| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 教育領導與管理發展國際碩士學位學程 === 107 === Youth participation in community developments has been viewed as one the most successful strategies to use in motivating young people to have more active engagement in social community development. As Ngai, Cheung, Ngai and To (2012) has explained, young people are viewed as precious assets and the future leaders of society. However, in recent years many scholars have undertaken the task to determine the role of youth leadership in the community which is directly related to youth program activities, especially for youths in the Southeast Asian region countries (Jones, 2009). Some questions raised in this respect are why would they like to be a youth leader? And how can they contribute to their community?
In light of this, the aim of this study was to explore youth leaders participation in community development projects in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, in particular the case of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) program which is the biggest youth development program in the Southeast Asia countries. A purposive pool of respondents of 20 youths between the ages 18-30 years from 10 ASEAN countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam were used. The study adopted a qualitative approach using a structured interview schedule for face to face interviews through social online media applications such as Facebook and LINE. The study sought to establish which factors influence youths to join the YSEALI program and become a youth leader. After that, their views of the youth development program (YSEALI program) and also their career planning prospects were also explored.
The findings revealed that the factors that influence youths of the ASEAN community to join the YSEALI program is because they want to experience working abroad, establish connections and networking among their peers in the region. The findings also revealed that the YSEALI program has significantly changed the experience of youths in the ASEAN region who have joined the program by increasing their knowledge on leadership skills, including their connections among their peers who inspire themselves to be more active on social engagement activities and making their contributions to the society more successful. Lastly, the findings revealed that the YSEALI program has benefited them tremendously in terms of career planning after completing the program, skills such as potential for leading, project management skills which they received through the experience, have helped them to be better prepared for career planning and career development.
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