Social Space - The Youth Empowerment Issue

CONTENTS

SOCIAL STRATOSPHERE

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Hot Topics & Happenings in Social Innovation

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COMING TO TERMS

Speaking the “Millingo”: Decoding the Lingo of Millennials

FEATURE

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“The Young and Restless” Re-examining Media Portrayals of Youth FEATURE

Voices that Care: Bringing Speech Therapy to Cambodia’s Youth FEATURE

Youth and Social Media: Power to Empower?

CONVERSATIONS

The Project Runway: Cheryl Chong on Getting Your Social Initiative Off the Ground

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SPOTLIGHT

Generation “P”:

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Philippines’ Millennial Impact Entrepreneurs FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Youth and Volunteerism: What Gives?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Might of Millennials ASK ME ANYTHING

Your Burning Changemaking Questions—Answered THE SHORT LIST

More Power to Youth:

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6 TED Talks to Empower Young Minds POP QUIZ

The Last Word

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2017 ISSUE NINE

EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Chang Deputy Editor Eunice Rachel Low Contributing Editor Christian Petroske Contributing Editor (web) Sujith Kumar Prankumar Editorial Assistants Florian Parzhuber, Shee Siew Ying

General enquiries & feedback: hello@socialspacemag.org Editorial & submissions: editor@socialspacemag.org Advertising: advertising@socialspacemag.org

Special thanks to the following individuals for their unique contributions: Emma Glendinning, Ho Han Peng, Seth Lutsic, Shirley Pong and Yina Song Aside from the editorial, all articles written by the authors, including individuals associated with the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, do not necessarily reflect the views or standpoint of the Centre. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without the prior written permission of the Centre.

ISSN 1793-7809 (print) ISSN 2424-9157 (online) Designed by Achates 360 Pte Ltd Printed in Singapore by Mainland Press Pte Ltd

The cover is printed on Green Forest paper while the pages are printed on Pacesetter Plus Matt paper. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, the paper materials have been sourced in an environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically viable manner.

Social Space is a publication of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, Singapore Management University, 81 Victoria Street, Singapore 188065. Visit www.socialspacemag.org for more information.

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Dear readers, Dear readers,

EDITOR’S NOTE

In this issue of Social Space, we address the ever-important subject of youth empowerment. Across the world, we see instances of young people coming together to address society’s most pressing issues, and how they, in turn, inspire others to be more innovative and entrepreneurial. Today, many young entrepreneurs who fill the numerous co-working spaces, incubators and accelerators are working on the next Apple, Facebook, Google or Uber. Indeed, innovation transcends culture, language and personal background—all that’s needed are a trusty laptop and Wi-Fi connection.

Yet, it is not easy to be young. People often discount a younger person’s opinion just because of his or her youth, and in some companies, a capable person may be passed over for a position simply because he or she lacks seniority. However, we at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation believe that in order to meaningfully enable youth empowerment, the youth themselves need to lead the change. More importantly, they should be empowered to do so.

A few years ago, I gave a TEDx talk at Harvard University on the importance of a mission-driven life. This message seems to have struck a chord with the audience—the filmed clip went on to garner tens of thousands of views on YouTube and was featured in Voice of America. In the same spirit, I encourage our readers, especially the younger ones, to think about what their life mission is. Rather than being too fixated on the idea of making money or chasing after prestigious titles, there should be a higher purpose behind their desire to succeed. Identifying that “mission” is a way for us to persevere in spite of life’s many ups and downs.

For this Editor’s Note, my team asked me to think about advice I’d give to my younger self. To this end, my words are: “Keep your chin up. There will be those who say you’ll fail, and these comments may even come from people closest to you. Be prepared to experience failure, rejection and disappointment. As long as you push on, you’ll discover that these setbacks are only readying you for better things that are coming your way.”

Jonathan Chang Editor-in-Chief jonathan@socialspacemag.org

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SOCIAL STRATOSPHERE

Hot Topics and Happenings in Social Innovation

By Florian Parzhuber

WALK THE TALK

13-year-old Cambodian boy Ouk Ling draws as OIC founder Weh Yeoh and his disability worker Phearom look on (photo courtesy of Anna Betts/ OIC: The Cambodia Project).

Do you take your ability to speak, sing or swallow for granted?

For individuals with speech impediments, simple actions like taking a sip of tea or saying hello can be difficult, or even impossible.

However, speech therapy can help strengthen the muscles responsible for making sounds and swallowing, and equips affected persons with strategies to improve verbal communication, and to make eating and drinking safer.

To combat Cambodia’s lack of speech therapy and therapists, Australia-born Weh Yeoh founded OIC Cambodia, a charity dedicated to making speech therapy available to the local people.

Himself a professionally trained physiotherapist, he and his team plan to ensure that 100 local speech therapists are employed by the Cambodian government by 2030. http://www.oiccambodia.org

STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE With around 420,000 Singaporeans struggling to live on a monthly household income of under $1,500, as many as one in 10 people go to bed hungry, according to a 2016 report in The Straits Times. In spite of this, however, the average Singaporean wastes two bowls of rice a day, or the equivalent of 140 kg of food in a year. As far as good eating habits go, Food from the Heart (FFTH, a local non-profit which delivers surplus bread and non-perishable food items to low-income households) believes in starting young. In its annual Clean Plate Campaign, FFTH holds talks and exhibitions in some 35 participating schools to encourage children to return clean plates after meals and cultivate mindful eating. FairPrice Foundation has also come on board, pledging $10 to FFTH for every clean plate returned during these schools’ recess breaks. https://foodheart.org http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/have-near-expiry-food-donate-it 4

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HOT TOPICS AND HAPPENINGS IN SOCIAL INNOVATION

THE YOUTH CODE Melbourne start-up Code the Future has ambitious plans for 2017: to engage 10,000 students in coding, eventually creating Australia’s youngest community of software developers. Its co-founder and director Will Egan recognised the need to revamp the nation’s coding and tech development curriculum after looking at his younger sister’s IT homework and realising that little progress had been made in the past seven years. In 2015, Code the Future’s open and free marketplace facilitated the exchanges of over 800 software developers and 2,000 teachers, who signed up to teach coding.

The start-up was awarded $10,000 (AUD) at PwC’s 21st Century Minds Accelerator in 2016 for successfully targeting poor digital literacy and for empowering young people to pursue a career in IT. http://www.startupsmart.com.au/advice/growth/ how-this-startup-plans-to-teach-10000-studentscoding-in-2016

MILKY WAY When Marie Cavosora left her corporate executive job at an MNC and returned to her native Philippines, she was inspired to start a business that encouraged fellow Filipinos to “love local” and appreciate “export-quality” local products. The result was her socially responsible and eco-friendly dairy business, CalaBoo Creamery.

CalaBoo’s products come from carabaos, water buffalos found only in the Philippines, and that are fed on nutritious grasses such as napier, legumes and fermented greens. In the same spirit of loving and appreciating the value in local resources and expertise, CalaBoo pays its local dairy farmers higher wages. https://www.facebook.com/ CalaBooDairy https://business.inquirer.net/220564/ social-entrepreneur-offers-giftfilipino-dairy-products

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HOT TOPICS AND HAPPENINGS IN SOCIAL INNOVATION

LION QUEEN Wanting to accelerate the progress of female entrepreneurship in Africa, Melanie Hawken founded Lionesses of Africa (LoA), an online platform that facilitates communication, knowledge-sharing and mentoring among women entrepreneurs.

Through the support she received from LoA, designer Akosua Afriyie-Kumi was able to expand AAKS, her brand of luxury, traditionally handwoven handbags, to an international market while also providing employment in her home country, Ghana. http://www.lionessesofafrica.com http://themediaonline.co.za/2016/11/lionesses-ofafrica-helping-africas-female-entrepreneurs-roar

BOM APPETIT! Singapore-based social enterprise Bompipi burst into the scene in early 2016 with a new and innovative twist to online grocery shopping.

This online hypermart offers the same functionalities as other virtual marketplaces, but allows shoppers to offset a part of their bill through various volunteering with Bompipi’s partner charities.

Through this unique reward system, customers are encouraged to give back to society while enjoying discounted prices on their groceries.

The organisation is currently in the process of securing a new merchant, which will add more than 16,000 products to Bompipi’s product assortment. http://www.bompipi.com https://e27.co/rise-social-entrepreneur-will-goodgood-business-20161121

Have a hot social change/ innovation news story to share?

We’d love to hear from you.

Email us at editor@socialspacemag.org

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Florian Parzhuber is a final-year student at the Singapore Management University (SMU), where he majors in both Finance and Operations Management. He is also based at SMU’s Lien Centre for Social Innovation, where he is employed as a Data Management Associate and Editorial Assistant for the Centre’s flagship publication, Social Space.

During this time, he has conducted research on water access in Laos, social entrepreneurship in the Philippines and on the global social entrepreneurship landscape. His research interests include financial inclusion, youth empowerment, as well as crowdsourcing and blockchain technology.

He can be reached at fparzhuber.2013@business.smu.edu.sg

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COMING TO TERMS

Speaking the “Millingo” Decoding the Lingo of Millennials

By Pingxuan Chye

Does “Squad’s OOTD on fleek, seriously goals!” have you straining your eyes and stifling a groan as you try to decipher millennials’ penchant for strange, new words?

Alongside a host of creative new vocabulary, millennials— generally referring to those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s—are an assortment of unique traits such as progressiveness, empathy and increasing awareness of social issues that plague not just the community around them, but also the world they live in. Inadvertently, these characteristics are reflected in the popular terms they use.

However, this can seem like endless pit of lingo for the uninitiated (millennials or no) so here’s a list of commonly known words, as well as new terms that may just be coming to a “millingo” dictionary near you.

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SPEAKING THE "MILINGO"

WHAT’S OUT THERE

generally an informal phrase, and commonly used between closer friends, rather than acquaintances, to avoid the risk of coming off distant or insincere. While “on fleek” started off as a compliment for perfect eyebrows, its usage has expanded to encompass other aspects of a person.

Example: “Your eyebrows are on fleek, where did you get them done?”; “Her personality is on fleek!”

1. GOALS Definition: Adjective; to describe something or someone as worthy of admiration and envy.

4. OOTD Definition: Noun; an acronym for “Outfit of the Day”.

Concept: Similar to “on fleek”, “goals” is another expression millennials use to compliment and show support. However, “goals” connote good-natured jealousy, such that the object of admiration is representative of targets that the speaker would like to achieve. It can also be used to express confidence when the speaker uses it to describe himself or herself.

Concept: With the advent of social media platforms, millennials have been geared towards visual expression through pictures and videos. “OOTD” is most often used as a hashtag on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and accompanies a picture of the speaker’s impeccably stylish outfit.

Example: “That friend clique is goals, I wish I were friends with them.”

Example: “Our outfit is goals today, let’s take an OOTD picture.”

2. LIT Definition: Adjective; to describe something, such as an event or experience, as phenomenal and impressive.

Concept: Millennials love to have fun, often through new and exciting experiences. “Cool”, “awesome” or “amazing” are just several in a variety of expressions used to describe a thing or place they find interesting or enjoyable. However, “lit” takes the “cool/ awesome/amazing” factor to the next level.

Example: “That concert was lit!”

5. SHIP Definition: Verb; to pair two individuals together.

Concept: Millennials value close relationships, whether with their significant other, family, or friends. “Ship” is therefore used to affirm such connections, and often expresses how two individuals complement each other well in terms of personality, looks, or otherwise.

It can also insinuate a romantic relationship, and is often used as a teasing remark, to imply that two people are/should become a couple.

Example: “Sandra and Frank look so cute together, I ship them!”

3. ON FLEEK Definition: Adjective; to describe a characteristic or feature of someone that is perfect.

Concept: Millennials use this term to foster a culture of mutual commendation. With a tendency to exchange praises and admiration for one another especially on social media platforms, “on fleek” is one such way they show support and encouragement. It is SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 9

SPEAKING THE "MILINGO"

COMING TO A MILLINGO DICTIONARY NEAR YOU

3. PLAKE Definition: Noun; an exclamation for when the speaker forgets something they wanted to say, or when they use a different word from what was intended due to distractions.

1. CRATES Definition: Adjective; to describe something or someone that is all over the place in an unrestrained or chaotic manner.

Concept: Similar to “mess”, “crates” is used to describe when something or someone is not in tip-top condition. However, “crates” take on a much more frantic and wilder undertone.

Conveying empathy and concern for someone, the term is also synonymous with an offer to help.

Example: “What happened to you?

You’re crates!”

2. DESPIRIT Definition: Adjective; a declaration to describe feeling a combination of disappointment and desperation.

Concept: As with life, it is only natural that millennials encounter disappointment and rejection even when they desperately wish for something to work out. This term expresses millennials’ frustration with not getting what they want, but their determination to try again.

