Keynote Address by RAdm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew, Minister of State for Education, at the Inaugural National Student Action Conference at 3.30 pm on 26 August 2006 at Saffron Hall, Alumni Complex, National University of Singapore

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY RADM(NS) LUI TUCK YEW, MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION, AT THE INAUGURAL NATIONAL STUDENT ACTION CONFERENCE AT 3.30 PM ON 26 AUGUST 2006 AT SAFFRON HALL, ALUMNI COMPLEX, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Introduction
1. Good afternoon. I’m delighted to join you at this inaugural National Students Action Conference. It is my pleasure to be among student volunteers who are eager to play an active role in shaping a society where there are many helping hands and where those more fortunate and able are prepared to step forward.

Our Volunteer Scene Today
2. The current volunteer scene in Singapore is indeed at a heartening stage. The volunteerism rate for youths has increased from 17% in 2002 to 25% in 2004. Today, one in four youths is involved in volunteerism efforts of one kind or another. That’s commendable and I’ve been told that this compares favourably with the youth volunteerism rates in developed countries.

3. The role of youth volunteers is also changing. It used to be a more passive role, serving as the hands and legs of community projects. Today, young volunteers are assuming greater responsibilities in running projects, even initiating new projects to plug gaps in the established social services.

Emergence of Service-oriented Youths
4. We have an emerging group of youth volunteers who create more volunteer opportunities for other youths. They play a catalytic role in encouraging and bringing other young people to join in these efforts. They are termed “service-oriented youths”. Such self-initiated youth-for-youth projects represent yet another step up in the growth of the youth volunteer scene.

5. A significant youth-for-youth project that is worthy of mention is SHINE. First launched in 2005, SHINE is a youth celebration event which encourages young people to channel their creativity and energy to organise events celebrating youth talents in arts, sports, entrepreneurship and technology, as well as innovative community service projects. One such project was “Care To Dance”, in which 400 youths taught swing and Bollywood dance moves to over 100 children and disabled youth to improve their motor skills. Another project “Home Creation”, involved 100 youth volunteers who organised a block party to clean and refurbish the flats of the elderly and needy to improve their living environment.

6. SHINE has reached out to 113,000 youths in 2005 and over 150,000 youths in 2006. I hope that SHINE and other like-minded establishments will continue to inspire more youths to make a contribution to their community.

Support for Youth Volunteers
7. The Government and other independent organisations such as Heartware Network, have recognised the growing number of youth-led initiatives and have made various resources available to encourage and support such projects.

8. One such example is the Young ChangeMakers grant awarded by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports via the National Youth Council. The Young ChangeMakers grant aims to allow more young people to embark on short-term one-off community projects, by providing seed funding and mentorship by peers to successful applicants. The grant empowers experienced youth volunteers to assess and award seed money to community projects proposed by their peers. These experienced volunteers will also mentor and guide other youth who are new to community involvement.

9. In addition, the Youth Expedition Project, or YEP, supports youth who lead overseas community projects. Since the programme started in 2000, the YEP has sent over 9,500 youth volunteers overseas for a variety of community projects, such as rebuilding schools, promoting healthcare knowledge, teaching English and undertaking environmental conservation.

10. A heartening trend in such overseas projects is that instead of simply signing up for projects, youth now take the lead in researching community needs, then organise and implement projects to meet those needs. An example of this is the NUS Rotaract Club which has collaborated closely with Rotaract Club of Phnom Penh to provide better resources for the Mit Pheap Exchange School, including English and Khmer books for the school library and a computer centre. About 6,000 children from 3 surrounding villages will benefit from the completed facilities.

11. To support YEP projects, the Government will invest $18 million over the next 4 years to build up the capacity and capability of youth organisations and create partnerships between youths, youth organisations and private organisations.

12. In addition, numerous independent organisations often host non-affiliated projects proposed by informal groups of youths. By approaching such organisations to host projects, youths can tap on the infrastructure of these organisations to make a significant impact on the community.

Looking at the Big Picture
13. Many of today’s youth volunteer activities are conducted either in isolation or on a one-off basis, with individual groups focusing on their own cause. Moving forward, the next stage in the development of the youth volunteer scene would require a volunteer leader to not just look at addressing issues in one's immediate environment, but to also frame it in the national context. I am heartened to note that some youth are already championing useful causes at the national scale. For example, Glenn Lim, winner of the 2005 Singapore Youth Award has produced a DVD based on his own life story to promote the anti-drugs campaign. Through working with various institutions like the Prison Service, National Council against drug abuse, schools, youth & community organisations. Glenn was able to extend the reach of his DVD and spread the anti-drug message at the National level. Jonathan Lim, a former student at City Harvest Education centre a VWO-run alternative learning centre for out-of-school youth intending to resume their N/O level studies, brought together youth from CHEC and SMU to put together a photo exhibition titled ‘Gift’ early this year. The exhibition documents the struggles and life of youth with a simliar past like his – school dropouts and ex-offenders who have turned good.

14. I wish to encourage all youth volunteer leaders to explore how your project can achieve synergies through collaborations with other projects. Such collaborations can leverage on the strengths and resources of different youth volunteer groups and transform the efforts of one group with a localised impact to one that impacts a larger group of people who need your help and hence make a significant change on a national scale. One example was the Olympic Dreams – Going for Gold project jointly organised by Student Volunteer Corps Singapore and Singapore Disability Sports Council in July this year. This project was a Disability Sports Festival aimed to increase participations of people with disabilities as sports and to promote youth volunteerism in disability sports. There was fund-raising carnival with food, games stalls, performances etc. Both groups were able to leverage on each others resource, expertise and volunteers and synergise efforts to promote a common cause.

15. To this end, there needs to be a more cohesive exchange of information between would-be volunteers and the community services. For example, through the Youth Bank which was launched on 16 May 2006, youth volunteers can gain awareness of volunteering opportunities and match their interests to the needs of the voluntary hosting organisation. In this case, both parties benefit from an updated and speedy transfer of information.

16. Similarly, this conference presents an exciting opportunity for youth volunteers such as yourselves to get together and be exposed to the varied range of community projects. It also provides an opportunity to tap on the experience and knowledge of your peers who have ventured into youth-driven community projects.

17. I would encourage you to start the process of collaboration in your own way today. I know there are many small groups, usually of 4 to 10 youths in our educational institutions who want to serve the community. As individual small groups, the efforts and the amounts of funds raised or awareness may be limited. But if these groups can network, find their common cause, collaborate as a larger group with some economies of scale, the impact will be extended with possibly greater benefits to the intended beneficiaries.

Conclusion
18. In conclusion, the stage has been set for you as youths in schools and tertiary institutions, to take the initiative in effecting change in our society. Look beyond your immediate environment, and be cognizant of what other groups are doing, for it is through working together that the greatest impact can be made. I wish you luck in your coming endeavours, and look forward to working together to build a strong and cohesive Singapore family. Thank you.