Asia Connect Student Working Groups

Call for Applications

Asia Connect Student Working Groups

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) is inviting Canadian youth who are interested building Canada’s connections to Asia, the world’s largest and most dynamic region, to apply for one of its Asia Connect Student Working Groups. The application deadline for January-May working groups is January 13, 2017.

Each group will:

Have 2-4 members who are current post-secondary students or recent graduates. You must apply as a group rather than as an individual.
Focus on a specific issue from the work streams that has been identified by APF Canada, each of which taps into an important dimension of Canada’s current and future relationships with Asia.
Devote at least 40 hours (per working group member) to the project.
Complete its work in no more than 15 weeks, culminating in a project ‘deliverable’ that will be shared with a wider audience. The deliverable could be a series of infographics or blogs; an awareness campaign or strategy; outreach or other type of event, or something else that can be used to interest and inform a wider audience about the topic. All groups will be invited to make a final presentation of their work at an Asia Connect Showcase competition in mid-2017.

Students, what’s in it for you?

Participating in a working group allows you to apply what you have learned in class to pressing issues in Asia and Canada-Asia relations. You will be challenged to grasp the complexity of global/Asian affairs, and will have the opportunity to collaborate with others who are interested in exploring that issue. You will also hone your professional skills, such as critical thinking, project management, leadership, communication, and teamwork, all of which can enhance your CV or graduate school applications.

What is APF Canada?

We are a Vancouver-based not-for-profit organization focused on building Canada's relations with Asia ( Our mission is to be Canada's catalyst for engagement with Asia and Asia's bridge to Canada. We do this primarily through policy-oriented research, convening of stakeholders and experts, and other types of outreach and activities. Since 2014, we have made it a priority to involve more Canadian youth in thinking and talking about how to strengthen Canada’s relations with the countries and peoples of Asia.

Working group topics

APF Canada has identified three work streams, each of which taps into an important dimension of Canada’s current and future relationships with Asia. In your application, you should clearly identify which work stream your group will be pursuing.

Building skills for the Asian Century: Business, government, and education leaders are pointing to the growing need for Asia competence – the knowledge, skills, and experiences Canadians need to be effective working in and with Asia. According to a 2012 survey, 60% of Canada’s ‘Asia practitioners’ have difficulties finding qualified Canadians to fill Asia-related jobs. Their top suggestion? Create more opportunities for young Canadians to get on-the-ground experience in Asia. But the number of Canadian students who get such experience is extremely low even when such opportunities exist. To bridge this gap, APF Canada is inviting working groups to:
Identify the professional skills acquired through international study and work experience programs in Asia. This can be done through interviews or group discussions with students or recent graduates who have recently participated in such programs (e.g., co-op terms, other types of internships, study abroad, etc.);

Develop a marketing campaign to promote these types of work and study experience programs in Asia to current students. Priority countries include three under-represented destinations: India, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Widening the scope of Canada-Asia diplomacy: As many parts of the world turn their backs on globalization, Canada seems to be bucking the trend. Instead of risking complacency, Canadians should be proactive and creative about building greater awareness and familiarity with Asia, especially through the use of “other diplomacies.” Broadly defined, “other diplomacies” involve actors other than the federal government, including volunteer and charitable organizations; Canadian provinces, territories, and cities; Indigenous Peoples’ organizations; NGOs; schools (including universities); youth groups; businesses; and others. Working groups who select this option will:
Identify a particular type of “other diplomacy” actor that has the capability and motivation to strengthen Canada’s connections to a particular segment of Asia
Describe what type of engagement that actor/organization should pursue, how they should pursue it, and who would benefit
Draft a strategy and recommendations for a Canadian organization to engage its counterpart or target audience in Asia, including through the creative use of new media.

Examples: developing an ‘Asia engagement’ strategy for your campus or academic department; building stronger people-to-people ties between a city in Canada and its sister city in Asia; proposing an exchange agreement between Canadian and Asian NGOs, etc.

Connecting with the Asian Century’s future influencers: Today’s Asian youth will play an ever greater role in shaping the world in which young Canadians will live, work, do business, and act as global citizens. One measure of their future influence is their sheer size: whereas Canada has fewer than 10 million people under the age of 25, Indonesia has 100 million, China has 440 million, and India has nearly 600 million. What do we know about these next generations in Asia? What issues do they care about? What makes them anxious or optimistic about the future? And what political, social, and cultural norms they trying to challenge in their own countries or globally? To shed light on these questions, APF Canada invites working groups to select one trend, pattern, or form of activism among youth in a particular Asian country, and present it to one or more Canadian audiences through creative means.

Other

Students may propose a topic other than what is described above. Proposals must include the following:

A clear description of the issue or topic and why it should be a priority in Canada-Asia relations
What the working group’s final deliverable will be (this can be changed once the group begins its work, but the proposal should reflect that group members have given this some thought);
Who the group’s target audience will be, and how they plan to reach this audience.

What will student working groups do?

Meet regularly, either in person or online (i.e., once a week or biweekly)
Attend an information meeting at APF Canada’s Vancouver office on January 21, 2017 from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Develop and sign off on a work plan at the beginning of the project, including the division of labour, a project timeline, and a code of work ethics
Attend a writing workshop and a peer review session held at APF Canada’s Vancouver office (date to be determined, will most likely be in February or March)
Produce a final product, such as a blog/blog series, a short report, an issue backgrounder, a short series of infographics, an awareness campaign, an event, or a presentation (other final product ideas will also be considered)
Give a short presentation at an Asia Connect Showcase Competition event (date to be determined, will most likely be in May)
Complete a short post-project assessment, including a peer assessment

Upon completion of the project and based on the peer assessment, we will present students with a certificate of completion.

What are the criteria for working group members?

We are looking for students and young professionals who are:

Passionate about learning about contemporary Asia
Interested in improving the types of ‘soft skills’ desired by employers, such as teamwork, project management, etc.
Committed to being a productive and reliable member of a working group

Can you use the working groups to satisfy course requirements?

We encourage professors and program administrators to utilize the Asia Connect student working groups for class projects, class participation, or other purposes. We can work with professors and program administrators to adapt the projects to meet the course and/or program requirements. Students or their professors are encouraged to contact us directly.

How do you get started?

Fill out the application form due January 13, 2017. Working groups that have been accepted will be notified by January 18, 2017.
For enquiries, contact Jenny Sung at the email address below.

For more information contact Jenny Sung, Student Engagement at .

Application Form:

Asia Connect Student Working Groups

Please fill out this form individually, even if you have a group. If you have a group, please list the names of your group members. Only one write up on the group’s topic is required. Please keep in mind, each group cannot exceed four people.

Name:

Email address:

Phone number:

Names of group members:

School and year or current job title:

Major/degree:

Courses taken relevant to the proposed topic (if any):

Please describe the topic you are interested in pursuing and any background knowledge you have on the issue. What interests you about this topic? What questions would you like to answer? And do you have any initial ideas about what type of final product you would like to work towards? (Maximum one page.):