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ASEAN PRIZE AWARD: MYCORPS

BACKGROUND OF NOMINEE

MyCorps is an International Youth Voluntary Program under the initiative of the


government of Malaysia through Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia. The idea of
MyCorps was inspired by Peace Corps Program from the United States of America
(USA) and was adapted to fit Malaysian Youth Policy.

MyCorps acts as a platform for aspiring Malaysian youth to work at international and
local level. The main objective of the program is to produce a cohort of professional,
valuable, skillful and knowledgeable volunteers with high values of volunteerism through
multidisciplinary trainings, international exposure and engagement with marginalized
communities focusing on diverse areas such as education, health, social and economic
development. MyCorps also encourages and educates young Malaysians to venture
into the world of humanitarian and volunteering as career options.

MyCorps is a comprehensive three months program that consisted of three phases;


Pre-Departure Training, Country Deployment and Post-Mortem. In order to participate in
MyCorps, interested Malaysian youth will first have to apply when MyCorps is open for
applications. The applicants will then get filtered and those who passed the application
stage will then be invited for an interview session. MyCorps is looking for a total of 40 –
50 participants for every mission. Volunteers will be selected according to various
backgrounds and skills such as medical, agriculture, construction, Energy, Social
Entrepreneurship, Education, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Media,
Communications and others.

Before selected MyCorps volunteers were deployed to their placement country, these
Malaysian youths will be trained in an intensive one month of Pre-Departure Training.
Pre-Departure Training is a structured and comprehensive training which covers
different aspects including a complete set of knowledge on leadership, volunteering and
humanitarian elements such as Team Building, International Humanitarian Law,
Refuges, Asylum Seeker and Displaced Person, Fundraising Strategies, Sustainable
Goal Development, Agriculture, Social Enterprise, Trauma Healing for Children,
Business Model Canvas, Community Engagement, Persuasion and Negotiation,
Language and Culture of the placement countries and many other to prepare them for
their two months deployment in the selected mission countries. The knowledges they
gained during this program can be practiced in their daily life. (Schedule of the training
can be found in attachment of proof section)
DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURE OF NOMINEE’S ACHIEVEMENT

MyCorps has successfully conducted eight missions starting from 2015 until our latest
mission that took place in Southeast Asia that ended recently in June 2019. Throughout
the eight missions, MyCorps has deployed a total of 348 Malaysian youths to 15
countries, namely Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Sudan, Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, Malaysia itself and of course to our ASEAN Member Countries in
Laos, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and East Timor.

587 projects have been successfully implemented throughout 15 countries as


mentioned above. 348 Malaysian youths have made all these possible throughout their
two months stay in their deployment countries. MyCorps mainly focuses on
implementing sustainable projects that have high impacts towards the communities.
Some of the high impacts projects are access to clean water projects, Social Enterprise
projects for the communities and many others. Before deciding on the projects, these
volunteers are trained to do an assessment of the needs and wants of the communities,
as MyCorps did not want to create a project that is not favored by the community. The
volunteers will gain the needed information through interview, questionnaires and other
mediums3.

During Pre-Departure Training, fundraising skills and strategies are taught to all
MyCorps volunteers as they have to acquire their own fund to execute their projects. All
volunteers are made compulsory to fundraise a total of RM3000 for every individual as
their minimum amount. Throughout Mission 1 to Mission 7, the accumulated donation
that have been successfully fundraised throughout this program has now reached a
whopping number of RM1,048,000.00! During Pre-Departure Training, there are slots
for a fundraising outing where these volunteers will go to hot spots in Malaysia and
roam around and create awareness on their upcoming projects. After they were
deployed, they will continue to fundraise through social media, in example, Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram.

Apart from the achievements mentioned above, MyCorps also encourages young
Malaysians to venture into humanitarian field as a career option. Having MyCorps
Alumni changing their working sectors to NGO bodies after going through MyCorps is
definitely one of the sweetest achievement of MyCorps. To date, a total of 32 alumni is
working with non-profit organizations all over Malaysia including United Nations bodies
such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF and
UNDP. This does not end there as many also opt to work for local NGOs such as Global
Peace Mission, Malaysia Life Line for Syria (MLLFS), Islamic Relief Malaysia, MyRef,
Cinta Gaza Malaysia, Malaysia Humanitarian Aid and Relief (MAHAR), Cancerlink
Foundation and many others.
As for other alumni that are not working for NGOs, that did not stop them to contribute
back to the society. A total of 88 projects have been initiated by MyCorps Alumni. The
project scopes vary from water projects, Qurban projects, educational related projects,
livelihood and economy projects, relief projects and many more. Groups of alumni even
went back to their country deployment for a revisit project. They are still using their
knowledge in fundraising and managed to collect a total of RM420,000 for the projects
conducted by MyCorps Alumni.

