Digi selects Malaysian representatives for Telenor Youth Forum 2016.

Digi selects Malaysian representatives for Telenor Youth Forum 2016

• Nora Nabila Ahmad Sabri and Alina Amir to take part in global Telenor Youth Forum program, in partnership with the Nobel Peace Center
• Delegates to spend one year developing solutions that target global, social challenges

SHAH ALAM, 13 October 2016 - Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) today announced Nora Nabila Ahmad Sabri and Alina Amir as the local winners of this year's Telenor Youth Forum (TYF16) challenge, which called for inspiring youths to tackle social challenges through the use of digital solutions under this year's theme, "Digitalisation for Peace".

The two winners were among the 26 talented millennials from Telenor's 13 markets selected from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants to represent their countries in the fourth annual Telenor Youth Forum (TYF) and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize activities. TYF is a program run by Telenor Group and the Nobel Peace Center, with the aim to empower youth to solve social issues through technology.

Quah Yean Nie, Digi's Head of Communications and Sustainability said, "This year's Telenor Youth Forum aims to leverage on the power of digital innovation to address common challenges societies face, while putting youth in the driver seat in finding solutions and making change happen. We believe in youth with ideas, passion and social consciousness as much as we are optimistic on the power of technology, and we are confident that communication across boundaries can foster peace.

"We're inpsired by the commitment shown by Nora Nabila and Alina in championing the issues they support in addressing social challenges and elevating access to quality education respectively for their communities. We believe that the Telenor Youth Forum provides them with a gateway to channel their passion and energy, and in furthering their ideas through co-creation of innovative solutions with like-minded peers from all around the world, " she added.

Nora Nabila Ahmad Sabri, 26, a filmmaker used her passion for visual storytelling to spread awareness on social issues in Malaysia with the help of the internet. "My responsibility as a filmmaker goes beyond hitting the record button, as I aim to help give a voice to those unheard through my work. I, for example, had the opportunity to interview a 14-year-old boy on an isolated island in Semporna, Sabah in 2015, who started his own school where he teaches stateless children how to read and learn mathematics. By documenting his touching story and leveraging the power of the internet, I believe that it would help inspire others to take action on the statelessness issue that we face, and play a part in making the world a better place. Through TYF, I hope to expand my horizons and understand different perspectives, which would help in improving my visual storytelling skills."

28-year-old teacher, Alina Amir, is actively involved in improving the quality of education in Malaysia, and she believes that digitalisation for peace is when digital skills are used to innovate new solutions that make the world a better place. "Last year, I co-founded a social enterprise, Arus Education, which provides underprivileged students with digital skills such as coding and programming, that helps them to automate their solutions for real life problems. I hope to learn about what other young individuals at the Forum have done in their respective countries, and find ways to contextualise solutions to what we go through in Malaysia. This would equip me with the experience and knowledge that could help me be a better educator to my students."

More than 4,800 applications were received for the Telenor Youth Forum through essays, video interviews, event appearances and other screenings, and this has amounted to the largest global recruitment process ever conducted by Telenor.

Read more about the 26 delegates here.

How the program works
The one-year TYF program begins in Oslo, December 8 to 11, during Nobel Peace Prize week. The selected delegates will take part in events related to honouring the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in addition to working in teams to design solutions to major social challenges. The year-long TYF program will consist of virtual teamwork (after the Oslo event) punctuated by a Bangkok-based meet-up in May 2017, and culminating in the unveiling of the teams' digital exhibitions with the Nobel Peace Center in October 2017.

A service design agency will support the youth in designing solutions, and each team will be supported by an expert mentor who will guide the team throughout the year as they develop their respective solution.

From Oslo to Bangkok, TYF takes youth around the world
TYF will host a second event for the delegates in Bangkok in May 2017. This will be the first major milestone for the teams as they work to implement their solutions. The program will conclude for this batch of young people in October 2017, when Telenor and a jury of experts will evaluate the work and select a winning team that will return to Oslo in December 2017 to inspire the next round of TYF participants.

Read more about the #TYF16 at www.telenor.com/youthforum or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/TelenorYouthForum.