RENDER participates in REalTalk Southeast Asia

ASEAN Renewable Energy (RE) youth champions commune together to improve their campaign communication strategies through the REaltalk Southeast Asia: Changing the Narrative towards an Empowered and Resilient Region hosted by The Climate Reality Project (TCRP) Philippines on October 8-11, 2024 in Bali, Indonesia. 

REaltalk aims to empower community movements across the ASEAN region through a series of talks and couch sessions from esteemed climate communicators and campaigners. 

The workshop began with a couch session on the Renewable Energy Landscape in Southeast Asia spearheaded by Auliya Febriyanti and Hizkia Posumah from the Youth for Energy Southeast Asia (Y4E - SEA), a network of young people working to spotlight energy transition efforts in the ASEAN region. They emphasized the growing demand for youth involvement in the RE sector and left a call to action to keep encouraging the youth to take part in the just energy transition movement. The session was then followed by a sensory mapping for each country to identify the current RE narratives and the opportunities and challenges that each country faces.

The second day commenced with a talk entitled “Identifying Existing and Reimagining Energy Narratives” by Nazrin Castro, the Branch Manager of The Climate Reality Project Philippines. Castro. This was followed by a couch session led by the Association of Young Environmental Journalists (AYEJ) ambassadors Daz Davad and Renz Luyao and Young Climate Action Network Viet Nam National Coordinator and Co-Founder Tuan-Anh Khong on Building and Broadening the Space for Renewable Energy Conversation. Both organizations shared benchmark projects and communication strategies to raise awareness on various climate issues. An emphasis on mastering the use of media was put to light during the session on Effective Communications and Navigating the Media Landscape by KJ Galang, the Communications Lead of TCRP Philippines. Galang walked the participants through the flow of crafting narratives and how the perception of the audience shifts when a hard fact is transmitted in a conversational language. 

The specifics of climate and science communication were zoomed in during the third day of the workshop which kicked off with a couch session on Communicating Science and Influencing Policy by Ira Guerrero, the External Communications Manager of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), and Nasri Tahir, the Deputy Director of Research and Education of the ASEAN Youth Advocates Network. Guerrero taught the participants how to conduct stakeholders mapping from the perspective of an RE communicator while Tahir exemplified a narrative simulation on how to deal with various communication opportunities and barriers. Students for a Fossil Free Future Coordinator Angela Hoten along with Member Damien Wee then featured their organization’s inter-university efforts in campaigning for fossil-free Singapore  such as creation of zines, university report cards on sustainability, and more. Cesar Baclagon from 350 Pilipinas discussed the Art and Power of Campaigning showing the creative initiatives of his organization in its climate campaigns which involved colorful strikes, bike rides for a cause, solar panel installation workshops for women, and more. The day ended with a group painting session of banners designed by 350 Pilipinas. 

A cultural night, hosted by TCRP Indonesia’s Communication and Engagement Specialist Hanna Wita Astaranti, was held to recognize the diversity of cultures represented by each participant. Each country featured their culture’s best practices through quiz shows, dance and song numbers, cooking shows, and more. 

The final day of the workshop began with a couch session Visual Storytelling Workshop spearheaded by Desiree Llanos Dee and Nityalila Saulo, Founders of Tofu Creatives where they invited the participants to create a visual representation of their individual efforts and envisioned a group ASEAN RE narrative. It was then followed by a planning session to develop a one-year regional communications strategy led by Nazri Castro and Ian Soqueño. Participants came up with creative campaign suggestions such as hosting races, creating zines, writing children stories, and more. 

The event wrapped up with a program appreciating the speakers, participants, and organizers, led by Aimee Oliveros, TCRP Philippines’ Deputy Branch Manager where each participant gave local tokens to each other. 

Overall, the event was a great success in recharging the participants’ creative batteries as the campaign for a just energy transition is still a long way ahead but through the workshop, the participants get to see that in this battle, each of their initiatives are well-valued.