LocationsIntroducing the Youth Action Challenge, Youth Co: Lab in Singapore
July 2, 2020
The generation that will be most affected by the policies enacted today, which will shape the way we live and interact in the future, is the youth. However, most often, the voice of youth is missing from national policy discourse around the world.
To make sure that Singapore’s youth are being seen, heard, and empowered, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) launched the SG Youth Action Plan (SG YAP), in 2019. Since launch, the SG YAP has engaged more than 70,000 youth in Singapore and given them a voice to share their vision for Singapore in 2025.
David Chua, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Youth Council (NYC) in Singapore says, “We often call on youth to create projects and initiatives to bring about the change they wish to see. With the conversations in SG YAP, they are also creating the vision. SG YAP is our effort to help youth create and realise their vision for Singapore”. A cornerstone initiative under the SG YAP is the Youth Action Challenge (YAC). The inaugural YAC was launched in Singapore by the NYC and MCCY in partnership with the People’s Association Youth Movement and the Youth Co: Lab initiative, which was jointly created by UNDP and the Citi Foundation.
YAC was created to inspire the youth of Singapore to take action. Youth are called to ideate, create and grow their ideas in making positive change happen in the Singapore society in partnership with government, private sectors, and other community organisations. The ideas range from community-led projects, policy reforms, to enterprises that address a social need. YAC is also a platform to highlight youth ideas to the policymakers and other partners, ensuring the voice of youth is heard across levels and the youth get a say in impacting policies.
Youth Co:Lab (YCL) in Singapore
Youth Co:Lab (YCL), a joint initiative of UNDP and Citi Foundation, was started in 2017 with a vision to further the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation, and entrepreneurship amongst the youth in the Asia-Pacific region. Since its inception, the Youth Co:Lab initiative has worked with over 600 youth-led start-ups, and engaged more than 75,000 participants across 25 countries in the APAC region.
In Singapore, the YAC and the YCL were great complementary initiatives that as partners could greatly benefit the youth. Hence, in 2019, the YAC was launched as a partnership with the Youth Co: Lab in Singapore. “We also want our youth to get exposed to the region and understand from other markets how social entrepreneurs are operating and engaging with the ecosystem. Through our partnership with Youth Co: Lab, we are making sure our youth get regional as well as global exposure and are able to align their solutions to the larger issues we are facing in the world”, says Chua.
Mala Rajpal (Programme Lead, Youth Co:Lab Singapore), Karen Lee (Director, Partnership Lab, NYC), Adam Abdul Rahman (Managing Director, Head of Corporate Affairs Citi Singapore & ASEAN), David Chua (Chief Executive Officer, NYC), Bradley Busetto (Director, UNDP GCTISD), Hasliza Ahmad (Deputy Director, Partnership Lab, NYC) and Jimmy Ong (Vice President, Global Public Affairs, Corporate Citizenship, Citi Singapore).
In our inaugural year, we saw 57 teams participating in the YAC with 260 Singaporean youth involved. The ideas were all centered on the identified themes of Environment, Society, and Jobs & Future of Work; themes that were chosen because they best resonated with today’s youth.
All the teams pitched their unique ideas in January 2020 of which 12 finalist teams were selected. From February to June 2020, these 12 teams have received mentorship and other support through the YAC Springboard Programme along with a SGD 5,000 grant to do the initial prototyping and validation of their ideas.
The YAC Springboard programme is a series of workshops that equipped the teams with the most relevant tools to build and scale their ideas and projects. A part of the programme is also the YCL online modules that are shared with youth social entrepreneurs across Asia Pacific to build social entrepreneurial skills. The workshops and modules covered everything from creating a one-pager to access to capital from speaking to seasoned leaders in Consult Clinics that brought the teams face-to-face with leading industry experts from the country and around the world.
YAC Summit, 13-19 July July 2020
The 12 finalist teams have been building their projects in the last six months. The first-ever YAC summit is being held online from 13th to 19th July 2020. The teams will do their final pitches, with 3 ideas getting up to SGD 50,000 funding. 2 teams will also be identified as the Youth Co: Lab Champions and will represent Singapore in the regional summit in early 2021.
Stay tuned as in our next few blogs, we will showcase and highlight some of the finalists in the YAC so you can know more about their journey and how they are choosing to make their impact!