“Give me ten youths, surely I will shake the world”, this sentence is a quote from the first president of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Soekarno. Looking back at the history of Indonesia, youth had an important role in determining the direction of the nation. It has often been associated with the development of our nation and has not been doubted since the struggle for Indonesian independence history. The roles of youth are agents of change and development. This can be seen from how youth participate in supporting changes and development in the community, both nationally and regionally, towards a better future. The agent of development here concerns the ability to develop the potential of other young generations to achieve national development goals. In addition, youth are also agents of reform, in which youth must have the ability to analyze the dynamics that are happening so that they can choose which ones need to be changed and which ones should be maintained.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is an organization whose members are countries in Southeast Asia and the year of 2023 is the momentum for Indonesia’s presidency. Based on Vice President K. H. Ma’ruf Amin’s speech back in 2020 at the ASEAN Youth Interfaith Camp (AYIC), “One-third of ASEAN’s population is young, thus one in three people in ASEAN is young”. It has been proven in these past years that youth has made a significant contribution to ASEAN and has even bigger potential in welcoming the future of ASEAN. In addition, ASEAN’s efforts in youth are to establish a better socialization of ASEAN Youths standards and to create ASEAN Youths that are harmonious with each other. By instilling a strong foundation in the younger generation, ASEAN will achieve the vision it aspires to. Therefore, the Indonesia Youth Foundation’s Grand Event is here with the “Youth Empowerment Workshop: The Role of Youth in ASEAN 2023” activities. This event is a form of appreciation from the Indonesia Youth Foundation for supporting Indonesia to become Chair of ASEAN in 2023. In addition, the Indonesia Youth Foundation hopes to become a facilitator between youth and ASEAN in raising awareness, building youth enthusiasm, developing youth soft skills, and increasing kinship among youth on an international scale.