Example: “I really needed the money, but I didn’t get the job, I’m so despirit!”

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Concept: Have you ever wanted to say something, but blanked and lost your train of thought? Or did you ever get so distracted that you ended up saying something completely different from what you intended? Plake is a word that has no actual meaning in the dictionary, which is representative of the way words are meaningless when used incorrectly.

Example: “Plake, I meant to say ‘cheesecake’, not ‘bread’!”

4. WALLOUT Definition: Adjective; a combination of “Wallet” and “All out”, to describe not having enough money.

Concept: Most millennials are still students or just starting out in their careers, and may have little to no income. This term depicts the cumbersome worry and fear of not having enough to spare or provide for oneself.

Example: “I haven’t gotten my paycheck yet, I’m wallout!”

Pingxuan Chye is a curious observer of the world around her, and likes to refer to herself as a student of life. In truth, she’s a media student who loves to think about things happening in the world, and is currently the Production Manager at The Hidden Good, where she produces exciting videos documenting the good in society such as through hidden camera shoots, events, and even community outreach. Her role at The Hidden Good has given her ample opportunities to tell stories through videos and use media to impact the people around her. She hopes one day to do what she loves in a way that changes people’s perspectives and encourages them to broaden their horizons. On the weekends, she can be found teaching piano to budding musicians, chronicling fictional lives in words, and pursuing her passion for learning different languages. She can be reached at chyepingxuan@gmail.com

FEATURE

“THE YOUNG AND RESTLESS” Re-examining Media Portrayals of Youth

By Shee Siew Ying

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What first comes to mind when someone mentions “young people” or “youth”, and how much of your impression is determined by the last news article you read? If you are wont to use “reckless”, “troublemakers”, “self-absorbed”, “obsessed with social media” or “lacking in self-control” in the same sentence as “youth”, this could be the doing of the traditional mass media, whose reportage on this demographic consistently overstates an involvement in risky behaviours.

From TV programmes, to newspapers, books and magazines, traditional media’s depictions of youth have tended to dwell on either sides of two extremes: hapless victims or violent perpetrators.

In his 1998 seminal work, Moral Panics, social scientist Kenneth Thompson claimed, “No age group is more associated with risk in the public imagination than that of youth.”1 Now, decades after this claim was made, it appears that little has changed. A simple Google search on “Youth in Singapore” yields reports pertaining to teen violence and misadventures on dating sites;2 in the United States, youth make the most headlines for school shootings;3 and in 2008 alone, more than half of the UK’s national and regional newspapers’ coverage of teenagers had to do with crime.4

workers attributed youth’s “often naïve, trusting” nature to their “especially vulnerable” position in society.7 Ironically, when not suggesting more should be done for these helpless youngsters, there are just as many news stories and national statistics on youth crime, delinquency and drug abuse, which present a darker side to this group.8

IT’S ALL RELATIVE From TV programmes, to newspapers, books and magazines, traditional media’s depictions of youth have tended to dwell on either sides of two extremes: hapless victims or violent perpetrators. In Stanley Cohen’s 1972 work, Folk Devils and Moral Panics,5 he describes how these dismissive media portrayals of youth have fixed the public’s general perceptions

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of them in a particular way that has had lasting and far-reaching effects.

In recent years, a number of youth victimisation cases have also dominated Singapore’s news, involving cases of “nonethe-wiser” teens being duped by cyber scams, and suffering sexual or financial exploitation as a result.6 Attempting to explain this trend, social

As worrying as the “phenomenon” of youth violence and arrests may seem at first glance, the numbers, when presented in relative terms as a proportion of all youth in Singapore, paints a more optimistic picture. In 2016, only 0.5 per cent of all youth in Singapore were arrested for youth crime,9 which means that the overwhelming majority (99.5 per cent) were engaged in other, presumably nonlaw-breaking, activities.

Singaporean parents may also be glad to know that the vast majority of the nation’s youth are not “troubled”—in fact, with 74 per cent regarding “maintaining family ties” as a very important life goal,10 they are quite “homey”!

“THE YOUNG AND RESTLESS”

"Lego Love” by Eva Peris, via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

WHAT’S AGE GOT TO DO WITH IT? While society may have been quick to establish a direct link between age and delinquency, it is also worthwhile to examine the wider issues behind youth’s particular “susceptibility” to “acting out”. This point is supported by Mr Ho Peng Kee, formerly the Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs and Chairman of the InterMinistry Committee on Youth Crime, who emphasised that “no single factor explains why youths turn to crime”.14 One view argues that, among affected children, parental divorce causes family instability and triggers “psychological problems such as separation anxiety, grief and lower self-esteem,”15 thus leading them to seek solace in “risky behaviours”. Yet, on the other hand, statistics reveal that troubled youth do not all originate from single-parent families:16 a study examining the family structures of young offenders arrested in Singapore between 2013 and 2014 showed that only 53 per cent17 came from families with

separated or divorced parents.

This is substantiated by Gus Martin’s point that it is the discord in a household, rather than family make-up, that can prove “much more disruptive” to a child.18 Besides family instability, the pressures of school and grades have also been identified as a major source of unhappiness for Singaporean youth aged between 15 and 18.19 This corresponds with the findings in a 2004 national report on marriage and parenthood,20 which highlighted how high parental expectations towards children’s academic performance contributed significantly to the latter’s stress levels.

In light of the above, I suggest that it is youth’s sense of disengagement—rather than age—that predisposes them to “risky behaviours” (online and off), but this is a separate topic that deserves closer examination, and the scope of it will not be covered in this article.

MINORITY REPORT

developed nations can be parked under the “problematic minority” group21—this applies to Singapore as well, whose 3,000-something “troubled” youth constitute a mere 0.5 per cent of its whole youth demographic. Considering its “minority” standing, the disproportionate amount of attention that traditional media pays to it is puzzling. It is plain to see that other groups (the elderly, children or adults) are not as closely associated with risk, crime and violence, and this leads one to wonder if a particularly ageist attitude against youth might be behind this obvious media slant. First coined by Robert Neil Butler in 1969 to describe discrimination against seniors,22 the term “ageism” has since expanded to encompass general agerelated bias, stereotyping and unfair practices against individuals based solely on their age. Similarly, the traditional media’s tendency to portray young people as synonymous with traits such as powerlessness and vulnerability, as well as lacking in knowledge, experience and the capacity to resist temptation, is suggestive of an “ageist” stance.

Research shows that age-based stereotypes lead some youngsters to believe they are of lower status, have fewer rights, and cause them to feel less motivated to speak out in general.

According to Philip Graham’s classifications of individuals, the youth population of most

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Traditional media’s negative typecasting of young people influences not only public perception, but has an impact on youth’s self-image as well.

Research shows that such age-based stereotypes lead some youngsters to believe they

BOSTON: DOING RIGHT

BY YOUTH In Boston, Massachusetts, not only are its residents invited to participate in the city’s budget planning, those aged 12 to 25 in particular are targeted by the Mayor to come up with budgeting projects.

Known as “Youth Lead the Change”, it is America’s first youth-driven city budgeting programme that works with youth to understand their needs, in order to ultimately create an inclusive city.

Started in 2009 with US$1 million by the Mayor and his Youth Council, participatory budgeting for youth in Boston has presently expanded to US$27 million. Under this programme, high school juniors and seniors serve as volunteer representatives of every neighbourhood in the city. Forums are held regularly for young people to contribute ideas and solutions directly to the Mayor and other city officials, after which these are narrowed down to four initiatives that focus on improving Boston’s safety, environment and health, community and culture, and education. Following that, city residents vote for the top proposals, which go on

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are of lower status, have fewer rights, and cause them to feel less motivated to speak out in general.23 In many countries, youth are seldom given the opportunity to contribute to decisions about public policies (e.g. national budget and urban

1

US$

million

US$

27 million

to receive funding. Some of 2016’s winning project ideas

by Bostonian youth include: playground renovations, art walls, park security cameras and new sidewalks.

Throughout this year-long experience, not only do Boston’s youth become more informed about the inner workings of government, they gain the soft skills required to make thoughtful decisions within a limited time and budget. With them feeling like they have a stake in the planning of their living space, young Bostonians are all the more empowered to create positive impacts on their city’s design and liveability.

planning), although Boston has proven a positive exception (see boxed story: “Boston: Doing Right by Youth”).

BRAND NEW YOUTH While an image overhaul of youth is long overdue in traditional media, one need not hold his breath. With the emerging generation of millennials eschewing printed newspapers and magazines and turning instead to online news sites, blogs and social media for information and entertainment, the Internet and new media are giving traditional media a run for its money—as well as providing youth an alternative platform to be seen and heard.

And with that, a different picture of youth is emerging.

Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, was a teenager when he discovered his forte in programming and wrote his first tic-tac-toe computer programme. That was several decades ago, when such remarkable cases were few and far between. However, today’s youth-led entrepreneurship scene is thriving by leaps and bounds: unlike before, when founding a start-up straight after graduation seemed like a foolishly risky endeavour, it is today viewed as something commendable—even viable.

To meet young people’s growing interest in entrepreneurship as a career, more specialised courses are being taught by business schools and educational institutions.24 Today, armed with suitable knowledge and by being at the right place (read: online platform) at the right

“THE YOUNG AND RESTLESS”

time, youth can meaningfully showcase their talents to an intended audience. As a case in point, after the Fiverr page (an online marketplace for digital services) of 15-year-old Singaporean student Hrithie Menon caught the attention of a Donald Trump staffer, Menon scored a gig to make a Prezi slideshow video for Trump’s campaign effort at college campuses.25 This Prezi went on to reach millions of students across US universities and high schools, and Menon’s public profile has since enjoyed a considerable boost: she is presently listed as a “Top Choice Level 1 Seller” on Fiverr.

Alongside IT-savviness and a keen entrepreneurial spirit, there is yet another positive trait often attributed to today’s youth: their social consciousness and desire to contribute towards positive social change.26 A 2016 survey showed that young people are increasingly eschewing luxury holidays for immersiontype trips in emerging countries like Myanmar to experience the cultures and living conditions of local communities; and many develop empathy in the process.27 In David Pong’s travels to Phnom Penh and Bintan, the 26-year-old Singaporean was shocked to witness the stunted growth of the local children as a result of improper nutrition and lack of clean drinking water.

Recognising that “water affects everything in life”, he and his university mates set out to address water insecurity in such places by developing affordable and portable water filtration devices to improve the people's accessibility to clean water.28

Alongside IT-savviness and a keen entrepreneurial spirit, there is yet another positive trait often attributed to today’s youth: their social consciousness and desire to contribute towards positive social change.

Back home, it appears that the younger generation is just as acutely aware of prevailing social issues. Desiree Yang, a 23-year-old Singapore Management University undergraduate, became aware of low-income families’ inaccessibility to fresh food and dry rations during her internship at Beyond Social Services. Feeling for their plight, she and her father Mr Roland Yeo, 55, set up Singapore’s first social supermarket. Named Saltsteps,29 it sells goods and groceries rejected by regular supermarkets (for reasons such as mislabelling and torn labels) at significantly more affordable prices to low-income families, while reducing food wastage at the same time.

Examples like these, set against the rapid rise of youth-led social enterprises around the world,30 suggest that youth may indeed have found a way to satisfy their dual passions for entrepreneurship and social change.

CONCLUSION While it is not the intention of this article to downplay the severity of youth-related crime, I hope to have encouraged readers to put aside

preconceived notions about young people (vis-à-vis the traditional media) and to make up their own minds about them based on youth’s continuous strides towards meaningful change in an increasingly globalised and interconnected world.

Going forward, I hope both traditional and new media will cultivate a more inclusive environment for youth to express their ideas and opinions, especially in such areas as public policy.

In Singapore, it is heartening to see the government placing a new emphasis on listening to young people’s feedback—as evidenced by the rising number of youth-centred dialogues and conversations in recent years31 —and to witness the growth of youth-led start-ups that have been incubated through initiatives such as the National University of Singapore’s Overseas Colleges and SMU's Ashoka Changemaker Campus.

No longer passive subjects of the traditional press, but active authors of the new media, today’s youth will soon be known for much more than what their historically negative stereotypes stood for.

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YOUTH: DOING THE MATH The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture refers to youth as young people of both sexes between the ages of 15 and 24, although UNESCO accepts the 15–35 age bracket as defined by the African Youth Charter.32 This category of young people also dovetails with the group known as “millennials” or “Generation Y” (those born between 1980 and 2000). In Singapore, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth defines youth as persons aged between 15 and 35 years,33 while the Singapore Police Force places them between the ages of 7 and 19. Its definition is also culturally specific: certain individuals considered to be “youth” in one country or agency may be legally recognised as adults or children in another.

