BEAM/JUMP! Youth Conference

November 6

On 5-6 Nov, 2016, BEAM/JUMP! Youth Conference: Rising Lanterns of Chiang Mai was successfully held at Funruk Resort in Chiang Mai, Thailand in collaboration between BEAM Education Foundation and JUMP! Foundation. It was a two-day weekend conference with 87 youths including: Myanmar youth, Thai youth and Thai ethnic youth participants living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The participants had the opportunity to learn about design thinking and project creation. They identified problems in their communities and came up with tangible solutions as their social impact projects. There were a total of 14 projects presented at the conference that addressed the most current and compelling issues in Thailand and Thai-Myanmar border area; such as, education opportunities, traffic rules among migrants, dangers of mosquito born illnesses, pollution and environment, waste separation, health, community clean-up and environmental sustainability among others. The three winning youth teams developed projects centered on the issue of educational access to migrant and refugees youths, educating traffic rules among migrant youths and prevention of dangerous mosquito born illness. It was an inspirational weekend full of new ideas, solutions and collaborations.The participants were the true change-makers who actively worked together to make a difference in their communities Ko Phyo (Higher Education Coordinator ) told CityNow! “We believe that the conference empowered youth to be strong community leaders and inspired them to cultivate personal, community and global development. Youths learned to build their confidence, and become more connected to their local and global community by voicing their ideas on how to tackle problems facing their own villages, communities and neighborhoods”.