| APrIGF 2025 Session Proposal Submission Form | |||||||||||||
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| Part 1 - Lead Organizer | |||||||||||||
| Contact Person | |||||||||||||
| Mr. Minh Trung Doan | |||||||||||||
| Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) * | |||||||||||||
| Basic Income Earth Network, Eötvös Loránd University | |||||||||||||
| Designation | |||||||||||||
| Research Fellow, Student | |||||||||||||
| Gender | |||||||||||||
| Male | |||||||||||||
| Economy of Residence | |||||||||||||
| Vietnam | |||||||||||||
| Stakeholder Group | |||||||||||||
| Youth | |||||||||||||
| List Your Organizing Partners (if any) | |||||||||||||
| Basic Income Earth Network, bien@basicincome.org | |||||||||||||
| Part 2 - Session Proposal | |||||||||||||
| Session Title | |||||||||||||
| Bridging the Digital Divide: Youth Access to Knowledge, Policy, and Power | |||||||||||||
| Thematic Track of Your Session | |||||||||||||
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| Description of Session Formats | |||||||||||||
| Workshop (60 minutes) | |||||||||||||
| Where do you plan to organize your session? | |||||||||||||
| Onsite at the venue (with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants) | |||||||||||||
| Specific Issues for Discussion | |||||||||||||
| Youth across the Asia-Pacific region are among the most digitally connected, yet they remain structurally excluded from shaping the policies that govern the internet. This session will explore how unequal access to digital infrastructure, policy knowledge, and participatory mechanisms continues to marginalize youth—particularly those from rural, low-income, or otherwise underserved communities. According to ITU and UNICEF, over 63% of youth aged 15–24 globally lack internet access at home, with the highest concentration in South Asia. Even where connectivity exists, many young people lack the tools, literacy, or institutional support to understand and engage with digital governance. In Southeast Asia, over 60% of students report receiving no formal digital literacy education. This workshop will address three interlinked challenges: (1) Structural barriers to access, including affordability, infrastructure gaps, and gender-based exclusion; (2) Policy literacy and capacity deficits, where youth are active online but disconnected from governance spaces; and (3) Tokenistic participation, where youth are invited to forums but rarely empowered to influence outcomes. To explore these issues, the session will use a role-playing simulation where participants adopt the perspectives of different youth demographics (e.g. rural, disabled, displaced) and navigate real-world policy scenarios. This interactive format will surface the lived experiences of youth and generate actionable strategies for bridging the digital divide and advancing youth inclusion in internet governance. |
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| Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF | |||||||||||||
| This session directly supports the overarching theme of APrIGF 2025, “The Future of Multistakeholder Digital Governance in Asia Pacific,” by addressing how youth—who make up a significant portion of internet users—can be meaningfully included in shaping digital policy. It aligns with key thematic tracks such as Digital Inclusion, Human Rights and Access to Information, and Capacity Building. While the region has made strides in expanding connectivity, millions of young people remain excluded from the digital policy landscape due to structural barriers, limited digital literacy, and tokenistic participation. This session highlights how these gaps undermine the multistakeholder model and the right to information, especially for youth in rural, low-income, or marginalized communities. By using a role-playing simulation, the workshop will allow participants to step into the shoes of diverse youth demographics and navigate real-world policy scenarios. This hands-on approach will surface the lived experiences of youth and foster empathy, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving. The expected outcomes include: A deeper understanding of how policy frameworks impact youth access and participation; A set of youth-informed recommendations for inclusive digital governance; Strengthened cross-stakeholder dialogue on how to co-create equitable digital futures. Ultimately, the session contributes to APrIGF’s mission by equipping participants—especially youth—with the tools and perspectives needed to advocate for a more inclusive, rights-based, and participatory internet in the Asia-Pacific region. |
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| Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right) | |||||||||||||
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| Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible) - (Required) | |||||||||||||
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| Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session. | |||||||||||||
| Minh Trung Doan (Moderator) is a leading youth advocate and facilitator who has designed and led diplomacy simulation models for young people across Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. His experience in engaging youth through role-play, negotiation, and public dialogue makes him suited to guide this workshop’s simulation-based format. Muh Rifai Sahida (Speaker) is a social worker and founder of Garis Hitam Indonesia, the country’s only NGO focused on empowering women inmates and ex-convicts. He will bring a grassroots perspective on digital exclusion and stigma, especially for youth from marginalized and rural communities. His contribution will highlight how structural barriers intersect with gender, incarceration, and access to digital rights. |
