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Call for Applications
Young South Asia Network on Urban Sustainability

The Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) Pakistan is inviting applications from young leaders from Pakistan and Afghanistan for its Young South Asia Network (YSAN) project on the theme of Urban Sustainability.

Background

South Asia is a rapidly urbanizing region with its urban population growing by 130 million between 2001 and 2011, and is projected to rise by almost 250 million by 2030. The cities of the world's emerging economies are increasingly drivers of global prosperity while the planet's resources are fast depleting. Climatic risks such as sea-level rise, rising temperatures, and extreme weather events will amplify the vulnerability of South Asian cities.

There is an urgent need for regional and global cooperation to address collective and sustainable infrastructure, mobility, energy, housing, water, and waste management needs, committed professionals need to connect with each other and exchange best practices. Young minds from South Asia can play an important role as change-makers to aspire for livable urban spaces for the future.

The 2022 edition of YSAN aims to bring these young leaders together and equipping them with the connections and skills needed to address these issues. A multilateral exchange with experts and young professionals from Europe intends to stimulate a fruitful dialogue to find visions, ideas and solutions for common challenges.

Key Issues:

  • Climate Change Adaption and Mitigation in Cities
  • Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility
  • Urban Governance and Active Citizen Participation
  • (Plastic) Waste Management – From a linear to circular economy

Program Overview

The 2022 edition of YSAN tentatively includes the following activities:

Tentative date: 2-3 August, 2022

The online workshop aims to familiarize the YSAN cohort with fundamentals of urban sustainability in South Asia. It will include thematic exchange with Asian experts and soft skills development of the participants. The online workshop will also serve as the inaugural meeting platform for all participants and discuss the preparation of the delegation trip to Germany.

Tentative date: 24 September to 2 October, 2022

The international study trip includes exchange between South Asian young leaders and their European counterparts on subject-specific topics as well as other relevant topics on democracy and culture. It will also include cultural programmes and excursion trips to topic related project sites.

Tentative date: 10 October, 2022

Upon the completion of the study trip, the participants from Pakistan and Afghanistan will become part of the YSAN alumni network as well as HSF Fellows. The YSAN alumni are encouraged to constantly stay in touch with each other personally or through social media. The alumni-centric activities also include papers/publications on the selected topics under this year’s theme along with social media coverage.

Being an active member of YSAN Alumni means:

  • Be in touch with each other personally or through social media
  • Being involved in working groups or project activites of HSF as experts
  • Network meetings at least once a year

Participation Benefits

For the study visit within South Asia or to Europe listed in the respective programme, the participants will be entitled to:

  • Coverage of travel, boarding and lodging, insurance and other costs related to the event(s)
  • Certificate of participation
  • YSAN alumni network membership
  • Engagements with HSF country offices

Eligibility Criteria

  • Must be a citizen of Afghanistan or Pakistan
  • Living, studying or working in South Asia at the time of the application
  • Between the ages of 24 to 35 at the time of application
  • Fluent in oral and written English
  • Young leaders or extensive experience with potential to become a leader in the fields of politics, academia, civil society, media or entrepreneurship
  • In-depth interest in regional and worldwide developments in respective sectors
  • Democratic engagement, knowledge and/or interest

Conditions of Participation

Accepted participants are expected to:

  • Participate fully and actively in all events of the respective applied program phase
  • Be committed to becoming an active member in the YSAN community
  • Have independent application and provision of all necessary permits for cross-border exchange (supported by HSF)

Application Process

Application must be submitted via link provided below. Only applications with complete submitted documents can be considered.

Following documents are required:

  • Letter of motivation including information on democratic, economic, social and/or ecological commitment, knowledge and interest (one-page maximum)
  • A short CV with relevant information (one-page maximum)
  • Copies of relevant education and experience certificates
  • A short essay on the subject of the programme 2022: Urban Sustainability and its Key Issues mentioned above (one-page maximum)

Please note: All documents must be written in English or accompanied by an English translation.

Application Deadline: Tuesday, 7 June 2022, 23:59 (CET)

Note: Due to the high number of the applications, it may take up to four weeks from the application deadline for the initial selection process to be completed. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further processing. Thank you!

Frequently Asked Questions

Unfortunately, no. Only applications of the specified age group will be accepted. But younger interested Young Leaders have the possibility to apply for participation in one of the following years, when they have reached the corresponding participation age.

If you currently cannot provide a valid passport, please enter for the passport number the note: “Is not available yet” and instead of the expiry date, the day of your application. However, with successful admission to the program, a valid passport will be required for international travel purposes.

Fluent English skills are required to participate in the program. If language certificates are available, these can be uploaded but this is not mandatory.

No, participation and thus application is only possible if you are residing in one of the listed South Asian countries at the time of the program cycle. It is planned to run the program annually, therefore it will be still an opportunity to apply for the program in the future.

Proof of professional activities can be employment references, employment confirmation letter, work certificates, publicly available information (e.g. on webpage), etc.

In case you encounter this error, please try the following:

  • Try to fill the application form using a different browser
  • Type in your details e.g. name, email, address etc. instead of copying them or using the autofill option
  • If you have a single name, enter the given name as Last Name and ‘No First Name’ as First Name
  • Make sure that the all the documents being uploaded are in PDF format

If you continue facing this error, kindly forward your application to the email address given below along with a screenshot of the error message.

Contact

Hanns Seidel Foundation Pakistan Office

Phone: +92 51 843 8085

Email: Islamabad(at)hss.de

For the general and overall information about YSAN, please visit HSF Asia website.

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