GENERATIONS X,Y & Z Other than age brackets, the letters X, Y and Z are also used to differentiate youth according to different time periods (or “generations”).

Demographers William Strauss and Neil Howe believe that each generation—owing to their shared experiences of major events—has common characteristics that give it a specific character.

Gen X (b. 1960s–early 1980s) The culture and upbringing of Gen X’ers were shaped by global political events such as the Vietnam War, global sexual revolution of the 1960s–80s, fall of the Berlin Wall, end of the Cold War, and the Thatcher-era government.

Compared to the previous baby-boomer generation, Gen X is more open to diversity and embracing of differences in religion, sexual orientation, class, race and ethnicity. Gen X’ers are also known as the “latchkey generation”

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(growing up with a lack of adult supervision due to having two working parents). Some famous Gen X’ers include Barack Obama, Victoria Beckham, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Robbie Williams and Gordon Ramsay.

Gen Y a.k.a. Millennials (b. 1980s–2000) Gen Y’ers are largely impacted by the technological revolution occurring since their childhood and teenage years. Numbering around 80 million,34 they are the largest agespecific demographic in American history.

Due to the rapid globalisation of this period, Gen Y’ers are more exposed to Western culture than their predecessors. They are unfortunately associated with traits such as self-centredness, a sense of entitlement and narcissism.35 Some famous Gen Y’ers include Britney Spears, Mark Zuckerberg, Taylor Swift, Emma Watson, Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé.

Gen Z (b. mid-1990s–present) There is the least information available about this group because Gen Z’ers are still in their teenage years at this present time. Also known as the iGeneration (in reference to their IT savviness and ownership of iPhones), they have been exposed to an unprecedented amount of technology since birth—and are understandably adept in the latest digital trends and use of social media. Gen Z’ers are further known for their resourcefulness on the Internet: they self-educate with YouTube tutorials and seek inspiration from sites like Pinterest. Some famous Gen Z’ers include Malia Obama, Willow Smith, Maisie Williams, Zendaya and Maddox Jolie-Pitt.

Shee Siewying was a Research Assistant at SMU’s School of Social Sciences and the Lien Centre for Social Innovation. During this time, she conducted research on food poverty in Singapore and was an Editorial Assistant for Social Space. An Honours graduate in Social Sciences from the National University of Singapore, Siewying is passionate about cultural geography and food studies, as well as identity politics and geopolitics. In her spare time, she seeks pleasure in books, music, writing, volunteering for local food distribution programmes and discovering new cultures around the world. She can be reached at siewying1005@gmail.com

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Notes 1

Kenneth Thompson, Moral Panics (London: Routledge, 1998).

2

Lianne Chia, “Flirting with Danger: Singapore Teenagers on Tinder”, Channel News Asia, 7 June 2016 at http:// www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/flirting-withdanger/2849260.html

3

Deborah Dunham, “Here’s What the Media Is Doing to Teenagers Today”, Huffington Post, 30 August 2014, at http://www. huffingtonpost.com/deborah-s-dunham/heres-what-the-media-isd_b_5541462.html

4

Richard Garner, “‘Hoodies, Louts, Scum’: How Media Demonises Teenagers”, Independent, 13 March 2009, at http://www. independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hoodies-louts-scum-howmedia-demonises-teenagers-1643964.html

5

Stanley Cohen, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers (London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1972).

6

Janice Tai, “More Teens Falling Prey To Cyber-Scams”, The Straits Times, 12 June 2013, at http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/moreteens-falling-prey-to-cyber-scams; The New Paper, “Sexual Abuse Victims in Singapore: Young, Vulnerable, and Online”, AsiaOne.com, 2 May 2016, at http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/sexual-abusevictims-singapore-young-vulnerable-and-online; Krystal Chia, “Teen Falls Prey to Online Scam; Ends Up with $1,363 Bill”, The New Paper, 19 May 2016, at http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/teen-fallsprey-online-scam-ends-1363-bill

7

Tai, “More Teens Falling Prey To Cyber-Scams”.

8

Hariz Baharudin, “More Young People in Singapore Turning to Violence”, The New Paper, 6 March 2016. There was an increase of 39 youth arrests for rioting in 2014, up from 283 in 2013. Home Team, “Home Team Annual Statistics: Overall Crime in Singapore Up by 7.4% in 2014”, Home Team News, 29 January 2015, at https:// www.hometeam.sg/article.aspx?news_sid=20150129y0PtETqhf1G0

9

The number of individuals aged between 5 to 19 years stands at 648,780. Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Population Trends 2016 (Singapore: Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade & Industry, 2016), at http://www.singstat.gov. sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publications/ publications_and_papers/population_and_population_structure/ population2016.pdf

10

National Youth Council, National Youth Survey 2013 (Singapore: National Youth Council, 2013), at https://www.nyc.gov.sg/initiatives/ resources/nys

11

Statistics is generated from data.gov.sg by classifying the total number of persons arrested in Singapore by age groups. See https://data.gov.sg/dataset/total-persons-locals-and-foreignersarrested?resource_id=77e140cc-406f-4a93-b05d-7e2fd7dd712e

12

Masami Ito, “Shifting the Scales of Juvenile Justice”, The Japan Times, 23 May 2015, at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/23/ national/social-issues/shifting-scales-juvenile-justice/#.

WH8OL2R94zU

13

Hong Kong Police Force, “Crime Statistics in Detail”, last revised January 2017, Police.Gov.Hk, at http://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/09_ statistics/csd.html. The total number of people aged 10 to 19 stands at 659,900 in 2014; see Census and Statistics Department, “Table 002: Population by Age Group and Sex”, last revised December 2016, Censtatd.Gov.Hk, at http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp150. jsp?tableID=002&ID=0&productType=8

14

Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime, The Right Side InterMinistry Committee on Youth Crime Commemorating: A Decade of Partnership to Rebuild Young Lives (Singapore: National Youth Council, 2006), 3.

15

Sundaresh Menon, “Keynote Address: Harnessing the Law to Benefit Our Youth”, at the Conference on At-Risk Youth 2015.

16

Terry-Ann L. Craigie, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Jane Waldfogel, “Family Structure, Family Stability and Outcomes of Five-Year-Old Children”, Families, Relationships and Societies 1, 1 (2012): 43–61; Kelly Musick and Ann Meier, “Are Both Parents Always Better than One? Parental Conflict and Young Adult Well-Being”, Social Science Research 39, 5 (2010): 814–30; P. Fomby and A.J. Cherlin, “Family Instability and Child Well-Being”, American Sociological Review 72, 2 (2007): 181–204.

17

Sundaresh Menon, Speech at Conference on At-Risk Youth 2015, at http://www.supremecourt.gov.sg/Data/Editor/Documents/Achieving_ Connecting_and_Thriving_031115.pdf

18

Gus Martin, Juvenile Justice Processes and Systems, 1st edn (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005).

19

National Youth Council, National Youth Survey 2013.

20

Ministry of Social and Family Development, State of the Family Report 2004 (Singapore: Ministry of Social and Family Development), at https://www.msf.gov.sg/research-and-data/Research-and-Statistics/ Pages/State-of-the-Family-Reports.aspx

21

Philip Graham, emeritus professor of Child Psychiatry at the Institute of Child Health, London, classifies society’s individuals into three main categories: (i) non-problematic conformists (the majority); (ii) non-problematic non-conformists (a conspicuous minority); and (iii) the problematic minority. Philip Graham, The End of Adolescence, 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

22

R.N. Butler, “Age-Ism: Another Form of Bigotry”, The Gerontologist 9, 4 (Part 1) (1969): 243–6.

23

J. Wyn and R White, Rethinking Youth, 1st edn (London: Sage, 1997); Susie Weller, “‘Teach Us Something Useful’: Contested Spaces of Teenagers’ Citizenship”, Space and Polity 7, 2 (2003): 153–71.

24

Arnoud de Meyer, “From Start-Ups to Scale-Ups”, The Straits Times, 13 August 2016, at http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/fromstart-ups-to-scale-ups; Angela Teng, “Starting Up: The Rise of the Singaporean Entrepreneur”, TODAY, 16 January 2016, at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/starting-up-therise-of/2431670.html

25

Sasha Lekach, “A Singapore Teenager Created a Prezi for Trump, Because Slideshows Are the Worst”, Mashable.com, 19 November 2016, at http://mashable.com/2016/11/18/singapore-teen-trumpcampaign-presentation/#6A8g2Jl9_Sqw

26

National Youth Council, The State of Youth in Singapore 2014 (Singapore: National Youth Council, 2014); Kenneth Cheng, "More Young People Take to Volunteerism", Todayonline, 14 December 2013, at http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/more-young-peopletake-volunteerism.

27

Lea Lane, “Are Millennial Travel Trends Shifting in 2016?”, Forbes, 15 January 2016, at http://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2016/01/15/ are-millennial-travel-trends-shifting-in-2016-youll-besurprised/#5a34671d5c98

28

Olivia Ho, “This Clean Water Device Creates a Tap from a Backpack, and It’s Saving Lives”, Huffington Post, 20 June 2015, at http://www. huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/20/fieldtrate-lite-water-filtration_n_7624560.html

29

Desiree Yang, “Stepping Up to Help the Needy”, SMU blog, 3 August 2016, at http://blog.smu.edu.sg/2016/08/03/stepping-up-to-help-theneedy

30

RBS Group, “Growing Appetite among Young People for Social Enterprise”, UnLtd, at https://unltd.org.uk/2013/06/10/growingappetite-among-young-people-for-social-enterprise; Alexandra Wilson, “Meet The 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs Changing Europe in 2017”, Forbes, 15 January 2017, at http://www.forbes. com/sites/alexandrawilson1/2017/01/15/30-under-30-socialentrepreneurs-europe-2017/#79a796942458

31

The Aspirations of Young Singaporean Adults dialogue, held on 14 February 2015, is an example of public dialogues that make a conscious effort to seek to hear and understand the opinions and policy needs of young people. See Sonny Wee, “Top Concerns of Young Adult Singaporeans”, PAP News, at http://news.pap.org.sg/ news-and-commentaries/commentaries/top-concerns-young-adultsingaporeans

32

UNESCO, “What Do We Mean By Youth?”, UNESCO website, at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/ youth/youth-definition

33

Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, “Overview”, MCCY website, at https://www.mccy.gov.sg/en/Topics/Youth/Articles/ Overview.aspx

34

Richard Fry, “Millennials Overtake Baby Boomers as America’s Largest Generation”, Pew Research Center, 25 April 2016, at http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennialsovertake-baby-boomers

35

Joel Stein, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation”, TIME, 20 May 2013, at http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation; Jean M. Twenge, Generation Me— Revised and Updated: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before (New York: Atria Books, 2014).

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 17

FEATURE

VOICES THAT CARE Bringing Speech Therapy to Cambodia’s Youth

By Weh Yeoh

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SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The only issue is, not everyone has access to education.

I was born in the 1980s in suburban Sydney, Australia. A few decades ago, my great grandparents moved from China to Malaysia during a time of famine, and my parents later immigrated to Australia before I was born. Growing up, I attended a public school in Sydney with a good reputation. On my first day of school, I remember sitting next to a boy named Roger who, according to our class teacher, Mrs Pickering, was unable to see colours. My job was thus to help Roger

pick out the right coloured pencils during the colouring activities. For grass, I would hand him the green pencil; for the sky, the blue one.

That year, Roger and Mrs Pickering taught me a valuable lesson about inclusion.

I learned that not everyone is like me, and that some people have to do things differently—and yet, with a little bit of help from others, those people can join in with everyone else. That experience also made me realise how privileged I was and am. I knew that if my family had not emigrated twice, and made personal sacrifices along the way, I would not be in Sydney, at school, and helping a classmate with his coloured pencils.

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 19

I learned that not everyone is like me, and that some people have to do things differently—and yet, with a little bit of help from others, those people can join in with everyone else.

However, not every child is as fortunate as I was to receive a good education, and, in Roger’s case, blessed with an inclusive teacher like Mrs Pickering.

Ouk Ling was one such example (see boxed story: “Ouk Ling’s Story”). Through his plight, I became emphatic about the need to make speech therapy more widely available in Cambodia and elsewhere, and to create greater awareness about this pressing social need.

TALKING POINTS Communication goes beyond just talking—some people do not speak clearly, or at all, or have problems processing incoming communication.

Sufferers of communication disorders are typically children with conditions such as cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, autism or intellectual disabilities, and they are just as likely to have problems swallowing. Without adequate therapy, they cannot communicate well enough to participate at school, or with their families and communities.

Those afflicted by swallowing disorders face an equally uncertain future: instead of travelling to the stomach, swallowed food and liquid can

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SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE

OIC founder Weh Yeoh showing the drawing of 13-year old Ouk Ling.

