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About 450 youngsters gathered at Wu Kwai Sha Youth Village today (November 3) to attend a pre-summit workshop where they exchanged views with guests in a warm-up for the Youth Summit 2012 to be held later this month.
The Youth Summit 2012 will be held on November 24 at the Youth Square in Chai Wan. Organised every two years by the Home Affairs Bureau and the Commission on Youth (COY), the summit aims to provide young people with a platform to express views on social policies. The theme of this year's summit is "Voices of the Youth - Our Ideal¡", under which sub-themes are set to encourage exchanges on various issues of concern.
The Chairman of the COY, Mr Bunny Chan, said, "Young people often understand the pulse of the society and their suggestions provide good reference for the Government. With the new-term Government in office this year, the summit offers an opportunity for the new governance team to listen to the voices of our younger generation."
He said one of the missions of the COY was to implement youth development programmes and activities for the promotion of youth development in Hong Kong. The commission hopes that these programmes and activities could help nurture youths with vision, creativity, leadership and responsibility and equip them to become Hong Kong's future leaders.
To enhance youth participation, online voting was conducted for the first time to allow young people to choose the summit's discussion topics. The four selected topics are: "Our Ideal Career", "Our Ideal Home", "Our Ideal Education" and "Our Ideal Caring Community".
Through the COY website and the 18 District Offices of the Home Affairs Department, about 450 youth participants aged 15 to 24 were recruited. It is hoped that views of young people of different backgrounds and organisations, as well as those in school and at work can be represented at the summit. Some 60 Youth Ambassadors were also recruited to assist in preparatory work for the summit.
After attending a briefing on the summit, the participants joined an ice-breaking group activity to get to know each other. They also attended workshops to learn about data collection, report writing and communication skills.
To enhance participants' understanding of the discussion topics, the Honorary Treasurer of Hong Kong Council of Social Service, Dr Law Chi-kwong; Managing Director of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Mr Andrew Kam; and President of Heng Seng School of Commerce and founding President of Hang Seng Management College, Dr Chui Hong-sheung, were invited to share their insights on the theme of the summit "Voices of the Youth - Our Ideal..." The participants also grouped with guests and representatives of Government bureaux, departments and organisations to exchange views and discuss issues under the summit's four sub-themes.
Before the summit is held, the participants will continue to gather in groups to collect relevant information and hold discussions on various sub-themes. At the summit, group representatives will give a presentation to summarise the views collected on relevant policies.
Government officials and representatives of different organisations will attend the summit to have direct exchanges with the young people. About 50 youngsters were also recruited through universities in the Mainland and Macau to join the summit, with a view to fostering exchanges among young people of the three places.
Ends/Saturday, November 3, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:32
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