362 ICCD (International Conference on Community Development), 1 (1), 2018, 362-369 E-ISSN 2622-5611 AFLES’s Inspirations and Its ASEAN Youth Community Development (ASEAN Future Leaders Summit) Anees Janee Ali 1* , Shabana Gul Sarang 1 , Mohamad Ali Sarvghadi 1 , Jamshed Khalid 1 , Brandon May 1 1 Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) * aneesali15@yahoo.com Abstract - This article is discussing about experiences of conducting AFLES (ASEAN Future Leaders Summit), which started in 2013 with the collaboration between Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Prince of Songkla University, Thailand (PSU). AFLES is an action-packed summit meant for ASEAN youth with exciting forums, discussions, lectures, team-work, outdoor activities, community work, services, sight-seeing and cultural events. With the main objectives of developing ASEAN youth community in terms of their leadership skills and to serve as a platform for ASEAN youth to get together and connected to each other, AFLES for the last sixth term (2013-2018), has evolved to be a looking after summit to participate by ASEAN university student leaders. Over the years AFLES has developed and progressed with a few more collaborators, namely AKEPT (Malaysia Higher Education Leadership Academy), UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA), UUM (Universiti Utara Malaysia) and UKM (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia). Community development, ASEAN unity and harmonization, and Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions in ASEAN are discussed regarding to the sustainability of AFLES in conducting an international program for youth across ASEAN region. Keywords: AFLES (ASEAN Future Leaders Summit), ASEAN Unity and Harmonization, Community development, Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions INTRODUCTION AFLES (ASEAN Future Leaders Summit) is a fruit of three combination agendas: Community development that involve ASEAN youth; ASEAN’s unity and harmonization agenda that focus on ASEAN youth; and Internationalization of ASEAN Higher Education Institutions and Students, which are going to be discussed below. Community Development The United Nations defines community development as “a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems”. It is a broad term given to the practices of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_development). The International Association for Community Development, the global network of community development practitioners and scholars defined community development, as "a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes participative democracy, sustainable development, rights, economic opportunity, equality and social justice, through the organisation, education and empowerment of people within their communities, whether these be of locality, identity or interest, in urban and rural settings" (www.iacdglobal.org). As explained by Scottish Community Development Community (SCDC), Good community development is action that helps people to recognise and develop their ability and potential and organise themselves to respond to problems and needs which they share. It supports the establishment of strong communities that control and use assets to promote social justice and help improve the quality of community life. (http://www.scdc.org.uk/who/what-is-community-development/). Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people with the skills they need to effect change within their communities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_development). These