Volunteer youth corps to be set up by early 2014

Tan Qiuyi Channel NewsAsia 23 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE: The volunteer youth corps, which will start with a few hundred members in early 2014, will aim to offer a volunteering experience that is meaningful and fulfilling so that young Singaporeans will continue serving after their school years.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the programme at the National Day Rally on August 18.

Jonathan Low, a graduate student, is part of a group of computing students from the National University of Singapore who offer IT solutions to non-profit organisations.

Their project not only helps others, but also allows them to apply the skills they learnt in the classroom to real life.

Community projects like this are what the volunteer youth corps wants to generate -- both overseas and in Singapore.

Mr Low said: "Going overseas will allow students to have good exposure. But I think that this is where home is, so we should be volunteering here locally to make this place better."

But going on the streets with a can and asking for donations is not everyone's cup of tea, said Mr Low. Many tend to associate that, and that alone, with volunteering, he added.

He said: "I guess the idea is that with the youth corps we can see more meaningful activities where the students actively engage the beneficiaries, and they can actually see their efforts (paying off)."

The programme will build on and eventually incorporate the existing Youth Expedition Project (YEP), which sends about 4,000 young Singaporeans on overseas community service expeditions a year.

The idea is to have both a local and overseas component in the volunteering experience, said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong.

Mr Wong said: "We hope we can harness the energies of our young people and expand the opportunities for them to serve, and at the same time make that service a vehicle to serve community needs as well as our national goals."

The programme targets students in polytechnics, ITEs and universities, but also includes young working adults up to age 35.

Volunteers will be equipped and well-trained before they start on their local and overseas projects, said the National Youth Council (NYC), which will be administering the programme.

When projects are completed, senior volunteers may also get a "pay-it-forward" grant that can be used to help more junior members fund their projects.

For students who wish to take a gap semester and volunteer full time, the youth corps will also offer financial support in the form of a stipend.

Volunteerism in Singapore has increased overall, but the NYC said there is a significant drop at the point where young Singaporeans leave school and start working. More are also doing ad-hoc volunteering, rather than committing to longer-term service.

Mr Wong said: "It's not because there's a shortage of opportunities. There are many opportunities to volunteer, but we think that existing opportunities are somewhat ad-hoc.

“We get feedback from young people that sometimes they want to do something for the community but they're not quite sure how to go about doing it.”

Youth and community organisations will be roped in to train, mentor and work on projects with the volunteers.

Details are being worked out, but the target is to support 6,000 volunteers every year.

Mr Wong and the NYC will be holding dialogues in the coming months with youths and community partners to develop the programme.

- CNA/gn


Resources, grants for volunteers with youth corps
Siau Ming En Today Online 23 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — The new volunteer youth corps hopes to attract young people who want to take a break from their studies to do community work, as well as those without any experience in volunteering.

The volunteers will be provided with resources and grants to implement local and overseas projects, the National Youth Council (NYC) said yesterday as it announced more details of the corps.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, the programme is expected to be implemented early next year and aims to support 6,000 volunteers annually. Funding for the youth corps will come from the National Youth Fund.

The setting up of the corps — aimed at giving young people more opportunities to be involved in community projects — was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his National Day Rally on Sunday

The programme will be open to students from the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics, universities and adults between 15 and 35 years old.

Upon completion of a project with the corps, a “pay-it-forward” grant will be provided to encourage youths to continue with community work and share their experiences with junior volunteers.

The programme will have two key components, one of which involves overseas community projects that are built on the existing Youth Expedition Project (YEP). The latter promotes volunteerism among youths by encouraging them to embark on community service-learning projects.

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong said yesterday: “So over time, your existing YEP will be subsumed within the youth corps, it will be restructured, it will be more focused.”

The other component involves local community projects. “We will match youths to critical local community needs and enable them to make sustained and meaningful contributions,” the NYC said.

An initiative by the National University of Singapore’s computing students, Computing for Voluntary Welfare Organisations (CVWO), is an example of a local community project that the youth corps might be looking at.

The CVWO, which is supported by the youth fund this year, involves the development of an IT system to better manage the administrative tasks of voluntary welfare organisations.

Fresh graduate Jonathan Low, 26, the CVWO’s current President, said: “We face uncertainty every year when it comes to raising funds”. The club would be able to obtain a “source of sustained funding” if it were to join the youth corps, he added.

Mr Wong, who is also the NYC Chairman, said when it comes to contributing to the community, the feedback gathered from youths is that they “don’t always know how to go about doing so”. Hence, the NYC will work with several youth organisations to develop training and mentoring programmes for the youth corps members.

Volunteer youth corps to start in early 2014
Siau Ming En Today Online 22 Aug 13;

SINGAPORE — A volunteer youth corps, targeted at youths aged 15-35, will be set up by the National Youth Council (NYC) in early 2014 to support overseas and local community projects.

Previously announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the National Day Rally and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, the NYC targets reaching out to 6,000 youth corps volunteers annually.

The youth corps will have two components: One component of the youth corps involves overseas community projects that will be built on the existing Youth Expedition Project, and the other component involves local community projects that will match youths to critical local community needs.

Upon completion of the community projects, there will also be a ‘pay-it-forward’ grant for youths to continue with volunteering and share their experiences with junior volunteers.

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Chairman of the NYC, Mr Lawrence Wong, said the youth corps will be “an investment in the democracy of deeds” and expand opportunities for youths to service and meet critical community needs.

6,000 sought for youth corps
Janice Heng Straits Times 23 Aug 13;

BEING part of the National Youth Council's (NYC) new volunteer youth corps - which the Council hopes will be 6,000-strong - is more than just signing up for community work.

Participants have to do both an overseas project and a local one.

And although they will be matched to critical local needs at the start, they will have to develop their own projects after doing research on the ground.

"We want the projects to be projects that meet the needs of the community, not just projects that you want to do," said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) Lawrence Wong yesterday.

The volunteer youth corps was announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday, in a move meant to urge more young people to do community work.

Though the eventual target is 6,000 volunteers each year, the pilot will involve just a few hundred when it starts early next year.

"We want to expand the opportunities for young people to serve, and to make that service a vehicle to meet critical community needs as well as national goals," said Mr Wong. These could include caring for the elderly or fighting global warming, he added.

The youth corps, for those aged 15 to 35, is aimed mainly at students in the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics and universities but is open to working adults. They will receive training and mentoring, funding for projects, networking opportunities and allowances if they want to take time out from their studies for full-time volunteering.

They can also get a "pay-it-forward" grant at the end of their youth corps time, which they can use to mentor new volunteers.

The overseas part of the programme will initially be via the Youth Expedition Project (YEP).

The YEP is chiefly for overseas projects, but it will eventually be subsumed and replaced by the youth corps programme, with its more substantial local component. "We don't quite today have a good platform to facilitate community service projects within Singapore itself," said Mr Wong.

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) will identify specific local organisations to work with volunteers and mentor them. They may also get funding to help build their mentoring capabilities.

The youth corps' budget has not been decided, but it will tap the $100 million National Youth Fund announced in this year's Budget. Over the next few months, MCCY and NYC will hold dialogues for young people and other community partners to work out further details.

ITE student Terence Koh's project, designing mobility devices for the elderly, was held up yesterday as an example of a local project with long-term impact - the sort MCCY wants to fund in the youth corps programme.

But the 19-year-old said he was unsure if he wanted to be part of the programme, given its overseas part. "I'd rather do it locally as I prefer to help those here."