OUK LING’S STORY In 2012, I met Ouk Ling. A bright boy with an infectious smile, Ling lives with his family in Siem Reap, home to the great temples of Angkor Wat, but also one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia. Ling’s speech is heavily slurred due to cerebral palsy, and as a result, most people in his community assume he is stupid. He therefore has never been given the chance of an education. Ling is one of many such children who, without the support needed, would never attend school and be given a chance to contribute meaningfully to society.

I came to know of Ling’s plight through my work with CABDICO,1 a small Cambodian NGO that provides services including physiotherapy, social work, home-based education and basic medical care, to help children with disabilities lead more independent lives. During a discussion, my CABDICO colleagues shared that they

did not have the requisite knowledge and training in speech therapy to help local children such as Ling. They further identified that as many as 70 per cent of Cambodian youth require speech therapy, but no services were available to address this need.

Upon further research, I found that one in 25 Cambodian children do not have access to education,2 and as of 2017, the entire country did not have a single Cambodian speech therapist. This meant that there was no university course, no government policy, and virtually no awareness at both community and national level about communication disorders. Needless to say, nothing was being done about this issue.

Though Ling’s future looked bleak, I wondered if he might have a shot at a productive life if he received the help needed to speak more clearly.

VOICES THAT CARE

I decided, then, to put my theory to the test, by enlisting the help of several Australian speech therapists to train my CABDICO colleagues in this area. One of those who underwent this training was a lady named Phearom, who went on to administer speech therapy to Ling. Gradually, word by word, sentence by sentence, Ling’s speech improved with Phearom's help. His family

enter their lungs, and they are 13 times more likely than the average person to die from pneumonia at a young age.

MORAL SUPPORT Ling’s story demonstrated the power of speech therapy, and its potential to dramatically change a child’s life. However, without a single speech therapist in Cambodia, many children are missing out on a precious education.

To this end, I established OIC Cambodia3 in July 2013, as a project under the umbrella of CABDICO, to address the yawning gap in speech therapy in Cambodia. “OIC” stands for that Eureka moment when you suddenly understand something you previously did not, and exclaim, Oh, I see!

In a sense, that is very much what speech therapy is about— providing connections and mutual understanding.

One of the initial challenges we faced was building a network of support. In the beginning, I spoke to hundreds of people, from embassies, international

began to understand him, and his cheeky personality, previously hidden beneath his communication difficulties, started to emerge. Finally, just months after commencing speech therapy, Ling was able to go to school. Today, at 13, he is not just participating, but excelling. On my most recent visit to Siem Reap, I learned that Ling had come in second in his class.

NGOs and foundations, to small Cambodian NGOs and individuals. However, more often than not, the meetings would not result in anything tangible.

As I considered Ling, and all the other children in need of speech therapy, I wondered how it was possible that so many people had been ignored for so long. Perhaps while the system of international development, charity work, and grant applications assists many people, others still get left behind. Eventually, I realised that in order to reach these people, we need have creative solutions and/or to create our own system, rather than rely on international development.

We thus had to find a way to take OIC forward by ourselves.

For a start, we estimated the number of speech therapists Cambodia needed: if we compare the number of speech therapists to the general population, you’d need one speech therapist for every 2,342 people.4 When applied to the Cambodian context, we found that the nation is in need of 6,000 therapists when it effectively had zero.

You’d need one speech therapist for every 2,342 people … Cambodia is in need of 6,000 therapists.

Next, we considered Cambodia’s high dependency on international aid: an estimated half a billion dollars of aid money enters the country every year, and there are over 3,500 NGOs.5 Many volunteers visit Cambodia regularly to train local communities, but they come and go. When it came to addressing the dearth in speech therapy, we decided that we needed a solution that was infrastructure-focused. Rather than giving a man a fish, or even teaching him to fish, OIC would help Cambodians build their own fishing industry—i.e. grow the profession of speech therapists in the country—with the support of the Cambodian government.

To this end, OIC’s work entails designing university courses in speech therapy, running training programmes, creating related jobs, influencing government policy, and ultimately letting speech therapy become a self-sustaining industry.

MEANS TO AN END I believe it is just as important to know why you are doing something before you start doing it, as it is to recognise

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 21

OIC plans to leave Cambodia in

2030 100

local speech therapists employed

by Cambodian government

when you are going to stop doing it. As such, an exit strategy is vital: OIC plans to leave Cambodia in 2030, by which time there will be about 100 local speech therapists employed by the Cambodian government. Although 100 is a far cry from the 6,000 needed to cover the whole nation, the requisite infrastructure will be in place to ensure a continual flow of qualified speech therapists entering the market. And over time, these numbers will keep increasing.

Most non-profit initiatives run on the hamster wheel of getting funding to address a problem, spending the money doing good work, then justifying their work to get more funding. OIC’s funding model, however, is somewhat different since we do not plan to be in Cambodia indefinitely.

At present, it is financed by two key initiatives: Day Without Speech6 and Happy Kids Clinic (see boxed story).7

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Weh Yeoh with disability workers in Siem Reap.

Day Without Speech is an awareness and fundraising campaign taking place in schools, universities and workplaces. It challenges people to give up speaking for a part of their day, to learn what it is like to have a communication difficulty. By accepting this challenge, people learn empathy, mindfulness and creativity. At the end of the day, OIC’s speech therapy volunteers conduct debrief sessions with participants to help them reflect on their experience of not talking during the day. The sponsorship and donations from these participants, and those of their friends and family, help to fund OIC operations in Cambodia.

OIC hopes to empower Cambodians to champion the cause of speech therapy in future.

Happy Kids Clinic is a private practice in Phnom Penh, Cambodia that provides speech and occupational therapy. This practice allows OIC to generate profit by providing services to the locals that previously did not exist, and raises awareness of the need for speech therapy.

With important assessment tools, Happy Kids Clinic shows Cambodians what speech therapy looks like in practice, and helps them to appreciate the value in it. OIC hopes that they would in turn be empowered to champion the cause of speech therapy in future.

VOICES THAT CARE

My experiences have showed me that change will only, and has only ever happened, through individuals— ordinary people willing to make a stand to help others.

Disability worker Phearom with six-year old Vai Vin.

LOOKING AHEAD

ALL ABOUT YOU

Come April 2017, I will step back from the leadership of OIC. Thereafter, my Cambodian colleague, Pisey Soeun, will assume the position of Executive Director and lead the OIC team forward in its mission, though I will continue to support OIC from afar.

When I was majoring in international development at university, I assumed that change was created through large organisations, such as via decisions made in Washington or Geneva. However, my experiences have showed me that change will only, and has only ever happened, through

For the hundreds and thousands of lives OIC hopes to change for the better, the battle has barely begun. The organisation is almost four years old now, and while my team members and I have made some progress, there is still a long way ahead in terms of making speech therapy more widely available throughout Cambodia.

OIC’s immediate tasks at hand are to get more schools, universities and workplaces to sign up for Day Without Speech, and to recruit more volunteers8 in Cambodia, or remotely.

We also cannot do without the regular support of donors.9

individuals—ordinary people willing to make a stand to help others. Whether it is for Roger, in suburban Sydney, or Ling in rural Cambodia, it is up to us to make sure every child is given the start they need to flourish.

If my time at OIC Cambodia has taught me anything, it is that real change begins with you.

Weh Yeoh is the founder and Managing Director of OIC Cambodia, a project that aims to establish speech therapy as a profession in Cambodia. He holds both a BA in Physiotherapy from the University of Sydney and an MA in Development Studies from the University of NSW. He has volunteered with people with disabilities in Vietnam, interned in India, studied Mandarin in Beijing, and milked yaks in Mongolia. Weh started OIC in 2013, and is now pleased to have four staff and over 30 volunteers on his team, all working towards making speech therapy accessible to the one in 25 Cambodians who need it. Weh can be reached at weh@oiccambodia.org

Notes 1

CABDICO website, at http://cabdico.org

2

Weh Yeoh, Speech Therapy: Situational Analysis: Cambodia 2013 (Phnom Penh: Australian Red Cross and CABDICO, 2013), at http://cabdico.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Situational-Analysis-English-1.pdf

3

OIC website, at http://www.oiccambodia.org

4

Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016–17 Edition, Speech-Language Pathologists, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/ speech-language-pathologists.htm

5

Sebastian Strangio, Hun Sen’s Cambodia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014), at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21945075-hun-sen-s-cambodia

6

Day Without Speech website, at http://www.daywithoutspeech.org

7

Happy Kids Clinic website, at http://happykidsclinicpp.com

8

OIC Careers page at http://www.oiccambodia.org/careers

9

Find out how you can support OIC at http://www.oiccambodia.org/donate

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 23

FEATURE

YOUTH and SOCIAL MEDIA Power to Empower?

By Sujith Kumar Prankumar

Much has been written on social media and how it has positively revolutionised communication and information transmission. The influence of social media is indubitable—it reaches anyone with an Internet connection, no matter their geographic location or socioeconomic status. This means information that was previously out of reach for isolated and less well-off communities is now accessible by more people than ever before. For example, University College London’s “Why We Post” social media anthropology project—conducted by nine researchers in nine different communities over 15 months—found that communities that have traditionally received comparatively lower levels of schooling now have access to unprecedented amounts of information that allow them to improve their literacy and to receive informal education.1 The democratisation of media has given rise to new occupations, such as YouTubers, digital marketers and bloggers, who—with some basic social media literacy—can enjoy viable and lucrative careers. For example, Felix Avrid Ulf Kjellberg, a 27-year-old Swedish video gamer with nearly 53 million subscribers on his YouTube channel “PewDiePie”, made more than US$15 million in 2016.2

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YOUTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The democratisation of media has given rise to new occupations, such as YouTubers, digital marketers and bloggers, who—with some basic social media literacy—can enjoy viable and lucrative careers.

However, social media does have its dark side in an increasingly volatile and uncertain world. With the power of publication shifting dramatically from professionals to consumers, there is an inevitable uptick in the production and dissemination of information of dubious origin and whose authors harbour questionable intentions. Increasingly, social media channels are under attack for contributing significantly to the “post-truth” era, a term that has been so widely discussed and debated that Oxford Dictionaries made it 2016’s “Word of the Year”, and defined it as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion or personal belief”.3 Consumers can now select from innumerable media courses, and tend to engage with news and content that connect with their own convictions. Additionally, social media platforms such as Google and Facebook feed users personalised information based on data mined from each user, thereby creating “filter bubbles” that shield users from having to interact with contesting ideas.4 Besides the filters and “customised” content, news feeds from some social media outlets—including Buzzfeed, Distractify and Upworthy—have also been criticised for relying on “clickbait” or sensational headlines to promote social media sharing, rather than direct page visits, in order to reach a wider audience. All these have made assessing the veracity of what is published online more difficult, and contributed to information pollution, or what child empowerment advocate and Ashoka Fellow Dr. Yuhyun Park calls “infollution”5—which encompasses “addiction to violent computer games, cyber-bullying, sexual predators, obscenity and racism”.6

what they are engaging in, and to exploit the full potential of social media networks. Social media engagement can assist social enterprises, social sector organisations and non-profits in developing partnerships and in spreading their respective messages. It humanises organisations and their causes by making them more “accessible” and meaningful. Youth, and millennials in particular, are highly connected, technologically empowered and social justice

Increasingly, social media channels are under attack for contributing significantly to the “post-truth” era.

oriented, and it is critical that organisations hoping to engage these demographics create strategic social media plans that are engaging (if not entertaining), have a clear message and express a clear call to action. Fortunately, there are many examples of organisations and campaigns that have successfully employed social media to engage and empower youth, as discussed in the next section.

CASE STUDIES Three campaigns were particularly successful in engaging youth on social media: Greenpeace’s “Barbie, It’s Over”; the ALS Association’s “Ice Bucket Challenge”; and the Children's Cancer Foundation’s “Hair for Hope”. These movements had the following in common: a strong social media strategy, a clear purpose linked to social responsibility and clear calls to action. In addition, they made it easy for anyone to take part (e.g. conveniently via mobile), the participation process was fun, and participants were able to share the campaign with others in a way that made them look and feel good about themselves. The first two campaigns, which featured extensive use of videos on social media, also managed to capture a larger audience, thereby suggesting that videos are one of the more effective means of capturing millennials’ attention.7

As all media is arguably becoming social, producers and consumers need to be literate in social media tools in order to make sense of

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 25

Breaking Up with Barbie

Campaign theme, tagline and website (Source: PR Week).

Greenpeace’s “Barbie, It’s Over” campaign is an exemplar of a story-based initiative involving a highly recognised and well-loved character.

