WeGO’s First Champions Session in Southeast Asia Empowers Youth for Sustainable Urban Development

Kuala Lumpur, October 11–12, 2025 – Marking an exciting milestone for the Champions program, Kuala Lumpur hosted its first-ever WeGO Champions Workshop on October 11–12, 2025, at Sunway University, Malaysia, as part of the Southeast Asia Youth Energy Forum (SAYEF). This inaugural edition in the city marked a significant expansion of WeGO’s presence in Southeast Asia, exploring how youth-driven ideas and inclusive collaboration can support smarter and more sustainable urban development across the region.

The session opened with a panel discussion on “Policy, Community Engagement, and the Role of Youth for Collaborative Urban Futures,”, bringing together over 120 participants and featured Danil Kerimi, WeGO Advisory Board Member; Karen Lau, Chief Operating Officer of Sunway iLabs; Maisarah Faiesall, Head of Policy, Strategy, and Advocacy at the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health; and Fachrusy Syakirin Ade, Section Editor of Young Urbanists of Southeast Asia. Panellists shared perspectives on how city governments, research institutions, and youth organizations can collaborate to create resilient and inclusive urban ecosystems. They highlighted the links between urban policy, AI, and citizen participation, emphasizing the importance of equipping young people with opportunities to contribute meaningfully to sustainable city design.

Following the panel, a two-day Sustainable Smart City Champions Workshop led by Gautham Varada Narayan, Manager at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, continued with 22 youth delegates from across ASEAN. The workshop was designed as a policy co-creation lab, where participants translated insights from the panel into tangible projects. Working in small groups, they developed proposals addressing key urban challenges, including energy access and efficiency, digital inclusion and participatory governance, and nature-based and climate-resilient urban planning. Participants produced draft policy briefs and project concept notes, reflecting a strong regional perspective on sustainability challenges. The workshop process also introduced youth to the frameworks of policy formulation, encouraging collaboration between academia, local government, and civil society.

Participants of the Kuala Lumpur edition of the WeGO Champions Workshop gained a deeper understanding of policy co-creation and were equipped with practical tools to drive sustainable urban development in their communities.

The workshop also laid a foundation for deeper cooperation between WeGO Champions and regional partners, including Youth4Energy Southeast Asia (Y4E), the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI), and the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health. Through SAYEF’s broader platform, WeGO reached around 200 regional participants, extending its visibility and introducing its commitment to youth empowerment within the smart cities agenda. This successful session marks a significant step forward in WeGO’s engagement and commitment to the ASEAN region.

About WeGO

The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 4th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.

WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.

Press Contact:
Name:  Junho Jeong
E-mail: j.jeong@we-gov.org
Phone: +82-70-4202-9169