PARTICIPATION

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PARTICIPATION

• AMONG YOUTHS IN SINGAPORE
• IN THE AREA OF POLITICS

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• First, lets take a look at social participation
  amongst youths in Singapore

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• Youths involved in Community Service

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• Youths involved in Interest Groups

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• Youths involved in Uniformed Groups

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• Youths involved in Arts and Cultural Groups

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• Youths involved in Sports-Related Groups

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Presentation Highlights

• Youths in Singapore Definition
• Encouraging Participation through the National
  Youth Forum
• Survey Results on Social Participation in
  Singapore (2002)
• Benefits of Social Participation

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Definition of Youths

• Between 15 to 30 years old
• Approximately 700K of Singapore population,
  meaning, youths form about 21 per cent of total
  population
• More than 40 per cent have post secondary
  education
• Mostly singles (about 80 per cent)

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Encouraging Participation
through the National Youth Forum

• Currently, there are existing forums to express
  their views on national issues, egs, ITE
  Students Seminar, Polytechnic Forums etc
• However, more could be more done. Hence, the
  establishment of the National Youth Forum(NYF)
• to provide a formal platform for youths from a
  variety of backgrounds to study policy formation
  and debate national issues

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Encouraging Participation
through the National Youth Forum

• to target youths from ages 17 to 21
• to target about 200 to 300 representatives from
  various education institutions, youth groups and
  community organisations

Remaking Singapore 2003 Report
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Encouraging Participation
through the National Youth Forum

• Objective
• gives youths a chance to deepen their
  understanding of rationale behind various
  government policies, to think through and put
  forward recommendations for changes they would
  like to see in national policies

Remaking Singapore 2003 Report
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Encouraging Participation
through the National Youth Forum

• Mechanics
• The NYF will be held on an annual basis,
  comprising the following phases
• Foundation phase
• Conceptualisation phase
• Debate and decision phase
• Follow-up phase

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Survey on Social Participation

• In 2002, the National Youth Council did a survey
  on the state of youths in Singapore
• The sample size was 1,504
• The survey explored indicators such as health,
  values and attitudes, and rate of social
  participation of youths

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Table 1 Age, occupational status and social
involvement
Overall sample (N1504) Involved in one or more group Not involved in any group
AGE
15-18 76 24
19-22 43 57
23-26 29 1
27-29 27 73
OCCUPATIONAL STATUS
Student 74 26
Non-student 30 70
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Table 2 Youths involved in social groups
Types of Groups Percentage of Youths Involved () out of 1504
Sports-Related Groups 24
Arts and Cultural Groups 10
Religious Groups 10
Uniformed Groups 8
Interest Groups 4
Community Groups 4
Welfare and Self-Help Groups 3
Others 2
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Benefits of social participation (Part 1)

• Leadership skills are taught through informal
  learning processes such as experiences in social
  groups
• Leadership experiences in social groups are
  excellent means for youth development, because
• a) provide a context for young people to learn
  team building, strategic planning, etc
• b) leadership roles provide opportunities for
  youth to be mentored by adult role models
• c) experiences in leadership equip young people
  with skills necessary to participate in everyday
  life

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Benefits of social participation (Part 2)

• Social support and interaction
• eg, having adult mentors for advice
• Social competency
• eg, finding it easy to make new friends
• Citizenship values
• eg, aware that service to others is important
• Life satisfaction
• eg, feeling happy with life

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What some youths say

• The time is well spent, we actually learn a lot
  more, and we treasure a lot more stuff, because
  we know we are more fortunate than other people.
  Secondary school student, male

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What some youths say

• For me, even one lone ranger has a good idea,
  but without the support of others, he or she
  cannot carry out. Secondary school student,
  female

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What some youths say

• I do quite a range of activities with my
  volunteer group. I do management committee work.
  I am also involved in direct service work. I work
  with the intellectually disabled. Thats what I
  do every Saturday University student, male

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In Summary,

• Participation in social groups not only yields
  personal benefits, but also channels the creative
  energy of youths towards the betterment of
  society. Participation in social groups nurtures
  the imagination, ideals, energy and vision of
  young people in a supportive environment.
  Youth.sg

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Thank You!