AGN Day 2023 saw a gathering of some AGN members in Kuala Lumpur, hosted by one of the members, Dato Kathleen Chew, Group Legal Counsel for the YTL Group, Programme Director of YTL Foundation. The day was designed to be interactive and insightful, including enriching discussions with experts and field visits to enhance members’ learning and improve outcomes for women and girls in the region.
To enable greater understanding of the reality on the ground, site visits were organised for AGN members to two stellar non-governmental organisations (NGOs): Yayasan Chowkit and Akar Umbi. An NGO that works with grassroots communities towards creating equal opportunities for the marginalised, Akar Umbi launched the Azalea Initiative, a year-long women’s leadership programme, it aims to empower women from marginalised communities to be change-makers. Attendees had the privilege of meeting with the budding leaders under the Initiative — refugee women who have overcome dire circumstances to find meaning, purpose, and confidence in their lives. It was deeply inspiring to hear directly from them about the challenges they’ve faced and witness up close their passion to effect change.
Attendees then explored the streets of Chow Kit, and saw the transformational impact by Malaysian NGO Yayasan Chow Kit (YCK). Born out of a need to help and protect vulnerable at-risk children and teenagers, YCK offers financial and legal assistance, health and education support, and psycho-social services, among others. Guided by YCK’s CEO Ananti Rajasingam, attendees got to explore their drop-in centres and through insightful conversations with beneficiaries, come away with a deeper understanding of how education and after school activities help in improving the welfare of children.
After an eye-opening look at what was happening on the ground, it was time to translate these insights into an action plan to give more innovatively and effectively. Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors delivered a presentation that helped attendees reframe the way they look at their role in philanthropy as women, through the use of tools such as the philanthropy roadmap.
Socio-political activist, Marina Mahathir, also shared about her work, largely in HIV prevention education. Her experience in identifying religious beliefs as roadblock and thus working with religious leaders, was a great example that inspired AGN members to reflect on how they can be more strategic in the way they approach their work.
If there is a key takeaway from the events of AGN Day, it’s that the essential first step to helping people is to connect with and understand them. The road to true gender equality may be long but a particularly impactful insight was to fall in love with the problem, not the solution — it is important to shift our mindsets in order not to feel weary and discouraged in the long run.
AGN Day was a showcase not just of everyone’s dedication to the cause, but their strategic approach towards tackling it. It is the combination of passion paired with the collective wisdom from a network of supportive women that gives us hope for women’s outcomes in the future.
