What is Youth4IG?
Youth are future leaders. They have an important role to play in Internet Governance (IG) thus engaging them is essential. Youth4IG is a home for youth in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) to meet, share ideas, and contribute to the multi-stakeholder policy-making process for IG.
Our Story
Born over casual conversations on how to keep the Asian youth community in engaged in Internet governance, Youth4IG was founded by former Netmission Ambassador Mili Semlani after ICANN Kobe meeting. With a simple goal to unite and strengthen the voice of Asian youth in IG, this dynamic coalition was started with the help of the vibrant fellows community in Asia and support from DotAsia and APNIC.

Our Mission
LEARN AND GROW
Maintain Youth4IG as a network to discuss IG issues and become a jargon-free, age friendly resource group for new and young participants
FOSTER YOUTH PARTICIPATION
Empower young IG leaders to develop ideas, share contributions, express views and strengthen youth voice in the IG ecosystem
ENHANCE APAC VOICE
Contribute to IG policy as APAC Youth locally and globally and thus reinforce the voice of the region.
What We Do
Community Talks
A virtual work meeting/discussion/webinar or knowledge exchange, we come together to disucss IG policy hot topics, work on workshop proposals or other capacity building initiatives.
Mentorship
We are currently building a Mentorship programme. It is a buddy programme for APAC youth in IG to bridge the gap that young fellows feel after various IG fellowships and thus enable them to continue their IG engagement.
yIGF Leaders Network
A resource group for leaders or organisers of yIGFs across APAC to come together, share best practices, collaborate and enable stronger youth participation.
FOCAL POINTS

Mili Semlani
A tech, policy and business journalist; Mili is the founder of Youth4IG. She aspires to build Asia's largest youth movement in IG and has been APrIGF, ICANN and inSiG Fellow. She is an MSG member.

Mandy Chen
An internet researcher at NIIEPA who works on various projects ranging from internet governance models to cyber security. An anthropologist in the Internet Governance world. We need more anthros in here!

Jianne Soriano
Jianne, a Filipino-Hongkonger based in Japan. She has helped empower youth to be more involved in internet governance dialogues. She was a former United Nations IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group member in 2018.

Elliott Mann
Elliott is an undergraduate student, interested in the areas of privacy and data protection, particularly in developing and emerging economies. Attended ICANN64 as NextGen, APIGA Fellow and IGF Youth Ambassador.

Korry Luke
He first became involved in Internet governance as a fellow to the APIGA 2018 and attended ICANN64 in Kobe, Japan, as a NextGen participant. He is a member of ISOC Japan and the WIDE Project, and he is involved with the Youth4IG initiative in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ashwin Reddy
Ashwin is an undergraduate in electronics and communications from India. An Internet governance enthusiast, attended ICANN64, and been a fellow at APIGA 2019, inSIG 2019, YouthIGF India 2019. Also owns a digital marketing firm 8FX.

Jaewon Son
Jaewon Son is a Committee Member of KIGA, where she initiated the youth session in Korea. Besides attending APIGA 2018, APrIGF 2018, APNIC 48, and ICANN 67 as a fellow, she attended ICANN 63 as a civilian expert appointed by KISA, ICANN 64 as a NextGen, APIGA 2019 as a mentor, IGF 2019 as a speaker, and ICANN 66 as a NextGen Ambassador.
Youth4IG Mentorship CLASS - 2020
Youth usually feel lost after the first few IG experiences or fellowships. Youth4IG aims to connect and uplift youth in the Asia-Pacific region to become further engaged in Internet Governance through relationships with those who are already experienced and engaged in the area. Sort of making friends!
MENTORS

Samiran Gupta
Samiran Gupta is the Head of India for ICANN.

Donna Austin
Donna Austin is the Senior Policy Manager at Neustar.
Working GROUP

Mohammad Atif Aleem (TA)

Jasmine Ko (TA)

Mandy Chen (Co-CHAIR)

Jianne Soriano (Co-CHAIR)
COVID 19 Analysis
Community Talks
EPISODE: | DATE: | TITLE: |
---|---|---|
1 | Dec 4th, 2019 | How to participate and prepare for the [email protected] |
2 | Feb 15th, 2020 | How to draft a workshop proposal |
3 | Mar 14th, 2020 | How can women become NextGen IG Leaders |
4 | Apr 18th, 2020 | How to make a good presentation |
5 | Jun 20th, 2020 | ICANN68 Prep Session: A Guide for YOUTH |
6 | Jul 4th, 2020 | ICANN68 Readout Session by YOUTH |
7 | Jul 27th, 2020 | Writing 101 |
BLOG

