Youths can now indicate interest to get involved in policy co-creation platform ‘youth panels’

Youths can now indicate their interest in youth panels and the topics they feel strongly for.

The youth panels was announced on Apr 21 in a parliamentary speech by the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong. It is a platform that provides opportunities for young Singaporeans and the Government to come together to work on policies and to co-create them.

According to the National Youth Council (NYC), youth panels will allow youths to better understand how the Government works and appreciate the range of considerations when evaluating how policies impact Singaporeans. They will also get to be involved in engagements and discussions.

Youths will also be exposed to how “policy-making is not a linear process” but instead involves citizen consultations, cost benefit analysis, research and data analysis, and engagements to ensure what gets implemented is in the “best interest of the country and Singaporeans”.

Through the process, which can take up to a year, youths will interact with government officials from various agencies. There will also be mentors attached to the participants at different junctures of the programme to support them.

Leaders will be appointed to guide each youth panel member through the programme.

Depending on skill sets, youth panel members can be involved in different ways such as conducting research, supporting engagements, analysing data, or even sense-making.

In the interest indication form, youths can select if they would like to fully commit to nine months of involvement or get involved on an ad-hoc basis.

Following that, they can select from 14 topics of interest such as “affordability and cost of living”, “mental wellbeing” and “racial and religious inclusivity”. Those who have other topics of interest to suggest can do so too.

In line with the definition of “youths” adopted by the Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth and NYC, only Singaporeans aged 15 to 35 years old are invited to indicate their interest through the online form.

Applicants can expect to hear back from NYC on participation opportunities within five working days after submission of the form. However, it is not a confirmation of participation.

More information about youth panels can be found on NYC’s website.