4 youth panels formed for inaugural run of initiative; members to look at financial security, careers, digital well-being, sustainability

Written by: Janella Ching

The inaugural run of the youth panels initiative will focus on four topic areas – financial security, careers and lifelong learning, digital well-being, and environment and sustainability.

This was announced by the National Youth Council (NYC) on Saturday (Nov 25).

The youth panels, supported by NYC and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), is a platform that will allow youths to work with government agencies and build upon existing policies, hence allowing them to play a bigger role in Singapore’s future.

The four youth panels are titled #LifeHacks, #JobHacks, #TechHacks and #GreenHacks.

These topic areas were spotlighted as those of importance among youths through engagement sessions such as Topics Sandbox and Forward SG.

Youth panel members were subsequently chosen through an open call to ensure a “good representation of views across the youth population”. More than 300 youths have expressed interest to contribute to the youth panels initiative since it was first announced in April.

Each panel consists of around 30 youths from different backgrounds, with diverse skillsets and experiences. Additionally, each of the four panels will be led by four passionate youth leads and supported by a pair of youth advisors from NYC’s networks.

The youth advisor pair for the #LifeHacks panel is He Ruiming, co-founder of The Woke Salaryman and Francesca Wah, founder of the non-profit organisation Bringing Love to Every Single Soul (BLESS).

Meanwhile, #JobHacks has Lim Ee Ling, Executive Director, Market Launch (Global Programs) at 500 Global and co-founder and CEO of SmarterMe, as well as Yuvan Mohan, Chairman of the SINDA Youth Club and Country Head for Public Policy, Government Relations & ESG at Lalamove.

#GreenHacks will be led by Melissa Low, Research Fellow at Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Farah Sanwari, co-founder of the non-profit organisation FiTree.

The youth advisors of #TechHacks are Mohammad Matin Bin Mohdari, Head of Public Policy, Government and Corporate Affairs at Expedia Group and Ken Chua, Director at UT-Ways Freight Services Pte. Ltd and Chairman of the People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM) Council and Paya Lebar Youth Network.

Ruiming, Francesca, Ee Ling, Yuvan, Melissa and Ken also serve as NYC council members.

In their first meeting which convened on Saturday (Nov 18), the youth panel members underwent a policymaking workshop to help them “better appreciate the broader considerations of policymaking”.

The members were also equipped with design innovation skills during another workshop on Saturday (Nov 25). The workshop sought to help them understand how policies are crafted, enabling them to carry out tasks such as stakeholder mapping and designing a problem statement.

The coming months will see these youths conducting research and engaging stakeholders as they dive deeper into tackling youths’ concerns.

Policy recommendations from the panels will then be submitted to the Government and may be raised in Parliament for further debate, or addressed via other channels such as written responses. This aims to demonstrate to youths that their ideas are considered seriously by the Government.

More details on the youth panels’ work will be shared progressively on NYC’s website throughout the year.