmar and 14-20% in Laos, according to the UN. The participants discussed food insecurity’s deep impact on migration and education, as well as the differences between rural and urban areas.

I concluded the session with info on how media report about food issues, especially the tendency to blame hungry individuals rather than the systemic issues that created the problem.

I hope to meet these vibrant young people in person some day.

Magazine on the Way
The December issue of The Peace Journalist magazine is just weeks away. Stay tuned to this space, and to social media (@peacejournalism on Instagram; @PeaceJourn on Twitter/X; on the Facebook peace journalism page) for details.