Greenpeace, a global non-governmental charity that champions environmental issues, wanted to pressure toymaker Mattel into dropping Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) from its list of packaging suppliers due to deforestation concerns. Launched globally in June 2011 worldwide and in nearly 20 different languages, the campaign featured a short film of a visibly distressed Ken dumping Barbie after watching a video of her secretly killing Sumatran tigers in Indonesian rainforests. The campaign also included a microsite, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages made to look as if authored by Ken, containing gossip on the break-up drama.

The video clip’s tagline, I don’t date girls who are into deforestation, has nearly two million

Barbie’s “Rainforest Destroyer” look, as part of the “Barbie, It’s Over” campaign (Source: Greenpeace).

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Screenshot of “Ken’s” Twitter page (Source: @ken_talks Twitter page).

views on YouTube.8 Instead of urging a boycott, the campaign focused on getting the audience to “unlike” Barbie’s Facebook page and to contact Mattel to ask them to cut ties with APP.

By October that year, after temporarily shutting down comments on its Barbie Facebook page, Mattel released a statement on its commitment to not use products from controversial sources throughout its supply chain. Greenpeace further used the opportunity to highlight other major corporations committed to using sustainable sources of paper, in order to incentivise other organisations to do the same.9

YOUTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Ice, Ice Baby

Bill Gates taking the Ice Bucket Challenge in August 2014 (Source: Screengrab from “Bill Gates ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS6ysDFTbLU).

The ALS Association’s “Ice Bucket Challenge” took a different approach. Instead of telling a story, it focused on inviting participants to challenge their friends. In 2014, the Association wanted to fundraise and raise awareness around Lou Gehrig’s disease, and got behind the idea of getting people to film themselves dunking a bucketful of iced water over their heads. After this, participants could nominate their friends and family to participate or donate to the Association, and these videos were shared on social media.

The campaign went viral worldwide with high participation among millennials and made more than US$100 million in donations over eight weeks. The reason for its success was not only the “fun” factor or that many celebrities took part, but mostly because people could easily make donations, such as via cell phones.10 In 2016, thanks to the donations from the “Ice Bucket Challenge”, a project team funded by the ALS Association made a “significant gene discovery”.11

A Hairy Issue The Singapore-based Children’s Cancer Foundation’s “Hair for Hope” campaign takes a more straightforward and traditional approach.

In this annual initiative, individuals, groups and organisations volunteer to get their heads shaved and then collect donations in solidarity for childhood cancer. The campaign is typically held in the middle of the year, and participants, called “Shavees”, upload pictures of themselves on social media to both show off their new “hairdo”, as well as to spread awareness of childhood cancer and seek donations. In 2016, donations totalled nearly S$3.35 million, up from about S$1.5 million in 2010.12 The campaign’s successful ability to unite donors and participants for a common cause can be attributed to the personal nature of cancer (no one is immune, and most people know of someone with cancer), as well as the high visibility of participants made possible via social media sharing—while “Hair for Hope” is not strictly a social media campaign, it is mobilised by youth who share pictures of their shaved heads on Instagram and Facebook and encourage others to participate or donate.

Screenshot from “Hair for Hope 2016 Highlights” video, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyRAOgkX-R8 (Source: Children’s Cancer Foundation, Singapore).

CONCLUSION

Youth, and millennials in particular, are highly connected, technologically empowered, and social justice oriented, and it is critical that organisations hoping to engage these demographics create strategic social media plans that are engaging (if not entertaining), have a clear message and express a clear call to action.

Campaigns and organisations need to go beyond creating interesting and sharable content; they should also empower consumers by providing ways to share, participate and invite others.

The more consumers have to talk about—and interact—with an organisation, the wider the reach and the deeper the impact.13 Social media, with all its challenges, presents tremendous opportunities to engage with people and issues from all over the world, not just for entertainment or employment, but also to learn about, organise, and take action on social issues.

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 27

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN TIPS

•

Align your campaign’s messaging with your organisation’s mission, vision and strategic goals.

•

Clearly define what success looks like: Enquiries? Number of views? Note that the number of Facebook “Likes” and Twitter “Follows” should not be the end goal, as these can be easily manipulated and “bought”.

•

Know your audience: Don’t just say you are communicating to the “general public”; rather, experiment with post timing in order to most effectively reach your target demographics.

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•

Use the same keywords across your marketing strategy.

•

Make it human, personal and varied: Using text, videos, photo essays, infographics and quotes, you can make your campaign fun. Remember to ensure videos are closed-captioned for them to be accessible to persons with hearing disabilities and to those using mobile devices as their primary means of accessing these videos, who may not have the sound on.

•

Have a clear call to action.

YOUTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA COURSES TO CHECK OUT

• Free massive open online courses on social media at FutureLearn (social science-oriented) and Coursera (business-oriented) • Squared Online: This online digital marketing certificate programme, developed with Google, is CPD-accredited and taught by industry experts • General Assembly: Offers online and onsite courses in digital marketing, analytics, user experience design and programming

Sujith Kumar Prankumar is Assistant Manager at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation and Contributing Editor (web) for Social Space. He studied communications at the University of South Australia, human rights at Columbia University, gender and religion at Harvard University, Modern Chinese at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace at Middlebury College. Sujith has worked in the media, higher education and inclusion sectors. A keen writer and top performer in Columbia Journalism School’s News Editing course, Sujith has contributed to various print and online publications.

He can be reached at skprankumar@smu.edu.sg

Notes 1

Juliano Spyer, Shriram Venkatraman and Xunyuan Wang, How the World Changed Social Media (London: UCL Press, 2016), at http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1474805/1/How-the-World-ChangedSocial-Media.pdf

2

Madeline Berg, “The Highest-Paid YouTube Stars 2016: PewDiePie Remains No. 1 With $15 Million”, Forbes, 5 December 2016, at http://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2016/12/05/the-highestpaid-youtube-stars-2016-pewdiepie-remains-no-1-with-15million/#3be341a56b0f

organizations-use-social-media-to-engage-with-millennialdonors_b_10447884.html; Kathleen Kelly Janus, “Three More Ways to Engage Millennial Donors”, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 14 August 2014, at https://ssir.org/articles/entry/three_more_ways_ to_engage_millennial_donors 8

Greenpeace, “Barbie's Rainforest Destruction Habit REVEALED!”, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txa-XcrVpvQ&t=4s

9

Laura Kenyon, “Success: Barbie and Mattel Drop Deforestation!”, Greenpeace, 5 October 2011, at http://www.greenpeace.org/ international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/success-barbie-andmattel-drop-deforestation/blog/37176/

3

Oxford Dictionaries, “Word of the Year 2016 is …”, at https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-theyear-2016

10

4

Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web is Changing What We Read and How We Think (London: Penguin Press, 2011).

James Surowieki, “What Happened to the Ice Bucket Challenge?”, New Yorker, 25 July 2016, at http://www.newyorker.com/ magazine/2016/07/25/als-and-the-ice-bucket-challenge

11

5

Dr Yuhyun Park’s profile at https://www.ashoka.org/en/fellow/ yuhyun-park

The ALS Association, “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Donations Lead to Significant Gene Discovery”, 25 July 2016, at http://www.alsa.org/ news/media/press-releases/significant-gene-discovery-072516.html

6

Colin Power, The Power of Education: Education for All, Development, Globalisation and UNESCO (London: Springer, 2015).

12

Hair for Hope, “Hair for Hope, Make a Bald Statement”, at https://www.hairforhope.org.sg/page/Hair%2Bfor%2BHope

7

Rachel Wolfson, “4 Ways Organizations Use Social Media to Engage With Millennial Donors”, Huffington Post, 16 June 2016, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-wolfson/4-ways-

13

Kari Dunn Saratovsky and Derrick Feldman, Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, a Wiley imprint, 2013).

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 29

CONVERSATIONS

The Project Runway Cheryl Chong on Getting Your Social Initiative Off the Ground

Cheryl Chong is co-founder of The Social Co., the team behind the 50 For 50 project that brought together more than 80 young people under the age of 35, and 70 corporations to raise awareness of and funds for lesserknown causes such as mental health, suicide prevention and charities that serve those with physical and mental disabilities. Cheryl currently chairs the Young Women's Leadership Connection (YWLC) and lends a hand in programme development at Jia Foundation, a family foundation established by the Lim and Lin families.

In her day job, she heads the private investor division of equity and debt crowdfunding platform, FundedHere.

Here are Cheryl’s tips on how to give your social initiative a roaring headstart.

Best time to start?

Anytime, really. It's about matching what you're good at and the cause(s) that you're passionate about. The youngest changemakers I ever worked with were 15 year-olds who raised funds and awareness for cancer research. It could be as simple as rallying your schoolmates to enact some kind of social change such as by clearing their own trays after their meals at foodcourts or fastfood restaurants, or bringing their own reusable bags when grocery shopping.

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Any course of study that is most applicable for aspiring changemakers?

We can learn continuously but there's no way we can know everything. What's important is to find the right team of people who have complementary skillsets. In our team, we've got people who studied Accountancy, Business or Marketing, and volunteers who are trained in Law, Communications and various other fields. Other teammates are good at building presentation decks or have a flair for financial budgeting and Excel spreadsheets.

THE PROJECT RUNWAY

Character traits required to start and sustain a social initiative?

Passion, positivity, a can-do attitude, adaptability, ability to think out-of-the-box, empathy and authenticity.

How do you identify issues worth addressing?

What comes next?

It can be as simple as observing the different people you meet or being aware of your surroundings. It can also happen when you take yourself out of your comfort zone, whether in learning about social issues or interacting with different people. When I volunteered at my first camp organised for at-risk youth, I realised that there were many facets of society that we may not be exposed to if we didn't get out there more.

Form a good team that shares and is committed to the same vision. Put together a council of advisors. Be constantly aware of why you are doing what you've set out to do. Research and thoroughly understand the needs you are addressing. The rest will fall into place thereafter.

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 31

What if I'm doing this on the side?

How do I manage running a social initiative and a day job?

Arrange to have meetings with your “change” team at any time of the day, whether it's over lunch, after work, over dinner or supper, and sometimes on weekends. At other times, communicate via Skype, shared drives and project management tools, so you can edit documents remotely as a team. Be prepared to receive emails at ungodly hours too. I suppose when you are passionate and remember why you are doing what you're doing, balancing your social initiative with a full-time day job gets somewhat easier.

Haters gonna hate.

How do you deal with naysayers?

We respect everyone’s points of view, but the only way to prove naysayers wrong is by the outcomes we produce. I always keep my focus on solving the issues at hand.

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Plan Bs: When do you pull the plug and activate your backup plan?

Plans are always changing, so most of the time we find ourselves adapting and modifying our plans along the way. The sooner you recognise that what you've planned might not always work out and that there are always factors beyond your control that affect your plans, the better. Having said that, always have your Plan B, C, and even D at hand.

What are good milestones to set?

Your team's goals, objectives and vision.

Raising your first 100K, 200K or 300K for your beneficiaries. Make it a point to celebrate even the small wins like getting your first corporate sponsor or donor on board, or having successfully organised your first event.

THE PROJECT RUNWAY

What’s your single biggest piece of advice for aspiring changemakers? If they could only take one thing away, what would you want it to be?

Be authentic.

What’s in store for aspiring changemakers?

With greater awareness of social impact, there will only be more we can all do to become changemakers in our own ways. Work is no longer just about getting that dream high-paying job, but about contributing and creating positive impact in whichever organisation you join or any project you initiate.

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SPOTLIGHT

Generation "P" Philippines’ Millennial Impact Entrepreneurs

By Jinky Tuliao, Zen Bin and Vivienne Zerrudo

3434 SOCIAL SOCIALSPACE SPACEISSUE ISSUENINE NINE

GENERATION "P"

“Millennials”—broadly defined as those born between 1980 and 2000— are a dynamic driving force behind any country’s economic progress, but particularly so in the Philippines.

Making up about 50 per cent of the national population, Philippine millennials are mainly employed in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which in turn account for over 99 per cent of all local businesses.1 However, despite an IT-BPO2 sector driven boost in economic productivity, the Philippines still faces many social challenges. These include excessive corruption, high unemployment rates, and a quarter of the population still living below the poverty line.3 And since the benefits of economic growth have failed to extend to all corners of society, especially the poorest of the poor, millennials are increasingly taking up roles to improve the lives of impoverished communities.

In a 32-country survey conducted

by Viacom, it was found that Philippine millennials were the happiest and “least stressed” in Asia.4 Known for being highly motivated and purpose-driven, this group features largely in the country’s growing labour pool of impact-driven entrepreneurs and social enterprises.

A bustling social sector is the result—and this has not only helped to create wealth and jobs, but also contributes innovative solutions towards addressing social challenges.

In a 32-country survey conducted by Viacom, it was found that Philippine millennials were the happiest and “least stressed” in Asia.