IMPACT NOMINEE HAS MADE ON:

COLLABORATION BETWEEN ASEAN MEMBER STATES (AMSs)

MyCorps implement collaboration with other ASEAN Member States through their
missions to Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Philippines. MyCorps is practising
government-to-government (G2G) concept in order to deploy Malaysian youths to these
countries. MyCorps will first go through Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the selected countries. These collaborations between
ASEAN Member States definitely strengthen the relationships between Malaysia and
other ASEAN Member States, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Philippines.

Apart from that, the cooperation between Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia and
local partner as a host to the volunteers were also established. The chosen NGOs are
certified by their government. These collaborations signify a positive collaboration
between Government and Non-Governmental Organization. It also ensures the success
of volunteerism and humanitarian program as per international-standard programs. The
AMSs NGOs that MyCorps have collaborated are Social Action Center (SAC)
Philippines, Asean Young Leaders Forum Philippines, Lao Youth Union, Laos, Yayasan
Dian Tama, Indonesia and Trash Hero Komodo, Indonesia.

MyCorps collaborated not only with the government and NGOs, but MyCorps definitely
managed to create a bond with the local communities in Laos, Indonesia, Philippines
and Cambodia. For MyCorps Mission 7 @ Southeast Asia, the exact locations that the
volunteers were placed are Kapuas Hulu and Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, Albay and
Baseco, Philippines, Xepon, Savannakhet and Vang Vieng, Laos and Kampong,
Chhnang, Kampong Kdei, and Kampong Thom, Cambodia. MyCorps volunteers were
well accommodated by the villagers and communities in the locations mentioned above.

MyCorps first started in 2015 and they deployed 120 volunteers to Cambodia through
three missions throughout 2015 until early 2016. MyCorps went to Angkor Ban,
Kampong Cham and successfully built 19 latrines in 2015. Later in the same year, they
went back to Cambodia in Kampong Chhnang Province, Phnom Penh. They stayed
there for two months and a half and implemented 25 Latrines Projects impacting a total
of 2,030 students in 5 different schools in the area. They also installed Rain Water
Catchment Project and built a Nursery – Seed Propagation, Composting and
Harvesting.

Again in 2016, MyCorps sent another batch of volunteers to Siem Reap. In Kampong
Thom, these volunteers constructed Incinerators for Solid Waste (4 unit), built 20 new
hand water stations in 4 different schools, and installed water filters (11 unit). In
Kampong Kdei, they build a Pre-School complete with toilets, fences and playground
from scratch and they also designed a Syllabus for Pre-Schoolers. This Pre-School
enables them access to education from Pre-School level, as previously, there were no
Pre-School available. Many parents are trying to enrol their children to this school as
this is the only Pre-School in Kampong Kdei.

Moving on to year 2019, MyCorps Southeast Asia took place where MyCorps deployed
41 volunteers to Laos, Indonesia, Philippines and East-Timor (Timor-Leste). It was
another successful mission for MyCorps as a total of 7357 people benefited through 75
projects that were implemented in the four countries.
In a small village called Lath Ho Village, Xepon, Savannakhet, Laos, 5 volunteers were
deployed there and managed to tackle the biggest issue of the absence of the most
basic necessities that all human need, access to clean water. They executed Num
(Water) for Lath Ho Project, a water distribution system project by installing water pipes,
tanks and water filter and distributed water to 7 main points in the village such as
schools, clinic, offices and guest house. This project benefits the whole village of 982
people. Other than Num For Lath Ho as their main project. Other than that, they also
supplied medical equipment and electrical appliances, distributed food and home
supplies and refurbished schools and canteen. While another team placed in Ban
Nathong Village in Vang Vieng, Laos constructed a new volleyball court, help
refurbished their kindergarten, library and school and many other projects.
While in Desa Semerantau, Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia, they did a similar project of
construction of three courtyards (volleyball, badminton and general court) which benefits
to 980 villagers. They also installed solar street lamp as Desa Semerantau did not have
access to electricity. They are fully dependent on generators and not all family are
privileged to own a generator in their homes. Another project that were successfully
implemented was Community Garden Project and Water Garden Project where the
volunteers introduces new way of farming to the women community in the village to help
them gain side income as most of them are house wives. Another high impact project
took place in Menjaga Village, Labuan Bajo – Menjaga ‘Wae’ (Water) Project, where
they build a water reservoir and established a water distribution system that benefits up
to 280 villagers. They also have side projects where they donated white boards and
refurbished local schools and libraries.
Last but not least, moving on to the Philippines, in a village called Maonon in Albay
district, MyCorps volunteers came up with a brilliant Social Enterprise project called
‘Raising Manok for Maonon’ where they provided training to local communities on how
to raise and breed chickens. They also built a main chicken shed and mini chicken shed
model at the back of every participant’s house. 33 participants consist of fisherman and
farmers signed up for this Social Enterprise initiatives and will train other beneficiaries
on raising and breeding chicken. This project aims to help the participants during
monsoon season as both fisherman and farmers lost their economy revenue during
monsoon. Another team were placed in Baseco, Manila. They did refurbishment of 8
Islamic Maahad Schools, and also conducted Social Entrepreneur training on Bana-na-
na Workshop. This workshop aims to help housewives to increase their daily income by
selling fried bananas following the recipes from Malaysia.