How to be a member of ICANN stakeholders: We need more (young) people!
WRITTEN BY Manju Chen – APrIGF 2020 Fellow, APIGA 2018 Fellow and ICANN67 Fellow Continuing my blog on the ICANN APAC-TWNIC Engagement Forum, someone made a counterpoint to my comment about participating in ICANN’s multistakeholder community – I had said as

How the Taiwanese Community Participates in ICANN
WRITTEN BY Manju Chen – APrIGF 2020 Fellow, APIGA 2018 Fellow and ICANN67 Fellow During the second ICANN APAC-TWNIC Engagement Forum, I was honoured to be one of the panellists of the ‘How to be a member of ICANN stakeholders’ session.
APrIGF 2020 | A Virtual Experience: We made lemonade out of the virtual lemon! [Manju Chen]
WRITTEN BY Manju Chen – APrIGF 2020 Fellow, APIGA 2018 Fellow and ICANN67 Fellow I had the honor to participate in APrIGF as a fellow. It was a shame we couldn’t gather in Nepal and enjoy the discussions physically. However,

WATCH: Ihita Gangavarapu [NextGen @ ICANN] Lightning Talk at yIGF 2020 Virtual Camp
yIGF 2020 Day 3 – Lightning Talk with [email protected] IG Community Watch Full Session Video Recording JOIN ASIA’S IG YOUTH MOVEMENT: YOUTH4IG BECOME A MEMBER

WATCH: Elliott Mann [APIGA 2019 Experience] Lightning Talk at yIGF 2020 Virtual Camp
yIGF 2020 Day 3 – Lightning Talk with [email protected] IG Community Watch Full Session Video Recording JOIN ASIA’S IG YOUTH MOVEMENT: YOUTH4IG BECOME A MEMBER

WATCH: Mili Semlani [Youth4IG] Lightning Talk at yIGF 2020 Virtual Camp
Check out Youth4IG Vol2 SEPT2020 yIGF 2020 Day 3 – Lightning Talk with [email protected] IG Community Watch Full Session Video Recording JOIN ASIA’S IG YOUTH MOVEMENT: YOUTH4IG BECOME A MEMBER

Youth4IG Volume-2 [SEPT 2020: UPDATE]
YOUTH4IG REPORT VOLUME-2 | SEPT 2020 CHECK OUT VOLUME-1 Here YOUTH4IG REPORT VOL2 | SEPT 2020 by Mili Semlani JOIN ASIA’S IG YOUTH MOVEMENT: YOUTH4IG BECOME A MEMBER

WATCH: Youth4IG at APAC SPACE [ICANN68 Readout] | Elliott Mann representing Youth Perspective
Watch Full Session Video Recording APAC Space ICANN68 Readout Agenda Welcome Remarks by Samiran Gupta, Head of India, ICANN APAC (3 mins) ICANN68 Readout: ICANN68 Overview – Samiran Gupta (6 min) Subsequent Procedures (SubPro) PDP – Cheryl Langdon-Orr, SubPro PDP Co-Chair (10 min) Review

At-Large: DNS Abuse: COVID-19 and End-user Issues – [ICANN68] Session Report
WRITTEN BY Shradha Pandey – inSIG2019, Y4IG Member, YIGF India 2020 Volunteer The session explored the impacts of the pandemic on the multistakeholder model of policy making at ICANN. The bigger question was that in the unique time when the

DNS in times of COVID-19: the ccTLD experience – [ICANN68] Session Report
WRITTEN BY Jaewon Son – KIGA Committee Member, Youth4IG Outreach Coordinator According to the ICANN’s analysis, between 1 January and 1 June, there has been 662, 111 domains registered under the COVID-19 theme including disease names, and countermeasures such as

ccNSO: Members Meeting – Governance Model ccTLD – [ICANN68] Session Report
WRITTEN BY Elliott Mann – [email protected], APIGA 2019, IGF Youth Ambassador Key takeaway: There isn’t a perfect governance model – but ccTLDs should carefully consider if their governance model is right for them. Summary of session This session put on by

YCIG at EuroDIG2020: Youth Perspectives on the Way Forward in IG
Written by Mili Semlani and Meri Baghdasaryan The youth DC session–Youth Coalition on Internet Governance enabled its Dynamic Coalition members and partners to express and exchange views on the current state of affairs in the field of youth participation in
Join Asia's IG youth movement
- Anyone between the ages of 15-35* can join.
- Must be enthusiastic and interested in IG both on a local and regional level and preferably have had at least one IG event either locally, regionally or globally.
- Currently reside in the Asia-Pacific region or are nationals of an Asia-Pacific state.
Get in touch
For any more queries, suggestions, comments or just words of encouragement writes to us at: [email protected]