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| Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2025. | |||||||||||||
| No | |||||||||||||
| Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2025? | |||||||||||||
| Yes | |||||||||||||
| Upon evaluation by the Program Committee, your session proposal may only be selected under the condition that you will accept the suggestion of merging with another proposal with similar topics. Please state your preference below: | |||||||||||||
| Yes, I am willing to work with another session proposer on a suggested merger. | |||||||||||||
| Brief Summary of Your Session | |||||||||||||
| This 60-minute online workshop, “Bridging the Digital Divide: Youth Access to Knowledge, Policy, and Power,” explored how structural barriers to digital access, policy literacy, and participatory mechanisms continue to marginalize youth—particularly those from rural, displaced, or underserved communities. Through a role-playing simulation and collective reflection, the session generated youth-informed strategies for inclusive digital governance and concluded with the drafting of a collaborative Youth Access Manifesto. | |||||||||||||
| Substantive Summary of the Key Issues Raised and the Discussion | |||||||||||||
| The session began with a powerful framing presentation by Muh Rifai Sahida, Founder of Garis Hitam Indonesia and YSEALI alumnus, who shared grassroots insights from West Sulawesi. Rifai highlighted the persistent internet coverage barriers faced by youth in rural Indonesia and emphasized that empowering youth means empowering the future of digital equality. His strategic recommendations included: Strengthening digital literacy and policy education Supporting community-led innovations and rural connectivity Encouraging youth participation in digital decision-making spaces Following this, participants engaged in a role-playing simulation, stepping into the perspectives of rural youth, youth with disabilities, and displaced youth. Each group navigated a policy challenge—such as internet shutdowns, exclusion from consultations, or lack of digital literacy programs—and co-created response strategies. Key themes that emerged included: The need to measure meaningful connectivity, not just internet coverage Recognition of digital literacy, safety, and governance participation as indicators of well-being The importance of intersectional data to reflect the realities of digitally excluded youth The urgency of moving beyond tokenistic youth inclusion toward co-creation and agency The session also featured a live Slido poll, where participants contributed keywords and principles for the Youth Access Manifesto. Prominent terms included Inclusion, Empowerment, Youth Participation, and Localized Outreach, reflecting the collective priorities of the group. |
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| Conclusions and Suggestions of Way Forward | |||||||||||||
| The session concluded with a collaborative reflection and a call to action. Participants agreed on the following priorities: Integrate digital equity and well-being frameworks Institutionalize youth participation in digital governance design and evaluation Promote intersectional and localized data to inform inclusive policy Recognize digital exclusion as a structural barrier to opportunity and dignity A draft Youth Access Manifesto was initiated post-session, capturing the collective voices and recommendations of participants. This document will be shared with the APrIGF community and relevant policy bodies to advocate for youth-led digital inclusion across the Asia-Pacific region. |
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| Number of Attendees (Please fill in numbers) | |||||||||||||
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| Gender Balance in Moderators/Speakers (Please fill in numbers) | |||||||||||||
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| How were gender perspectives, equality, inclusion or empowerment discussed? Please provide details and context. | |||||||||||||
| Gender perspectives were addressed through lived experiences and intersectional discussion. Speaker Muh Rifai Sahida shared how young women and LGBTQ+ youth in West Sulawesi face compounded digital exclusion due to stigma, infrastructure gaps, and lack of targeted literacy programs. While the session did not focus exclusively on gender, breakout simulations explored how displaced and disabled youth—often facing gendered barriers—navigate policy challenges. Participants emphasized the need for inclusive digital literacy, safe online spaces, and youth representation in governance. The Youth Access Manifesto reflected broader commitments to empowerment and inclusion, with keywords like “Inclusion,” “Youth Participation,” and “Localized Outreach” emerging from the Slido poll. Gender was discussed as part of a wider lens on structural inequality, with recognition that future sessions should deepen engagement with gender-specific digital rights. | |||||||||||||
| Consent | |||||||||||||
 I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2025. |
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