COLLABORATION BETWEEN ASEAN MEMBER STATES (AMSs) AND THE WORLD

After sending Malaysian volunteers to Cambodia, MyCorps broaden their horizon by


deploying their volunteers to the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. The countries that
were involved were Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Sudan, Tanzania,
Kenya and Uganda.

The same concept applies on collaboration as MyCorps also collaborated with local
NGOs to host their volunteers in the placement countries. The NGOs are Ghirass for
Society Development, Lebanon, Union of Relief and Development Associations
(URDA), Lebanon, Bonyan Organization, Turkey, Jordan Hashemite Charity
Organization, Jordan, Multiserved International Bangladesh, Spreeha Bangladesh
Foundation, Bangladesh, APON Foundation, Bangladesh, National Youth Corps, Sri
Lanka, Muslim Aid, Sri Lanka, Tech Outreach, Sri Lanka, Islamic Social Welfare
Organization, Sudan, Youth Aid Africa, Uganda, Kibuku Community Centre, Uganda,
African Foundation for Education and Community Development (AFECoD) Kenya, Al
Momin Foundation, Kenya, Muzdalifah Islamic Charitable Organization (MICO),
Tanzania, Islamic Help, Tanzania.

MyCorps focuses on developing community and also offer aids to the refugee
community. This is widely seen through MyCorps Middle East mission where the
volunteers were to provide aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
Malaysia wanted Malaysian youths to have empathy and to offer support to the
underprivileged community. Even though Malaysia is a small country, we wanted to
create initiatives under our own limited capacity to reduce the burden of the refugees.

Throughout 2016 – 2018, MyCorps have sent enthusiastic Malaysian youth aged 18 –
30 years old to serve for the various community of refugees in the Middle East, South
Asia, Africa, and in Malaysia itself. In 2016, 40 volunteers were dispatched to Turkey,
Jordan and Lebanon to provide aid and work very closely with Syrian refugees that are
currently residing in the aforementioned countries. These volunteers were challenged to
stay with the refugees and understand the daily struggles of living their life as a refugee.

In Lebanon, MyCorps Volunteers has opened up possibilities of employment to Syrian


refugees in Ketermaya by providing training on Information Technology and Sewing
Training. Those who attended these classes will then be granted certificates which will
allow them to legally work in the field as originally, Syrian refugees are not allowed to
work in Lebanon as they have a closed policy due to the tension caused by the
settlement of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Not only that, another group of MyCorps
volunteer were deployed to Beqaa Valley, a place that became home for 341,408
refugees in Lebanon, a place where holds the highest number of refugees residing in
Lebanon. These volunteers focused on helping to create a positive and fun learning
environment for Syrian children who have been denied the privilege of education. The
aim is to make them literate by coming up with a Play Center caravan and placed it at
an illegal camp in Camp 008, Taalabaya, Bekaa Valley. The purpose of the using
caravan is to make the project mobile so if the camps were to be cleared by the forces,
the caravan will be able to move to a new location as well.

In 2017, another group of volunteer were sent to Bangladesh and were given the
exposures to the Rohingya community in Cox’s Bazaar. They came up with a DIY pad
training class for social enterprise. The same thing happened in Bidi Bidi Camp, Uganda
where another group of youth were deployed to Kampala, Uganda. They also came up
with a DIY pad printing project where they provided training on making a DIY pad and
sponsored sewing machines for a sustainable social economy project to help create a
source of income to South Sudanese refugees in the camp. For the women and
teenagers in Bidi Bidi Camp and in Bangladesh, it has been a custom that they will not
attend schools/work when they are having menstruation as they did not have money to
buy the sanitary pad. This projects in Bangladesh and Uganda focuses on solving the
issue, at least in a small part of the country. The pad project has now taken by MyCorps
Alumni and they have established a Social Enterprise by launching a reusable pad
called MyBunga Pads to fight single use plastic and to provide access to pad to women
in rural areas who does not have access to pad due to economic constraints.

