The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Asia and the Pacific and Google subsidiary YouTube are pleased to announce the video projects and YouTube Creators chosen to take part in the Creators for Change Academy Program as Fellows.

Following the successful National Boot Camps in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, creators submitted proposals for video projects highlighting social issues affecting their communities – such as xenophobia, intolerance, fake news, and cyberbullying – with the aim to promote tolerance and positivity online.

By joining the three-month Academy Program, each Creator will receive funding, mentorship from local NGOs working in the field of their choice, as well as production assistance and skills training from YouTube Ambassadors to create informed, high-quality content to be disseminated on YouTube.

The successful project proposals are as follows.

Indonesia

Kok Bisa, a science-focused, animation channel with 1 million subscribers, will work with the fact-checking anti-defamation NGO Masyarakat Anti Fitnah Indonesia (Mafindo) to create a video educating teenagers about fake news and conspiracy theories. The video will encourage critical thinking and help their audiences to understand how to prevent viral hoaxes.

Fergie JNX, a comedy animation channel with over 500k subscribers, will focus on tackling hate speech by working with Sabang Merauke, an inter-regional student exchange program in Indonesia which aims to instil a spirit of tolerance in youth. The comedy video will inform youth about the motivations behind hate speech, its impacts, and how to spread positivity online instead.

Achmad Takbiriyantoro from inimasabi, a travel vlog channel with over 16k subscribers, will work on countering extremism with the Maarif Institute for Culture and Humanity – an organisation promoting interreligious dialogue and cooperation. Focusing on rural areas, the project will encourage video as a way to connect disparate communities, promote cultural understanding, and prevent the spread of extremism.

Crowdfunding channel Kitabisa has over 59k subscribers. Together with the Wahid Foundation, an organisation that facilitates dialogue and the building of understanding between Muslims and other religions and cultures, Kitabisa will create a video prompting conversations around extremism and raising funds for Wahid’s Riyanto Scholarship for high school children.

Science-focused education animation channel Ayo Mikir has over 58k subscribers and has also proposed a collaboration with the Wahid Foundation, along with Sabang Merauke. Their project will involve traveling to several locations around Indonesia to explore tolerance and diversity in everyday life. Following these experiences, a workshop will be held in Jakarta for young people to learn from Ayo Mikir’s travels and hear from experts about how they can counter hate speech.

Malaysia

The Salad Show currently has over 12k subscribers and creates short comic sketches and films. Together with Project Dialog, an organisation that opens up discussions about the socio-political state of culture and religion in Malaysia, the Salad Show’s video will explore how racial stereotypes can lead to xenophobia.

Musical entertainment and parody channel Vikarworld will be creating a video to help their 70k subscribers understand why people turn to terrorism, in partnership with the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter Terrorism (SEARCCT). Through composing a rap song and music video, the project hopes to contrast the views of an ordinary civilian and those of a terrorist to explore why people might commit violent acts.

Thailand

Lifestyle and tutorial channel Namsai Petite Engineer by Tharisala Buddhakhuncharoen has over 72k subscribers and proposes to work with Save the Children and Sex Workers in Group (SWING) to create awareness about gendered social bias and stereotyping. She plans to focus on women from different parts of the country who struggle to achieve with their dreams because of how they are perceived from different parts of the country but focusing on the Southern border provinces of Thailand.

Together with the Association of Children and Youths for Peace in the Southern Border (Luukriang), Abdulhafis Maeyoh from channel MUSLIMITED hopes to create awareness of social bias and the stereotyping of youths from the Southern border provinces. Through a short scripted film reaching 86k subscribers, the project hopes to change public perception of youth and shine a spotlight on how various youth groups are working for social good.

The Philippines

Drei Roxas hopes that through collaborating with both the Ayala Young Leaders Alumni Association, Inc. and Teach Peace Build Peace Movement, she will be able to begin a campaign against hate speech. The campaign will work across several social media channels and hopes to show that people can make a positive impact in their communities by looking inward and become more tolerant to difference. After sharing her personal story of change online, Drei will interview other vloggers and youth.

Adi Amor focuses on first-person storytelling on her fashion and lifestyle channel. Her videos have so far amassed over 250k views and she plans to work together with AIESEC, a non-profit, youth-led organisation that provides young people with leadership training. Through her video, she hopes to shed light on some of the root causes of bullying, talking to young leaders one-on-one about their personal stories and experiences.

Crisha Uy vlogs about beauty, food, and lifestyle on her eponymous channel with 222k subscribers. She plans on partnering with the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement to explore how language affects our perception of communities. She hopes to create awareness of different accents and languages in the Philippines, focusing on geographic areas with rich linguistic diversity. She will vlog about the negative assumptions and judgements people as a result of linguistic differences to show that every voice has value.

The videos they produce will be presented at a regional summit, currently scheduled for International Day of Tolerance on the 16th November 2018.

Both the Creators for Change partnership with YouTube and #ExtremeLives, a second project from Governance and Peacebuilding Team focusing on leveraging social media influence to challenge online extremism, continue to demonstrate UNDP’s commitment to tackling social issues in Asia using innovation.

Find out more about Creators for Change here.

Contact

Mailee Osten-Tan, Communications Officer
(mailee.ostentan@undp.org)