Here, we feature three Philippine millennial entrepreneurs who have previously worked with IIX-Shujog.5 Through their work, they have displayed an unwavering commitment towards challenging conventions and creating new paradigms that positively impact the nation’s social and economic development.

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Grand Chamber Awards (GCA)

2016 Young Entrepreneur of the Year

by Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI)

Anya Lim, second from left (Source: ANTHILL Fabric Gallery’s Facebook page).

Anya Lim, Founder of Anthill Fabric Gallery Growing up in a family that ran a fabric business, Anya Lim, 37, is no stranger to the world of garments and weaving. Over the years, she observed how the traditional art of weaving was dying out as a profession, and grew concerned about its future. On a 2009 trip to Abra, she also observed that most fabric weavers were elderly folk and recognised that—with the younger generation of Filipinos migrating to bigger cities for jobs—the talent pool in this area was fast diminishing.

While Anya was eager to revive the country’s interest in traditional weaving, she also

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saw that its product—handwoven fabric—had become outdated and undervalued in modern Philippine society.

This led her to establish ANTHILL Fabric Gallery,6 a Cebu-based social enterprise, to promote weaving as a modern and viable commercial activity.

ANTHILL converges various groups of weavers, sewers, signers, fabric communities and designers to transform Philippine hand-loomed fabrics into contemporary apparel and non-apparel items. Since 2009, ANTHILL’s activities have supported three partner communities, and impacted the lives of over 100 young women, who are now able to weave for an income to support their families.

To ensure ANTHILL’s sustainability and growth, Anya applied to IIX’s Impact Accelerator7 in 2015 and was one of the four finalists to receive technical assistance and connection to potential investors. The social enterprise also received complimentary impact assessment through Shujog’s ACTS Program.8 Most recently, Anya was recognised as the 2016 Young Entrepreneur of the Year9 by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) during the Grand Chamber Awards (GCA) in Cebu, Philippines. That same year, she received a special prize from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Efficiency and Success Target Awards in Lima, Peru, in recognition of her achievements as a next-generation female entrepreneur.

GENERATION "P"

Zhihan Lee (Source: com).

Bagosphere.com).

Zhihan Lee, Co-Founder of Bagosphere At college, Zhihan Lee, 31, led student teams to community service projects in rural villages and schools in Laos and Thailand. After witnessing many instances of rural poverty during his travels, he wanted to find a way to use his skills and knowledge to contribute to long-term solutions. At the same time, his internship experiences in Stockholm and India also exposed Zhihan to many social entrepreneurs, and he saw how they successfully employed sound business models to tackle social challenges.

Revenue

18.9

US$

Jobs

billion

provided 2014 In late 2010, Zhihan made likeminded friends in Ivan Lau and Ellwyn Tan, both 31, and they began working on a business plan together. After conducting a market study, talking to a few call centres, and discussing their plans with the local government, the trio co-founded Bagosphere,10 a vocational training school to help outof-school youths gain fast employment in the burgeoning IT-BPO sector. As of 2014, the sector generated US$18.9 billion in revenue and provided 1.03

1.03 million

2014 million jobs, and is expected to sustain an annual growth rate of 15 to 18 per cent, according to IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IT-BPAP).11 In 2012, with assistance from IIX, Bagosphere raised a seed round of capital with Kickstart Ventures and other impact investors from Singapore and Manila.

Jamir Ocampo, Founder of Kapwa Greens12 Jamir Ocampo, 31, was growing restless with the seemingly intractable issues of displaced, urban poor communities. One of them—the National Housing Authority (NHA) Site 2—was a ghost town of neglected children and women. The men lived and worked in cities far away in order to provide for the family, while their wives who remained, despite possessing suitable skillsets for factory and administrative work, were unproductive.

Jamir Ocampo, extreme right (Source: Tsaa Laya’s Facebook page). to be continued next page

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GENERATION "P"

2015

a tea-processing plant. Called Kapwa Greens, this impact enterprise uses organic local herbs, fruits and spices to produce premium tea collections that are uniquely Filipino.

In 2014, Ocampo launched Tsaa Laya, an exquisite collection of teas. This was the fruit of a decade’s labour by a community of mothers from with IIX's Impact Laguna who fastidiously tended Accelerator their herbal gardens to produce this premium tea collection.

The next year, Kapwa Greens Wanting to harness these won its finalist position with women’s potential, Jamir partnered with the community’s IIX’s Impact Accelerator,13 which will help the company caretakers, the Don Bosco expand its operations and Fathers and the Ayala positively influence local Foundation, to transform Philippine communities. three housing units into finalist position

Jinky Tuliao is a digital media specialist, supporting both IIX and Shujog in reaching out to ecosystem partners and stakeholders on latest updates in the impact-investing field.

As a globetrotting millennial, Jinky maintains her finger on the pulse of the latest Filipino trends and is a resident writer at Manillenials.com, a lifestyle and culture site for millennials and by millennials in Manila.

Jinky volunteers regularly in Manila, and now in Singapore too.

Zen Bin is part of IIX’s Corporate Finance team, where he works with impact enterprises to provide technical assistance to help them scale their business and positive impact. Prior to IIX, Zen worked in the investment-banking sector, covering family-owned businesses across Southeast Asia. Zen is an architect by training, and continues to enjoy art and architecture in his free time.

Though in the Philippines impact entrepreneurship is in its early stages of development, it is a vibrant and growing community—consisting of passionate and brave millennials who bring about innovative solutions to social problems—that creates jobs and empowers people to work towards improving the lives of those in need.

This article originally appeared as: Jinky Tuliao, Zen Bin and Vivienne Zerrudo, “Philippines: The Rise of Millennial Impact Entrepreneurs”, Impact Quarterly, 26 July 2016, at http://impactquarterly. asiaiix.com/philippines-rise-millennialimpact-entrepreneurs/#.WBbYNWR97u0.

It has been adapted for Social Space with the kind permission of IIX-Shujog.

Vivienne Zerrudo is part of the Research & Programmes team and supports the Shujog ACTS programme.

Vivienne’s experience in the development sector started in the Philippines, spanning various roles from programme manager to fundraising consultant. Vivienne has worked with local and national organisations advocating for improved environment, education, health, children, persons with disabilities, youth and women.

Notes 1

Department of Trade and Industry, Philippines, “2014 MSME statistics”, at http://www.dti.gov.ph/dti/index.php/2014-04-02-0340-26/news-room/179-workshop-on-market-access-for-smes-set

6

ANTHILL stands for Alternative Nest and Trading/Training Hub for Indigenous/Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers. For more information, see https://www.youtube.com/embed/zJSDcjUa2S8

2

IT-BPO stands for information technology and business process outsourcing.

7

IIX, “Impact Accelerator”, at http://www.asiaiix.com/impactaccelerator

3

Philippine Statistics Authority, “Labor Force Survey”, at https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-force

8

4

Christian Kurz, “In the Philippines, Millennials Demonstrate Resilient Spirit”, Blog.Viacom, at http://blog.viacom.com/2013/12/ in-the-philippines-millennials-demonstrate-resilient-spirit

Taila Mueller, “Empower a Woman, Empower a Generation”, Impact Quarterly (November 2015), at http://www.asiaiix.com/ portfolio-item/empower-woman-empower-generation

9

Anthill Fabric Instagram shot, at https://www.instagram.com/p/ BHcXF9QDyS3/?taken-by=anthillfabric&hl=en

10

For more information, see https://www.youtube.com/embed/ ACOTIakyHqo

11

Chris Schnabel, “PH IT-BPM Industry to Fill Demand for Health Care Outsourcing”, Rappler.com, 5 August 2015, at http://www. rappler.com/business/industries/174-outsourcing/101544-ph-itbpm-industry-health-care-outsourcing

12

For more information, see https://www.youtube.com/ embed/6XTTME7wev8

13

Amy Duffuor, “First Round of Impact Accelerator Successfully Completed in the Philippines”, Impact Quarterly (November 2015), at http://www.asiaiix.com/portfolio-item/first-round-impactaccelerator-successfully-completed-philippines

5

38

IIX bridges the gap between finance and development, connecting capital with greater purpose and driving investments for social good.

As a leading pioneer of impact investing in Asia, it builds pathways to connect the Wall Streets of the world with the backstreets of underserved communities. The company strives to achieve sustainable development and equitable growth through working with investors and entrepreneurs to raise capital, empowering its stakeholders with rigorous advice and research for sound actions, and pushing impact investing from the margins to the mainstream.

Shujog is IIX’s non-profit sister organisation. Its mission is to empower marginalised communities and to protect the planet’s resources by magnifying the positive impact of social innovators.

It achieves this by fostering growth, maturity and market readiness of Impact Enterprises and other social innovators, in turn building the impact investing ecosystem, and enhancing capacity and knowledge management in impact investing.

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Youth

and

Volunteerism What Gives?

By Emma Glendinning

As a volunteer, I’m one of many in the world. Data from Figure 1—a survey about volunteering among a number of OECD countries—shows that at least one-fifth of the population in many countries engages in volunteer activities.1 Though Figure 1 does not provide details on the amount of time spent volunteering—or indeed if this volunteering is one-off or recurring—we see that volunteering rates in Australia, Canada and the United States stand out for being particularly high, whereas those in Italy, Spain and Sweden are remarkably lower than the OECD average.2

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YOUTH AND VOLUNTEERISM

FIGURE 1. Proportion of people who volunteered time to an organisation in the past month, 2015 or last year available Country

Percentage of total population

Percentage of 15–29 year-olds

Australia

40 44 23 31 29 27 40 15 21 17 15 33 44 24

42 40 27 22 27 23 35 15 25 19 18 26 46 23

Canada Denmark Finland France Germany Ireland Italy Korea Spain Sweden United Kingdom United States OECD Average

Adapted from the Gallup World Poll, at https://www.oecd.org/els/family/CO4.1Participation-voluntary-work.pdf

MY PERSONAL JOURNEY

Emma as a guide leader in 2007.

15

years in volunteer journey with Girlguiding

I was seven when I first joined the Girl Guide movement as a Brownie, and through the experience, I grew in confidence, and acquired skills such as teamwork and leadership.

My time as a Brownie and then Girl Guide also afforded me the opportunity to participate in numerous activities I wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance or courage to be a part of.

At 17, inspired to impart to other girls and young women my skills and knowledge, I embarked on what would become my now 15-year volunteer journey with Girlguiding. Since relocating from the UK to Singapore for work in 2014, I have been

Though Singapore does not feature in this poll, slightly older data (2012)3 suggests that 32 per cent of its total population volunteered during 2012, with 43 per cent of 15–24 year olds and 28 per cent of 25–34 year olds giving their time to volunteering;4 both well above the OECD average.

The Singapore data also shows an interesting decline in volunteering between the ages of 25 and 34, and this could be due to the life transitions during those years. Whereas until the end of high school or college, youth were required to engage in some hours of volunteering, those of the 25–34 age group are now entering or have entered employment, and thus have fewer opportunities and/or less free time to volunteer.

But volunteering trends aside, why is volunteering important and why should youth be involved?

helping to run a local Brownie Guide unit. Every week, I work with others to bring a programme of activities to support girls in their emotional, intellectual, moral, social, spiritual and physical development. At least once a year, we take the girls away for a weekend, usually somewhere in Singapore, to enjoy activities, adventure and friendships. Additionally, I have, over the years, taken various roles to support other adult volunteers, assisting with training, administrative support and event organisation for girls and young women aged from 5 to 25.

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 41

In my opinion, it is not enough to document one’s academic abilities alone on a resumé: particularly so with growing numbers of university graduates entering the labour market amid current economic challenges, job competition is stiff. 5 Educational qualifications might tick one requirement box, but for fresh graduates with limited to no work experience, hobbies/interests and extracurricular activities—including volunteer work—will make their CVs stand out from the pile.6 The key here, however, is the ability of volunteers to recognise and articulate the benefits and impact of such activities. Volunteering need not be life-changing, but is likely to be life-enhancing—and the job applicant who can successfully convince their potential employers that their volunteer experience has equipped them with qualities which are transferable to the working environment will put themselves in a stronger position to clinch the job.

Besides employability, the benefits of volunteering are numerous and well documented.7 Alongside building confidence, individuals can develop organisational, leadership and teamwork skills in the process, and practise the ability to demonstrate commitment over weeks, months, or even years. In my experience, volunteering with the Girl Guides has enabled me to venture out of my comfort zone, whether it involves visiting unfamiliar, overseas locations, or being responsible for largescale events. As a part of this global organisation, I’ve also witnessed how social barriers are broken down when people 42

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of all ages and backgrounds are united for a common purpose: for instance, it is not unusual to see 18-year-old Girlguiding volunteers working alongside experienced 60 year olds, each learning skills and knowledge from the other. At the end of the day, it is not their jobs, educational qualifications or household income that bind the volunteers, but the organisation’s mission, identity and values.

