Youth Development Commission convenes fourth meeting
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One of the aims of the YDC is to promote cross-bureau and cross-departmental collaboration, with a view to enabling more holistic and effective examination of, and discussion on, issues of concern to young people. On youth life planning work, members agreed to implement three cross-bureau collaborative initiatives, which are 1) formulating a set of strategic plans on the implementation of life planning education at school; 2) enhancing the existing Career Information Website of the Education Bureau and developing it into a one-stop interactive career information platform; and 3) enhancing the Funding Scheme for Youth Life Planning Activities (Funding Scheme). The YDC will announce details of the new round of the Funding Scheme and will call for applications shortly. Members also agreed that apart from cross-bureau collaboration, life planning work requires concerted efforts from all sectors of the community. The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) briefed Members on the latest developments of its "CLAP for Youth @ JC" project. Members agreed that government bureaux should continue to explore potential collaboration with the HKJC to promote best practices on youth life planning.
Members took note of the IT Innovation Lab in Secondary Schools Programme proposed by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO). The programme aims to spend $500 million in the course of three school years from 2019/20 to 2021/22 to provide financial support for around 500 publicly funded secondary schools in Hong Kong to set up IT innovation labs so as to further promote the development of popular science education. The OGCIO will set up a one-stop support centre to provide professional advice and support on the procurement of IT equipment and various thematic extra-curricular activities for schools.
The three Task Forces under the YDC have made considerable progress in their work. The Task Force on Youth Exchange and Internship has introduced various enhancement measures for the Funding Scheme for Youth Internship in the Mainland, the Funding Scheme for Youth Exchange in the Mainland and the Funding Scheme for International Youth Exchange. The three funding schemes were well received by organisations and had received a record-breaking number of applications, at 185, 459 and 179 applications respectively. The Task Force is now concluding its assessment work. The Task Force on Youth Outreach and Engagement will soon launch the second stage of youth engagement activities to hold diversified youth sharing sessions, inviting young people from different backgrounds and relevant stakeholders to give opinions on the YDC's work and matters of their concern. Moreover, the YDC has launched its Facebook and Instagram pages to strengthen dissemination of information and connections of the YDC with young people. The Task Force on Youth Development Fund and Programmes, having consulted stakeholders and youth entrepreneurs, has completed the review of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) and decided to launch new funding schemes to provide more useful support to Hong Kong young people who intend to start their own business. The new funding schemes under the YDF are now open for application. Details of the schemes and the application guidelines have been uploaded to the YDC's website (www.ydc.gov.hk/ydf/en).
Ends/Friday, March 22, 2019
Issued at HKT 17:09
Issued at HKT 17:09
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