Youth Development Commission welcomes new initiatives on youth development announced in “The Chief Executive’s 2021 Policy Address”
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The following is issued on behalf of the Youth Development Commission:
The Youth Development Commission (YDC) has welcomed the initiatives on promoting youth development in the “The Chief Executive’s 2021 Policy Address” delivered by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, today (October 6). The YDC will actively follow up on the Chief Executive’s invitation to explore ways to enrich its existing programmes and launch new funding initiatives with a view to nurturing young people’s positive thinking.
The Vice-Chairman of the YDC, Mr Lau Ming-wai, supported the Government’s new initiatives in the Policy Address in relation to promoting youth development, including the re-organisation in relation to the setting up of the Youth and District Affairs Bureau, the continuous support for Hong Kong young people to explore opportunities for entrepreneurship, career development, internship and exchange on the Mainland, as well as the strengthening of the work of the six disciplined services and two auxiliary services on nurturing young people’s positive thinking and law-abiding awareness.
Mr Lau said, “In the face of the severe challenges confronting Hong Kong in the past two years, the YDC has kept reflecting upon and deliberating the future directions of youth work to enable young people to grow up in a productive, healthy and positive environment and contribute to society. This summer, the YDC paid visits to the activities provided by different sectors in the community in this regard and hosted an online thematic meeting to discuss this important subject. I am pleased that the Chief Executive has announced in the Policy Address to further support projects which are beneficial to promoting young people’s positive thinking, care for their needs and groom them into constructive builders of society.”
He expressed appreciation of the Government’s acceptance of suggestions raised by members of the YDC, and said that the YDC would work proactively and closely with the Government and stakeholders to follow up on and implement relevant new measures to take forward youth development.
Chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr John Lee, the YDC oversees the formulation and co-ordination of youth policies with a view to enabling a more holistic and effective examination of and discussion on issues of concern to young people, especially those related to education, career pursuits and home ownership, and participation in politics as well as public policy discussion and debate. Since its establishment, the YDC has implemented a wide spectrum of programmes to promote youth exchange, internship, entrepreneurship, life planning and more, so as to help young people create diverse development opportunities. In addition, the YDC is keen on gauging young people’s views through various channels, including organising youth engagement activities and online policy thematic meetings to further strengthen communication with young people.