The website of the Pridi Banomyong International College (PBIC) – Thammasat University and the Facebook pages of the TU Faculty of Social Administration and the TU Faculty of Political Science have invited TU students to apply for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Youth Speech Contest:
To celebrate the oneness of ASEAN, C asean is inviting ASEAN Youth to voice out about what ONE VISION | ONE IDENTIFY | ONE COMMUNITY mean to you. The winners of the competition will get a chance to present their speech in front of prestigious judges and international diplomats, together with the cash reward of 5,000 baht.
The TU Library collection contains many books about different aspects of the ASEAN community that may be useful in preparing a presentation, whether a speech, academic research paper, or thesis. The TU Library also owns several books on writing and giving speeches.
TU students have until the end of July (31 July) to enter their speeches. For those interested in entering the competition, the following advice is offered:
- The Topic of the Speech Contest
ASEAN as One is ASEAN Way
Celebrating the oneness of ASEAN
Illustrating ways to achieve the ASEAN motto “One Vision, One Identity, One Community” from your perspective
- Eligibility
Contestants must be:
- Citizens of ASEAN Member States
- University students aged between 18-25
- Able to participate in the final presentation and award ceremony if shortlisted as finalists
- Application
Contestants submit 3-minute speech VDO via the application link
Final Presentation (7 Aug 2020 at Samyan Mitrtown)
Finalists participate in the final presentation in front of judges
Award Ceremony (8 Aug 2020 at C asean CW Tower)
Speech by 2nd runner-up, 1st runner-up and Winner in the presence of ASEAN diplomats
Certificate presentation to finalists
- Benefits
Winner
Certificate and a cash reward of THB 5,000
1st Runner-up
Certificate and a cash reward of THB 3,000
2nd Runner-up
Certificate and a cash reward of THB 2,000
Finalists
Certificate
- Key Dates
8-31 July
Submission of 3-min speech in VDO format
3 August
Announcement of the finalists
7 August
Final presentation
8 August
Announcement of winner and award ceremony
As some TU students may know, C asean is
a platform for ASEAN networking, exchanging of best practices, and facilitating peer-to-peer discussions at the regional level.
The C asean website includes this advice:
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A GREAT SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
Whether a social enterprise is in education, healthcare or waste management, its main goal is to develop solutions to the problem of the society and the environment. Hence, social innovation, continuous learning, discipline and value communication are desirable qualities for social enterprises and social entrepreneurship.
Social innovation:
For social entrepreneurship, innovation does not necessarily mean invention. While inventions usually focus on creating new features on a particular product which can often go out-of-date, innovation refers to a much broader range of tweaks and twists. Social innovation can take the form of new products and services, new production base and distribution channels or even new revenue model and teaming structure. It is quite amazing that, sometimes, minor adjustments to current business practices can create a sustainable and scalable impact to the society and environment.
Continuous learning:
Starting an operation in social business is a demanding task as it requires the social entrepreneurs to navigate with dual objectives of creating positive social impacts while maintaining financial sustainability of the operations. Thus, it is a learning process which involves continuously coming up with more effective ways of addressing a poorly met or unmet needs, testing and fine-tuning of the initial idea, reallocating resources to the right solutions and improving the model through feedbacks from key stakeholders.
Discipline:
Like any other business, a social enterprise’s operation incus costs while trying to achieve its mission. As a result, it needs to generate revenue to cover the costs of its operation. Financial disciplines such as cost control and phasing of investments are necessary tools to ensure sustainability of the social enterprise. Additionally, once the enterprise becomes more established, with teams and collaboration from various stakeholders, it will be required to have strong accountability/governance, disciplined auditing and result measuring system.
Value communication:
Most social entrepreneurs started out their businesses with the passion to create a better world. However, passion alone is not enough. Only by having a clear social objective and consistent communication of the company’s mission, will they be able to convince consumers to believe in their products as well as what their company stands for. Social entrepreneurs also need to be reminded that, while trying to solve the world’s problems, creating a “better world” inside the enterprise is equally important. Therefore, social entrepreneurs need to communicate and practice values such as access to opportunity, transparency, equity, and empowerment within their own teams.
OUR ROLE AS SOCIETY
From our interviews with our inspirational leaders, we were able to come up with five key attributes to getting more young generation’s involvement in sustainable development— building awareness, leading by example, providing opportunities, understanding and providing guidance.
Build awareness:
Awareness is the first step of advocating. We believe that once young generation are aware of current and future social problems, they will discover the passion and engage themselves in this area. Hence, they can become true advocators of sustainable development…
Examples of outstanding speeches on ASEAN themes
While students will wish to present their own original thoughts about ASEAN, on the ASEAN community website are a number of webpages devoted to speeches; statements; and expressions of viewpoints by ASEAN community officers.
To cite only one example, there is a speech from 2013 by the late and much missed H.E. Surin Pitsuwan, Outgoing Secretary-General (2008 – 2012) of ASEAN, who, as TU students all know, was an ajarn at the TU Faculty of Political Science from 1978-1983 and 1984-1986, starting a long association with TU.
HE Ajarn Surin stated in January 2013 in Jakarta, among other things:
ASEAN is the new growth centre of global commerce. We must manage the strategic bonds between us and beyond. ASEAN member states must do more to strengthen mutual trust, resilience and political convergence for peace, development and stability. ASEAN must continue to sustain dialogue among the world’s great powers to keep the peace. ASEAN’s Community-Building must be accelerated, and we will need more and more resources to develop our cooperation around the world. Moreover, we must build an ASEAN Community based on the values of freedom, democracy, human rights, human dignity and human security.
The TU Library owns a number of books by Ajarn Surin which are available to students who are interested in ASEAN studies, Thai studies, history, political science, and related subjects.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)