Youth Open Space: Youth, Disability, and Digital Entrepreneurship

On February 27, AGENDA partner ASEAN Youth Forum (AYF) virtually organized the 18th Youth Open Space: Youth, Disability, and Digital Entrepreneurship. The open space aimed to serve as an accessible venue for youth with and without disabilities to share their experiences and insights on how e-learning programs and platforms relating to entrepreneurship has been sufficiently/insufficiently inclusive or accessible to youth especially youth with disabilities.  It also aimed to raise awareness on the importance of all youth having meaningful access to the digital space in order to contribute to the economic landscape that will ensure their smooth transition to financial independence. In the first part of the open session, there was a presentation from Tety Sianipar, co-founder of Kerjabilitas with the topic of the pathway of becoming a digital entrepreneur with a disability that stated the three main challenges for persons with disabilities to be a digital entrepreneur are finance, market, and accessible information. The participants were divided into 2 breakout rooms where they can freely express their experiences in accessing digital learning programs, their accessibility, challenges, and then their expectations from their governments in providing accessible digital platforms, particularly for youth with disabilities. In general, participants stated that the accessibility of the digital platforms are significantly needed to be improved. There were 42 people who participated in the event and came from several ASEAN member states, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Laos. Thirteen of the participants participated in the social media campaign post of the event, their posts can be found here https://www.facebook.com/Agenda.ElectionAccess/posts/319734813525505.