Chili Padi Academy is an environmental leadership accelerator program for senior high school students from Southeast Asian countries. This year, the Academy involves participants and facilitators from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines.
Our approach to enabling youth environmental leaders emphasizes deeply on building communities, inter-regional networks, and intercultural sharing. In the long run, we envision that the network of relationships built will equip our environmental leaders with not just skills and experience, but also a strong network to effectively engage with environmental problems in the region.
This is our 5th cycle of CPA. Our earlier rounds of the Academy involved a ‘physical’ accelerator where participants attend a week-long programme in Singapore. Under the COVID-19 circumstances, we explored a virtual accelerator.
Chili Padi Academy was the first project I took which required me to work heavy on design and facilitation. Add the fact that we managed an international audience. Needless to say, it was very nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time.
For this project, I had to learn design and how to work with a very diverse team (+virtually!).
Designing for CPA was a starter for me in design. I was only using InDesign then (not even Photoshop because I wasn't that well-versed yet). I had to work with what I knew while juggling academics because this was a very stressful time for me in academics.
I generally sticked with simple designs that anchored towards a rich green.
Here are some sample designs, in no particular order:
We also conceptualized the promotional timeline for recruitment. At the end, we received around a hundred applicants from all over the Philippines.
We formulated the criteria, interview, and shortlisted the candidates.
Side Personal Note: The interview phase was particularly challenging for me! I had 2 friends from Cambodia and Vietnam staying with me at my condo that time since we just came from a trip. I had to accommodate and tour them around MNL. I interviewed people while I was in a GrabCar!