Youths are our catalysts and change-makers

Ms Diana Chia, President of NTUC

Mr Lim Swee Say, Secretary-General of NTUC

Mr Yeo Khee Leng, CEO of NTUC Club

Ladies and gentlemen

nEbOians

1. Very good evening to all of you. I am very happy to join you this evening for the Spirit of Youth Awards.

2. The last time I was at the nEbO event was at Sentosa – The Quest. I am glad that I can be here again. It's always very good to be part of nEbO event and youth events because you see so much energy, so much excitement and so much sense of possibilities among young people. Their desire to do something to make the world a better place and I hope that you continue to have that sense of optimism as you get older.

3. Recently, Singapore Polytechnic did a survey about Singaporean youths. I am not sure if you all ready about the survey. But the survey results show that young people in Singapore are placing more emphasis on things aside from material wealth. The response showed that many want to see Singapore – in five years' time – a society that defines success beyond academic and material achievements. And I am sure this is the sentiment that many of you in this room will share. And I think you can also see this in our schools, our ITEs, polys and universities. More and more students taking time off from studying to achieve other goals, such as doing sports, training for competitions, or starting a community project.

4. And I am glad that young people like yourself are striving for lives that are meaningful and fulfilling. This sense of meaning comes from achieving a higher purpose. It comes from doing things not just for yourself, but about contributing to the common good. And I hope that you will continue to nurture this sense of purpose and wanting to do something meaningful and fulfilling in your lives.

5. I am glad that many of you here have found this purpose because you see that in the projects that you do. And I am sure many of our award nominees this evening have experienced this in their own lives, doing something meaningful and purposeful. And demonstrating the spirit of contribution and service. So I give you some examples. There is 16-year-old Douglas from Yishun Secondary School. Douglas has this project called “Stash Your Trash.”  He rallied 42 nEbO volunteers to plan a fun day out for children from Lakeside Family Centre, and also taught them about recycling. I think this is a worthy project and we should give him a round of applause. Well done, Douglas!

6. I also learnt that nEbO has a W.I.S.H (Ways in Sharing Happiness) event. It is a signature event in nEbO. And you find the different ways in sharing happiness around you. So one of the things the committee did this year was to go around seven NTUC FairPrice outlets where they collected food rations and went around distributing to needy households. Altogether, they raised more than 10,000 food ration units. So many households benefitted. We should also give them a round of applause for their efforts.

7. So these are two examples where the projects were about doing something for others. But there are also other projects which were about advocating and championing causes that the youths believe in. And one example was the 3 nEbO activists, together with the help of 20 other members, launched the “Thank Your Intern Day”. As they told me this happened during the time when there was a video going around on an employee being abused. And so they felt it was important to go out to advocate for interns' rights and also to educate interns and employers how to behave and how to make the workplace a better place for everyone. They did a series of videos to educate employers and interns about building a good working relationship, and creating a positive learning environment.

8. These are good examples of projects our youths are embarking on and I hope your actions will inspire others to make a difference.

9. I want to assure you that my ministry (MCCY) and the National Youth Council are here to support your efforts. For example, we have set aside resources to support ground-up initiatives. We have the Young ChangeMakers Grant and we have also set aside the $100 million National Youth Fund which you can apply to in order to get resources to support your projects.

10. We are also setting up a national youth corps, and you may have already heard about this. It is a new initiative, a new programme we are creating. It is aimed at youths in tertiary institutions (ITE, Poly, Universities), as well as young working adults. It is a one-year programme where we want to get youths involved in overseas projects as well as community projects within Singapore so that you can make a sustained impact and positive difference in the community. The programme will include mentoring, leadership training, overseas and local community service projects. We will also provide funding to start your own projects. And if you are considering taking a term off school to do full-time community service – if you choose to do so, we will provide you with allowances to help defray some of your daily expenses. And at the end of the programme, we will provide you a pay-it-forward grant so that you can continue serving the community.

11. We are going to start the pilot batch in June. To start off, I've written to all the leaders of the youth organisations to nominate youth leaders to join the first batch of the youth corps. And I fact, I've written to the Labour movement, and the Labour movement has already nominated several youth leaders to be part of the programme. But beyond the first batch, we are opening up for applications after that.  The first batch is the pilot batch so that we can experiment, try, fine-tune and improve the programme. But beyond the first batch, we are opening up for applications, and it will continue year after year. So I encourage all of you, if you have an interest to join, please consider when the applications are open and apply for the youth corps.

12. Finally, to all the nominees who are present, I commend you for the time and hard work you've invested in creating, organising and implementing nEbO projects.

13. All of you are the catalysts and change-makers for your generation. And people always say being young is the best time of your life. But actually, the best times of your life are still ahead of you. So I hope you maintain this confidence, resilience and optimism as you continue in your life journey.  There will be many more opportunities for all of you. And if you continue with that sense of possibilities that you have today, I am sure that you will have a bright future ahead of yourselves and for Singapore as well.

14. So thank you very much and have a pleasant evening!