At the end of the day, it is not their jobs, educational qualifications or household income that bind the volunteers, but the organisation’s mission, identity and values.

Increasingly, educational institutions around the world are appreciating the importance of exposing youth to volunteer work, and are therefore setting “volunteer/ service hours” requirements to complement their academic training. For example, all highschool students in Ontario, Canada have to complete 40 hours of service in order to graduate.8 Similarly, highschool students of Maryland, USA are to fulfil 75 hours of service before graduation,9 while some schools in other American states offer credits towards graduation to students completing a certain number of hours of volunteer service.10 In Singapore, students, too, have to participate in a mandatory Community Involvement Programme (CIP), during which they are to clock a minimum of

SINGAPORE min.

6

hours

every year during primary and secondary school education

MARYLAND, USA

75 hours

of volunteer service for all high-school students

ONTARIO, CANADA

40 hours

of volunteer service for all high-school students

six hours every year throughout their primary and secondary school education.11 Moreover, the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme includes a compulsory element covering Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) that calls for its 16–19 year-old students, as part of the “service” element, to complete unpaid and voluntary service, in order to develop civic responsibility, an ethic of service, and grow in selfconfidence and maturity.12 Thanks to these educational institutions, more youth are exposed to a vast array of social causes they could give their time to, and in some cases, ignite in them a passion for volunteerism. Such “outsidethe-classroom” learning undoubtedly makes them more aware of the impact that their actions can have on their wider community. By developing social consciousness from a young age, I believe individuals can begin to explore their life priorities and set goals based on these unique experiences.

YOUTH AND VOLUNTEERISM

continued as a mentor in her third year, clocking many hours of service beyond the 80 required by the university.

skills programmes. She is one of a handful of students who continued to volunteer time to the service project in subsequent years. In her second year of involvement with SMU Pendeza, Bernice took on the position of Operations Head. Her ability to build rapport with the locals in Kenya facilitated the successful implementation of new initiatives that were developed with her Kenyan friends. Bernice

Bernice considers SMU Pendeza to be a safe platform in which she could grow and learn, especially since the project is part of her university. Through this experience, she was able to engage with a different side of society, and now sees herself not just as a citizen of Singapore, but that of the world. She’s now equally keen to impart her knowledge to others as she is to learn from those around her. Her service in Kenya has also broadened her focus beyond just grades and prospective employment: she has come to develop a deeper appreciation for her family, friends and the value in serving others. Upon graduation, Bernice wishes to work for an international NGO where she can apply her strengths and skills gained from SMU Pendeza to embark on a career in service work.

their family income) simply cannot afford the long-term commitment of volunteering.14 As such, organisations may find themselves having to repeatedly train new batches of young volunteers because some cannot give of additional time beyond the mandatory requirements. In fact, according to research, the act of enforcing volunteerism may actually cause long-term volunteer rates to decrease: it showed that youth who considered themselves unlikely to volunteer but who

were required to do so had less intention to continue volunteering after completing their stipulated hours.15 This was in contrast to their peers who also thought themselves unlikely to volunteer initially, but who had a stronger intention to continue volunteering after freely giving their time to service.16 Another study revealed that the students who benefitted the least from Ontario’s compulsory service were those who only completed the required number of service hours in order to graduate.

Bernice Yau joined SMU Pendeza, a commuity service project that works with a girl's home in Kenya.

Bernice Yau, 22, is a finalyear law undergraduate at the Singapore Management University (SMU). In addition to her academic requirements, SMU necessitates her to complete 80 hours of service before she can graduate. In her freshman year, Bernice joined SMU Pendeza,13 a community service project that works with a girls’ home in Kenya to provide education and

However, in all of these school programmes, the term “service” is used rather than “volunteering”; it can be said that those who have given their time without financial reward have given it for free; however, the compulsory component to schools’ “service” programmes also means students may not have necessarily freely given their time. Some youth who are already involved in numerous extra-curricular activities, or who work parttime/weekend jobs (for financial independence, or to supplement

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Of course, the kinds of service opportunities provided to these youth make a difference in how much they take away from the experience. Good-quality, service-learning projects— whereby students are taught at school about social issues, and then take up a relevant service project to gain further knowledge in a real-world situation18—can have more relevance and applicability compared to ad-hoc volunteer placements. Perhaps if young people can see volunteerism as a “journey” towards acquiring life skills and building community awareness, instead of an enforced obligation, it would feel less like a duty and be a more empowering experience.

On that point, I believe it is more effective to “incentivise” youth to “service” rather than to mandate it, so as to promote longerterm and more meaningful volunteering. For instance, in many districts in America,19 credits are offered to students

Lucy Traves completed 6 months of service as part of the requirements for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

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who complete volunteer hours, though it is not compulsory to do so in order to graduate.

In addition, some youth organisations offer awards that incorporate volunteering-based clauses—such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in the UK20— to allow the youth working towards these accolades to acquire many life skills and experiences in the process.

Consequentially, these awards also speak volumes on college, university and job applications.

In 2014, the Singapore government established the Youth Corps Singapore.

This organisation, targeted at 16 to 35 year olds, aims to provide “meaningful community service”, to “ignite transformation in society” through “catalysing collaboration between youth, community service organisations and society”.21 With the Youth Corps, young Singaporeans can—through participation in ad-hoc or

At the age of 16, Lucy Traves embarked on her Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, which required her to complete six months of service. She chose to volunteer with Girlguiding,22 the UK’s largest girls-only youth organisation. Lucy was nervous to step into this service role, so she chose an organisation that she already had knowledge of and therefore felt comfortable joining. Five years later and now aged 21, Lucy’s role has grown beyond that of an ordinary “helper”.

Presently in charge of a group

I believe it is more effective to “incentivise” youth to “service” rather than to mandate it, so as to promote longer-term and more meaningful volunteering.

regular volunteering, leadership programmes and overseas expeditions—recognise that they are not passive citizens, but instead be empowered to work with like-minded youths to make a positive difference in their community. By giving youth a voice and an active role to play in improving the world around them, I trust that they are much more likely to develop a passion for volunteerism, because it will stem from a deeper desire to engage with others and to contribute towards making a meaningful impact on society.

In essence, youth volunteerism comes down to the quality of

of 7 to 10 year olds, she holds weekly meetings and handles all administration, including the annual accounts, for the group. Lucy shared that volunteering has helped her grow in confidence and overcome her fear of public speaking. Running a village youth group has also enforced her sense of belonging within her local community: when out for walks, shopping or a meal, Lucy often bumps into someone who knows her due to her volunteering, and a friendly chat usually follows.

YOUTH AND VOLUNTEERISM

engagement. Whether it is tending a community garden, coaching at a local sports’ club, providing tuition to those unable to afford it, fundraising for a charity, or serving food to people who are homeless, if volunteers understand their part in the community and the impact of their service, then their introduction to volunteering at a young age will probably continue to impact on them throughout life. School “service” programmes, mandatory or not, give youth a good headstart in terms of understanding their wider community, issues within it, and how each person can make some kind of difference.

Although not all students go on to volunteer throughout their lives, those introduced to service from their youth are all the more likely to appreciate their potential to make a positive impact on their community and develop a sense of social responsibility23—qualities that are greatly valued both at the workplace and in society.

Emma Glendinning is Research Fellow at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation.

Her research interest lies in community development, and she is currently conducting research into food needs in Singapore. Emma previously worked for local Government in the UK before moving to Singapore in 2014. She holds a PhD from Cardiff University, and during her course of study, she explored the communities within UK farmers’ markets. As a volunteer, Emma is both a leader with a Brownie Unit in Singapore as well as a District Commissioner to British Guides in Foreign Countries (BGIFC), Singapore. She can be reached at eglendinning@smu.edu.sg or via her Linkedin page: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/ emma-glendinning-70969ba2

Notes 1

“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (French: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, OCDE) is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.” Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_ and_Development

2

“The OECD average, sometimes also referred to as the country average, is the mean of the data values for all OECD countries for which data are available or can be estimated.

The OECD average can be used to see how a country compares on a given indicator with a typical OECD country.” Definition from https://www.oecd.org/edu/school/ programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/35002965.pdf

3

Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, “Publications & Statistics—Community”, MCCY website, 14 February 2014, at https://www.mccy.gov.sg/en/Publications_Statistics/ Community.aspx

4

Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, “Publications & Statistics—Youth”, MCCY website, 14 February 2014, https://www.mccy.gov.sg/en/Publications_Statistics/Youth.aspx

5

Niall McCarthy, “Which Countries Have the Most Unemployed Graduates? [Infographic]”, Forbes, 13 October 2015, at http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/10/13/whichcountries-have-the-most-unemployed-graduates-infographic/#d25ab4fdd216; Ng Jing Ying, “As Graduate Numbers Grow, a Hard Truth: Not All Degrees Are Equal”, TODAY, 23 May 2015, at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/as-graduate-numbersgrow/1866808.html

6

Anne Fisher, “Here’s Why You Should Put Volunteer Work on Your Resume”, Fortune, 29 June 2016, at http://fortune.com/2016/06/28/volunteer-work-resume

7

Rita Altman, “The Benefits of Volunteering”, Huffington Post, 5 June 2013, at http://www. huffingtonpost.com/rita-altman-rn/the-benefits-of-volunteer_b_3377383.html

8

Paulette Padanyi, Mark Baetz, Steven D. Brown and Ailsa Henderson, “Does Required Volunteering Work? Results from Ontario’s High School Community Service Program”, Social Economy Fact Sheet #23 (Spring 2009), at http://socialeconomycentre.ca/PDF/ factsheets/requiredvolunteering.pdf

9

Education Commission of the States, “High School Graduation Requirement or Credit toward Graduation—Service-Learning/Community Service”, ECS website, January 2014, at http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbquest3RTE?Rep=SL1301

10

Ibid.

11

National Library Board, “Launch of Community Involvement Programme 1st October 1997”, HistorySG: An online resource guide, 2014, at http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/ events/c78526c6-decf-4b79-b4ca-421739464884

12

International Baccalaureate Organization, “Community Service”, IBO website, at http://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/what-is-the-dp/community-service

13

For more information on SMU Pendeza, see http://www.smupendeza.com

14

Lily Lou, “Op-ed: The Downside of School Volunteer Requirements”, The Prospect, 28 February 2015, at http://www.theprospect.net/op-ed-the-downside-of-school-volunteerrequirements-38685

15

Sarah D. Sparks, “Community Service Requirements Seen to Reduce Volunteering”, Education Week, 20 August 2013, at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/08/21/01volunteer_ep.h33. html; Arthur Stukas, Mark Snyder and E. G. Clary, “The Effects of ‘Mandatory Volunteerism’ on Intentions to Volunteer”, Psychological Science 10, 1 (1999): 59–64, at https://www. researchgate.net/publication/247781198_The_Effects_of_Mandatory_Volunteerism_on_ Intentions_to_Volunteer

16

Ibid.

17

Padanyi, Baetz, Brown and Henderson, “Does Required Volunteering Work?”.

18

A. Lisa Fahrenthold, “Family Volunteering and Youth Engagement in the Non-Profit Sector: An Analysis of Benefits”, Serviceleader.org, December 2003, at https://www.serviceleader. org/volunteers/familyvolunteering

19

Education Commission of the States, “High School Graduation Requirement or Credit toward Graduation—Service-Learning/Community Service”.

20

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award homepage, at http://www.dofe.org

21

Youth Corps Singapore, “Who We Are”, Youth Corps Singapore website, at https://www.youthcorps.sg/AboutUs

22

For more information, visit http://girlguiding.org.uk

23

Online College, “12 Reasons Community Service Should Be Required in Schools”, OnlineCollege.org, 27 June 2012, at http://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/06/27/12-reasonscommunity-service-should-be-required-schools

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 45

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The Might of Millennials

By Christopher Cheok

“Millennials” illustrated by Joseph Tey @ http://skullbase.blogspot.sg

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THE MIGHT OF MILLENNIALS

Throughout history, young people have been the energy and driving force of change in society. Today, that is all the more true. With the prevalence of social media, youth and young adults have the unique ability to influence others, and to a greater extent than parents or schools can. Since they are able to shape attitudes and values so greatly, it is important to empower youth with the necessary knowledge and tools to be a force for good, and to make positive contributions to society.

Young people have shown their ability to create change and broad awareness of social needs through their involvement in volunteer welfare organisations (VWOs) and civil society groups. In Singapore, citizens often look to their government for solutions, which it is able to provide, though only at the “macro level”, i.e. issues that concern a large segment of society. However, there are many other “micro-level” problems affecting smaller groups that can be better addressed by self-organised interest groups. Examples of these include causes for animals, issues that concern a neighbourhood rather than a country, and support groups for special populations—for example, loved ones of persons who have committed suicide. These interest groups, which can be composed of young adults and youth, can generate awareness among their peers and family about various issues, including the need for recycling, renewable energy, or the respectful treatment of domestic workers, to name only a few. Many causes benefit from the amplifying voices of youth and the new forms of information exchange of which they are masters.

