And these youth panels, the four of them, will be presenting their ideas at the inaugural Youth Policy Forum next month. They will be sharing it with me and I look forward to hearing from them.
The Youth Panels are just one way for young people to contribute, there are many other opportunities which we will provide for all of you to continue to give back to our society and shape our future together.
Next Bound for the Youth Corps
Now, even as the Government develops more avenues for youth participation, the Youth Corps itself should refresh its approach to engaging young people and let me just quickly suggest three areas for the Youth Corps to consider.
First, make it easier for young people to take the first step towards volunteering.
Today, when youths sign up for a regular volunteering programme with the Youth Corps, at least the main programme, they typically have to commit about 8 hours per month, for 3 months.
That is a big commitment and youths have many things on their plate – they have schoolwork, internships, CCAs. Not everyone can make such a long-term time commitment for volunteering.
And that is why Youth Corps has already started some bite-sized programmes, with lower time commitments, so that young people can step forward and have a taste of volunteering.
So I encourage the Youth Corps to continue with this direction, develop more bite-sized volunteering programmes so that young people can step forward to do something not so large-scale, something small, and they can consider doing more at a later stage when they are ready.
Second, I will encourage the Youth Corps to develop more areas that young people can volunteer in.
You already have volunteering programmes across 8 areas – mental health; environment; special needs; seniors; community care; migrant workers; youth; and children and family.
These cover a lot of ground. But I think there is still scope to do more. For example, to support seniors well, which is one of your existing areas of focus, the Youth Corps volunteers help with health screening for the elderly.
But ageing well goes beyond physical health. We know that there are many seniors staying alone, and they face mental health challenges or the risk of becoming socially isolated if they are not engaged. So Youth Corps volunteers can also do more to befriend these seniors, to encourage them to go out of their homes, and to help them stay meaningfully engaged.
This is just one example. I am sure there will be many other ideas to expand the space for young people to make a positive impact.
Third and finally, I would encourage the Youth Corps to mount more overseas expeditions.
Today, the Youth Corps already provides volunteers to go on expedition projects to ASEAN countries, China, and India. And I think quite a number of Youth Corps leaders have had the opportunity to do so. And you have had very positive experiences when you go overseas.
Before Covid, we would mount about enough expeditions for about 4,000 youths a year. These trips were suspended during the pandemic. And then now that the pandemic is over, we have resumed the trips. But we have not been able to mount as many overseas expeditions as before. Last year, we only had about 2,000 youths going overseas, which is about half the pre-Covid levels.
So we will do more, we should do more to design attractive overseas programmes in the region, and encourage more young people to take this up, so that they can benefit from the overseas experience.
For example, the Youth Corps can create more opportunities for our young people to work with local youth volunteers in their respective countries. Then you can forge close relationships, build networks and friendships with your peers.
And eventually in time to come, we can build a stronger volunteer ecosystem beyond Singapore as well.
Conclusion
To conclude, we all know the world around us is changing, it is changing more rapidly than before.
For the last 30 years, we have enjoyed a region that was relatively peaceful, a world that was relatively peaceful.
Unfortunately, we are now in a new era of competition and conflict, where we see the rise of rivalry between major powers and a splintering of the world.
Singapore will have to navigate these very complicated geopolitical cross-currents.
But this is not the first time we have had to confront difficult external circumstances.
We have done so when we first became independent, and then many times over the last 60 years.
And each time, we have rallied together, we have weathered the storms and emerged stronger.
The key to us being able to do so is our strong sense of solidarity and trust amongst Singaporeans.
The Youth Corps contributes to this strengthening of our shared bonds, especially amongst our youths.
You have shown what is possible when we come together with a shared vision and common purpose.
You have touched lives and uplifted communities.
Your drive, your passion and your commitment to serve show us what it means to be a strong and united people.
So on this 10th anniversary, we not only celebrate your achievements, but we can also look ahead with confidence and hope for the future. Let us meet the challenges of our time with grit and gumption, and with faith in our fellow citizens. Let us work together to take Singapore Forward into a brighter future. Thank you, everyone and happy 10th anniversary once again!
TH丨编辑
HQ丨编审
新加坡总理公署丨来源
