On Thursday, April 14 at 9am ET, the YES program hosted the 2022 Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) Webinar on Developing Partnerships. Webinar attendees learned how to implement GYSD projects by developing local partnerships and connecting with other stakeholders in their respective communities with the ultimate goal of maximizing the impact and sustainability of alumni projects. 

Global Youth Service Day is the largest youth service and civic action event in the world and the only one that celebrates and builds the capacity of all youth ages 5-25 to help our communities and democracy thrive by working together for the common good.

The GYSD Webinar on Developing Partnerships featured an expert guest speaker and three YES alumni with experience in developing partnerships for community projects. Following the panelists' presentations, attendees had the chance to ask questions in the Q&A portion of the event. ASL interpretation and live captioning were available at the event.

Meet the guest speakers:

Dao Nguyen is the Global Youth Trainer on Meaningful Youth Engagement and ASEAN Head Delegate to the G20 Youth Summit. He is pursuing a master's degree at Peking University as a Yenching Scholar and Baixian Asia Future Leader. He co-founded the Student Think Tank for Europe-Asia Relations where he leads a team of 70 people from nearly 40 countries. Dao is passionate about international cooperation, social inclusion, and digital connectivity.

Raisona Alam (YES 2018-2019, Bangladesh, placed by Ayusa in Longview, TX) is currently the General Secretary for the YES Alumni Bangladesh Association. She is a graphic designer and artist. These skills of hers  have helped her launch many projects till now. 

She has done projects like Project Querencia, an open art exhibition and competition. The event was virtual, which allowed for people all over the world to submit entries. The project was mainly a fundraiser for another one of the YES alumni projects and it heavily relied on everyone's participation, so they reached out to different clubs in their community, such as clubs formed in high school or university, many small organizations, and groups. While launching projects which heavily relied on partnerships, Raisona realized that most networking can be done through the YES alumni community, especially senior alumni who have now either formed their own businesses or have a good network of people they can connect others with.

Fily Coulibaly (YES 2011-2012, Mali, placed by CCI Greenheart in Stratham, NH) has had leading roles in the YES Alumni Association of Mali, serving as the vice president, then treasurer of the association for three consecutive years. She's an active member of her community and very involved with many youth organizations and associations in Mali.

She's the president and co-founder of the Association Mali Djigui (Mali's Hope), which has been fighting against poverty and advocating for education, health and social inclusion since 2016. 

Every year, she leads and supports community service activities that impact more than 2,000 people from the most vulnerable parts of her community thanks to a great network of volunteers of all ages and the valuable partnerships she has developed with local NGOs, GOs, schools, associations and businesses. 

She's currently the Operations Manager of Agrobiotech, the first West Africa-based commercial plant biotechnology company in Mali, with the main goal of making that technology accessible in the most remote areas of sub-saharan Africa and beyond. 

Joseph Lambe (YES 2012-2013, Cameroon, placed by AFS-USA in Eden, NY) has a solid record in community

service and leading youth organizations. He is the president of the Cameroon YES Alumni Association (CYAA) and chairs the training of YES exchange students from Cameroon. He has led a good number of community service projects, including the Saving our Environment Project in 2014, Christmas projects, and several online trainings. Joseph is also a member and volunteer of many local NGOs such as LEAD Cameroon (for environmental protection and sustainable development), VEPDEF (for youth and women’s empowerment), Commonwealth Students Union (for youth leadership), etc. He is currently completing a postgraduate degree in International Law at the University of Yaounde 2 in Cameroon and enjoys traveling, debates, and spicy foods.