In Singapore, citizens often look to their government for solutions, which it is able to provide, though only at the “macro level”. However, there are many other “micro-level” problems affecting smaller groups that can be better addressed by self-organised interest groups.

Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, seek a broader definition of success, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the workplace.1 Besides job security and career progression, research shows that millennial workers prefer to work for organisations that radically promote personal growth, support social causes, and blur the boundaries between work and play.2 For these youth seek meaning and purpose through selfgrowth and new experiences, the daily routine of an office job alone will not sustain their interests.3 As such, many companies that are unable to provide millennial workers with a clear career development plan may find that they have trouble retaining them. On the other hand, corporations that actively involve their millennial workers in their corporate social responsibility efforts are able to harness the energy of these youth through a shared sense of purpose and mission. Further, team-bonding activities like social events, group sports or hobby groups allow millennial staff to treat the office—that place where many of us spend over a third of our lives4 —as a place for both work and socialising.

Health—both physical and psychological—is another area in need of contributions from young people. As a developed nation with high life expectancy, the diseases affecting Singapore’s population are lifestyle-related and chronic in nature, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, substance abuse and depression.

Equipped with the right knowledge on health and the benefits of exercise, youth can influence

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THE MIGHT OF MILLENNIALS

their peers to lead healthier lifestyles. They can also play an empathetic role by accompanying ageing parents on medical appointments. And as for young people whose loved ones suffer from, or who are themselves afflicted by, psychological disorders, they stand to benefit from the emotional support of peers who are well-informed on mental illness. Young people should be empowered with the right knowledge to become positive agents of health and wellbeing in their communities.

In my work, I have had the privilege of meeting and working with many youth with the desire to effect positive change. Spanning diverse backgrounds, they include span the individuals from Make The Change,5 to a group of young adults developing a smartphone application in aid of those with mental illness, to students who help their troubled friends via their schools’ peer support programme. These are two sides of the same coin: different initiatives that showcase youth using the tools at their disposal to promote health for the people around them.

There are several challenges to starting and sustaining an initiative directed at achieving a social impact. For one, there is the major risk of obtaining low-quality and unreliable information online.

The Internet is a ready source of information, but there is a need to check their origins and interpret them in relevant contexts. Young people need to have a strong educational base, use context cues,

Christopher Cheok is currently the Vice Chairman of the Medical Board (National Addictions Management Service), at the Institute of Mental Health. He is a Senior Consultant psychiatrist and a visiting consultant to the Singapore Armed Forces and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. He is also a member of the medical board of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore. During his career with the Singapore Armed Forces, Cheok has been the Commanding Officer of Medical Classification Centre, the Deputy Commander of the Military Medicine Institute and the Head of the Psychological Care Centre. He served in peacekeeping missions in East Timor and in the humanitarian relief mission during the Asian Tsunami.

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Young people should be empowered with the right knowledge to become positive agents of health and well-being in their communities.

and be discerning of online news stories put out by agencies with certain economic, commercial or political agendas. Self-organised groups may also find it hard to sustain themselves in the long run, especially with leadership change or stagnant membership, and limited financing. While youth can actively use the Internet to engage volunteer manpower and resources, these can dwindle over time, and a self-organised group may find it challenging to scale up beyond a certain point.

That being said, there is no better time in history for the young to come forward to be a force for social change, and work towards addressing the issues that plague society, from domestic violence, welfare of domestic helpers and treatment of foreign workers, mental health, physical health, to care for the environment and animals. Empowered by education, an open flow of information and social media tools, today’s millennials can reach and influence others like never before.

Notes 1

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace (New York: PWC, 2011), at https://www.pwc.com/m1/en/ services/consulting/documents/millennials-at-work.pdf

2

Ibid.

3

Ibid.

4

“What Percentage of Our Lives Are Spent Working?”, Reference.com, at https://www.reference.com/math/percentagelives-spent-working-599e3f7fb2c88fca

5

Make the Change (http://makethechange.sg) is an organisation that assists NGOs, charities and social enterprises to achieve their desired media exposure at lower costs through the help of volunteer staff from the creative industry.

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 49

ASK ME ANYTHING

Your Burning Changemaking Questions— Answered

By Jiezhen Wu

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Your Burning Changemaking Questions—Answered

To be or not to be? That may (or may not) be your question. In ASK ME ANYTHING, readers write in with their social innovation queries, and the Social Space team finds a changemaker to answer them. In this issue, we pose these inquiries to JIEZHEN WU of THE HIDDEN GOOD.

“In which moments do you feel the greatest sense of achievement in your job?”

—Li Xinwei, 22 I feel the greatest sense of achievement and satisfaction when I see the values and ideals that The Hidden Good stands for being put into action.

I am especially inspired by the growth of our youth community (known as “Hoodies”). Seeing the good that each Hoodie brings to the table as well as to his/her own communities gives me great affirmation that The Hidden Good is making a meaningful impact on society.

“Do you think Singaporeans need to engage in more community service?

—Harresh Krishnan, 26 I think we need a re-envisioning of what community service looks like in Singapore. Rather than asking if we should have more or less of it, perhaps the more pertinent question is to look at the issue qualitatively.

It is often in the smallest actions—whether it’s behaving respectfully to an elderly person or extending a kind gesture to a stranger—that the greatest impact is felt. Perhaps then, this is where the conversation should begin: first answering the question of why it matters to engage in community service and doing good, before thinking about doing more.

Could you describe what a “social start-up” is? How is it different from other traditional NGOs? —Neil Bore, 24 A social start-up, at least in Singapore’s context, concerns the underlying impetus of doing social good/pursuing a social cause and making it sustainable (financially, especially) to do so.

It is often grounded in values of creativity, technology and innovation, and is lean and nimble. More traditional NGOs tend to be bigger and grounded in years of organisational history, which helps inform the work they do, though it sometimes makes it harder for them to pivot and respond as quickly. Many social enterprises are taking to running their social good organisations like start-ups, hence the “startup” terminology. The Hidden Good is one such example—our work involves partnering with individuals or companies to spread messages of social good through video campaigns or social experiments. As an apolitical and non-partisan organisation, we are uniquely placed to engage governmental/ non-governmental institutions, MNCs, schools or any other organisation or entity looking to do good or to create positive social change in Singapore. The permutations for partnerships are vast, and we are constantly on the lookout for patrons who value and believe in the work we do.

If you could make one change in the world, what would it be?

—Claudia, 22 I’d like to foster empathy in more people and have it become an intrinsic part of how we interact and coexist in this world. I see empathy as fundamental to being human— if we all saw one another as worthy givers and recipients of all things good, we could work so much more efficiently towards tackling social problems.

Jiezhen Wu is Director of The Hidden Good, a social initiative that aims to uncover the good in Singapore. Through the use of new media, guerrilla community activations, and innovative social experiments, THG serves as a platform for youth to create and celebrate the change they want to see in the world.

Jiezhen graduated with double Honours from Wellesley College, where she majored in Political Science and Peace and Justice. Prior to moving back to Singapore to run THG, she worked in education in San Francisco. Connect with her at jiezhen@thehiddengood.com

Do you have a burning social innovation question or two? Email them to editor@socialspacemag.org and we’ll find a changemaker for the occasion!

Social Space ISSUE NINE 51

THE SHORT LIST

More Power To Youth 6 TED Talks to Empower Young Minds

By Jay Boolkin

Youth empowerment refers to young people embodying their agency and capacity to make decisions and implement changes in their own lives and in wider society. At its core, it is rooted in the attitudes, cultures and structures that young people participate in within society.

When youth acquire the authority and ability to envision, map, execute, critique and challenge their reality, it opens up opportunities to change the world as we know it. The materialisation of youth empowerment can lead to unparalleled social benefits, including reduced unemployment, poverty eradication,

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lower crime, improved governance, better education, and more sustainable national growth and technological development.

Since youth empowerment is not an outcome but an attitudinal, structural and cultural process, it can (like most things related to “social change�) get a little complicated. If you are an aspiring young leader or if you work with the changemakers of tomorrow, these six TED motivational talks related to youth empowerment will set you thinking, and hopefully, empower you on your journey ahead.

MORE POWER TO YOUTH

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

1.

“BEING YOUNG AND MAKING AN IMPACT”

By Natalie Warne

Watch @ https://www.ted.com/talks/natalie_warne_being_ young_and_making_an_impact

2.

At 17, and passionate about social causes, Natalie Warne decided to forgo university and to advocate on behalf of the humanitarian aid organisation, Invisible Children. During this time, she succesfully led a nationwide campaign that got featured on CNN and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Presently a film editor in Los Angeles, Warne shares her inspiring story and the message that no one is too young to change the world.

“MY WISH: ONCE UPON A SCHOOL”

By Dave Eggers Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally and creatively engage with local public schools. He shares how his 826 Valencia tutoring centre inspired others around the world to do the same.

Watch @ https://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_ makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school

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3.

“KIDS CAN TEACH THEMSELVES”

By Sugata Mitra Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own, and went on to teach other children. In this talk, Mitra raises an important question: what else can children teach themselves?

Watch @ http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_ how_kids_teach_themselves

4.

“HOW TO EDUCATE LEADERS? LIBERAL ARTS"

By Patrick Awuah

Watch @ https://www.ted.com/talks/patrick_awuah_on_ educating_leaders

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A liberal arts education is critical to forming true leaders, claims university head Patrick Awuah, because it builds decision-making skills, an ethical framework and a broad vision. He left the US and his career at Microsoft to found Ashesi Unversity, a liberal arts school in his home nation of Ghana, Africa. In this talk, he speaks passionately about dreaming, doing and leading.

MORE POWER TO YOUTH

5.

“A WARRIOR'S CRY AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE”

By Memory Banda

Watch @ https://www.ted.com/talks/memory_banda_a_ warrior_s_cry_against_child_marriage

6.

When Memory Banda’s sister reached puberty, she was sent to a traditional “initiation camp” that teaches girls “how to sexually please a man” and got pregnant at the age of 11.

Banda, however, refused to go.

Instead, she organised others and asked her community’s leader to issue a bylaw to prevent girls from being forced into marriage before the age of 18. Banda, now an advocate for girls’ rights in Malawi, shares her incredible story in this talk.

“WANT TO BE AN ACTIVIST? START WITH YOUR TOYS”

By Mckenna Pope

Watch @ https://www.ted.com/talks/mckenna_pope_ want_to_be_an_activist_start_with_your_toys

McKenna Pope’s younger brother loved to cook, but was reluctant to use an Easy-Bake Oven because it was also a toy for girls. So at 13, Pope started an online petition for the American toy company Hasbro to change the Easy-Bake Oven’s pink-and-purple colour scheme, and to market it as a unisex product. In this talk, Pope makes the case for genderneutral toys.

Jay Boolkin is passionate about positive social change and the power of social entrepreneurship to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. He believes that for-purpose business models can become part of the mainstream and is enthusiastic about advocating for business models that are genuinely built around a social or environmental mission. Jay was selected as a 2015 Myer Innovation Fellow, one of Australia’s top 50 young social entrepreneurs by the Foundation for Young Australians, and the Young Entrepreneur Finalist in the Sydney SHINE Awards. He blogs at Social Good Stuff (http://socialgoodstuff.com) and is the founder of Social Change Central (http://www.socialchangecentral.com) and Promise or Pay (http://promiseorpay.com).

Email him at jay@socialgoodstuff.com or connect with him on Twitter (http://twitter.com/socialgoodstuff).

SOCIAL SPACE ISSUE NINE 55

POP QUIZ

2

1 3

4

6

5

7 8

9 10

11 12

THE LAST WORD

13

By Florian Parzhuber

Solution Word

Across

DOWN

6 Number of bottom lines social enterprises should have 8 Biggest challenge for most social enteprises 9 Ability to understand and share the feelings of another 10 Raising capital through many small contributions 11 What the "O" in NGOs stands for 13 New ideas, devices or methods

1 Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise 2 Last name of Ashoka founder 3 What the "R" in CSR stands for 4 Name of the bank founded by Muhammad Yunus 5 What the "I" in SIB stands for 7 Philippines-based movement that aims to end poverty 12 Last name of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Solution Word: Youth 1. Raise 2. Drayton 3. Responsibility 4. Grameen 5. Impact 6. Three 7. Gawadkalinga 8. Sustainability 9. Empathy 10. Crowfunding 11. Organisations 12. Santos 13. Innovation 56

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