Other than refugees, MyCorps are also focuses on underprivileged local community in
Africa and South Asia. One of the highest impact project that took place was in Mlalo,
Tanzania. There lived a community that needs to walk 6 kilometers up and down a hill
only to bring one pail of water. MyCorps volunteers came up with a Gravity Water Pump
project where they built 9 Water Stations and Tube Well near to the housing area so the
community did not have to travel as far as 6km anymore. Even after the end of their 2
months duration in Tanzania, these volunteers did not stop and continue building water
stations by receiving fund and donations from Malaysians. To date, they already have
16 water stations and intended to explore other countries in Africa to help them gain
access to clean water. Many other sustainable and high impact projects listed in the
attachment below.

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT AMONG AMSs

In MyCorps, they practice a concept of living together with the communities. This
concept is implemented in order for the volunteers to gain maximum exposure and
experienced firsthand of the daily issues and problems faced by the communities. The
living situation of the community could be very challenging for the volunteers. If the
community did not have a source of clean water, limitations to toilets and access to food
supply due to locations, MyCorps volunteers will also face the same problem throughout
their 2 months stay in their deployment country. This concept also provided a good
platform for these volunteers to engage with the local community, therefore they will be
able to develop bond and trusts between them in order to be able to execute projects.

MyCorps also aim to empower the community as our youth will act as the initiators and
come up with projects based on the needs and the wants of the community. MyCorps
aims to create sustainable projects to offer continuous and impactful support as we
believe in the famous saying, “Give a man a fish, he will be full for a day. Teach a man
how to fish, he will be full a lifetime”. The projects will then be executed together with
the community. Throughout the missions, all the communities have been giving their
support and cooperation to MyCorps volunteers.
These projects will be first agreed by the community to make sure they are interested in
this project so it would be able to sustain even after MyCorps left the project. To think
that with the presence of 3-5 volunteers from Malaysia, aged 18 - 30 years old who
came from another part of the world were able to empower the community in the
location, working together to make sure the project is up and running, to benefit the
whole community range 1000 – 4000 in every location, that is exactly why MyCorps
believes that by empowering our youth, we will be able to transform our society.

During ‘Num’ for Lath Ho Project in Xepon, Savannakhet, Laos took place, not only the
men in the community came out to help, even the mothers and children get together to
dig out dirt and soil to make room to install water pipes.

This definitely happened in other countries as well. For the construction of courtyard
project in Vang Vieng, Laos and Kapuas Hulu, Indonesia, the local communities got
together and worked their sweats off and shovel the cements together with MyCorps
volunteers to finish the project on time. In Maonon, Philippines, the community built a
big shed to raise and breed chickens out of the resources that they find in their own
homes. Aside from getting help from the men and women, MyCorps volunteers were
very close to all the children as well. These bonding and trusts were developed through
night classes, play time and educational activities that took place throughout their stay.

DESCRIPTION OF NOMINEE’S FUTURE INITIATIVES

MyCorps hopes that all the projects that have been implemented in the 15 countries will
continue to benefit the local communities. Revisit project by the alumni has been one of
a-must-have projects every year as we have seen MyCorps Alumni went back to do a
mini project or continuing their previous projects. Since the beginning, Alumni MyCorps
have successfully conducted a revisit project to Cambodia, Jordan, Tanzania, Uganda,
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In the upcoming year of 2020, MyCorps Alumni planned to
revisit Lebanon and Kenya.

Apart from that, MyCorps would like to launch an in-bound volunteering program for
ASEAN Members to volunteer in Malaysia. As MyCorps is originally only valid to be
applied by Malaysians, now MyCorps is coming out with a twist where the ASEAN
youths from AMSs can apply and join MyCorps as their volunteers.
MyBunga Pads, a social enterprise project under the initiative of Alumni MyCorps are
also taking place. MyCorps aims to create regional hub of production in countries that
MyCorps has previously served. The purpose of these hubs is to produce reusable
sanitary pad apart from enhancing economy for women in the area.

MyCorps aims to be expanded throughout the world, not just in ASEAN, but to other
regions and continents as well. This effort of from the government of Malaysia should be
recognized globally as they aim to continue producing versatile Malaysian youths and
help contribute to life-changing moments for not just the beneficiaries, but most
importantly, to the volunteers themselves, as MyCorps tagline goes, #ChangingLives.

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