28 February 2026 - The Sabah Human Development and Empowerment Association (SAHDEA) today marks the conclusion of its first strategic roadmap, Blueprint 1.0, which guided the association's work from its formation in 2020 through to the end of 2025. Over this five-year period, SAHDEA set out to build a credible platform for community development across Sabah's arts, sports, rural, youth, and women's sectors — and, in the course of doing so, also responded to needs that could not have been planned for, including the social and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vice President Mr Jessel Yansalang said the five years had tested and shaped the association in equal measure. "When we registered SAHDEA in 2020, the idea was simple: Sabah's communities needed a credible bridge between the people, the artists, the entrepreneurs, the rural villages, and the authorities. Blueprint 1.0 was our attempt to build that bridge brick by brick. What we did not anticipate was a pandemic landing in our first year. Looking back, I think that adversity is what forced us to grow faster and wider than we had originally planned."
Laying the Foundation: Advocacy and Institutional Relationships
SAHDEA's earliest work centred on establishing itself as a credible intermediary. In December 2020, barely a month after formal registration, the association's leadership held courtesy visits with the Sabah Cultural Board's Development Head and with Daily Express's Marketing Manager, laying early groundwork for partnerships that would carry through the rest of the decade. That same month, SAHDEA became a key partner in the Pillars of Sabah 2020 project, positioning itself as a mediator between the state's visual artists and the authorities at a time when the pandemic had placed enormous strain on the creative economy.
This advocacy role matured over the following years through regular engagement with state agencies and industry bodies, including discussions with the General Manager of Sri Pelancongan Sabah, the CEO of Tanjung Aru Eco Development Sdn Bhd, and a courtesy visit to Sabah Tourism Board's CEO. The association also used its public voice when it mattered, issuing statements such as its congratulatory note to Datuk Roger Chin and the Sabah Law Society, and, in December 2025, a public call urging strategic and inclusive appointments for key leadership roles in the state — a signal of SAHDEA's evolving role from project organiser to public commentator on matters of governance and representation. Annual General Meetings held in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 anchored the association's internal governance throughout the period.
Arts and Culture: The Sabah Jazz Legacy
No single initiative came to define SAHDEA's Blueprint 1.0 years more than the Sabah Jazz Project, a project Madam Joan Jim brought over to SAHDEA after its first edition in 2019. What began modestly on 30 April 2022 with a 200-person International Jazz Day celebration at D'Atas Explorers Tavern, featuring Blue Note Band and Swag Combo Band, grew rapidly in scale and ambition. By April 2023, the celebration had moved to Riverson Kota Kinabalu and drawn over 2,000 attendees, with partners including Daily Express, Kupi Kupi FM and Place Borneo. That October, SAHDEA staged its first Sabah Jazz By The Beach at Tanjung Aru, a six-band concert that drew more than 6,000 people — among the largest jazz gatherings the state had seen.
2024 proved to be the project's peak year. The International Jazz Day celebration moved to Hilton Kota Kinabalu, drawing over 500 attendees with backing from Sabah Tourism Board among other partners, while a second and ultimately final edition of Sabah Jazz By The Beach in September 2024 brought together six bands from across Malaysia and an audience exceeding 4,000. Beyond jazz, SAHDEA's Visual Arts Division supported the Suasana Mural Project, a 50-foot community mural in Kepayan launched in May 2022, accompanying talks on Sabahan identity in art presented at the Sabah Society and Jesselton Artisan Market, and a JAM Art & Culture Talk exploring Sabahan cultural authenticity in commercial design work. The association also backed the feature-length documentary Pagar Terakhir, chronicling Sabahan national athlete Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian's journey to the SEA Games.
Community Aid and Humanitarian Response
The pandemic years placed humanitarian relief at the centre of SAHDEA's early activity, well beyond what Blueprint 1.0 had originally envisioned. Between January and October 2021, the association under project chairman Madam Adelina Adna partnered with Borneo Spirit on a used laptop donation drive for B40 students in Pitas. In July 2021, SAHDEA under President Mr Arthur Erik collaborated with Kupi-Kupi FM and Heineken Malaysia to raise 400 food baskets for Sabah's hard-hit music and entertainment community, with distribution reaching Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran, Ranau, Keningau and Tambunan, while a separate partnership with PBRS Tambunan delivered 50 barangan dapur packages to families in Kampung Pomotodon who had lost income during the pandemic.
By December 2021, this work extended further into the interior, with a charity online jam featuring Abang Anaz & Friends, Santiani Ramli and Appy Tots raising funds for 30 food baskets distributed to Kampung Kinandusan in Kundasang. That same month, Sabahan buskers performed at Aeropod's Christmas Lights programme, bringing a note of festive normalcy back to the city after the worst of the lockdowns.
Women's Empowerment, Youth, and Entrepreneurship
SAHDEA's Women's Development & Empowerment Division found early expression in November 2021's Female Warriors yoga session, a free programme supported by AP Yoga Studio aimed at mothers, career-driven women and students seeking to reclaim personal time after successive lockdowns. The division carried this work forward into October 2025 with Find Your Balance, a women's empowerment yoga session conducted by SAHDEA Treasurer Madam Joan Jim.
Entrepreneurship emerged as one of the more ad hoc additions to SAHDEA's programming, taking shape only in the Blueprint's final months. Three Entrepreneurial Workshops were held at the SAHDEA Centre between October and November 2025, mentored personally by President Arthur Erik and growing from five participants in the first edition to seven in each of the second and third, drawing aspiring entrepreneurs from across Kota Kinabalu.
Sports Development
The Sports Division was represented through two friendly football matches that doubled as community-building exercises. In December 2021, a SAHDEA Invited Team drawing players from Tuaran, Tamparuli, Kota Marudu, Penampang and Kota Kinabalu faced the Kementerian Pendidikan Kota Kinabalu Team. A second match in February 2025 pitted a SAHDEA Invited Team, comprising individuals from Tuaran, Penampang and Kota Kinabalu, against the Sabah Football Under-19 Team.
Looking Ahead
"We set out with a list of things we wanted to achieve in five years, and we are proud to say we delivered on that list," said Mr Arthur Erik. "But the activities we are perhaps most proud of are the ones that were never on the original plan — the food baskets, the laptop drive, the busking programme — the things we did simply because the moment called for them. That, to me, is the real test of an organisation: not whether it can follow its own blueprint, but whether it can still show up when the blueprint says nothing about what is happening in front of you."
With Blueprint 1.0 now concluded, SAHDEA's Board of Directors will turn its attention to shaping the association's next strategic phase, building on the divisions, partnerships and credibility established between 2020 and 2025.
