Partnership for youth

Caspar Tsui

Secretary for Home Affairs

Young people in Hong Kong are facing many challenges. Among them are education, careers and upward mobility. The Government is committed to gearing up an array of targeted measures to meet their needs and to establish effective channels to communicate with them.

Youth development is one of the priorities of the currentterm Government. We hope to create room for young people to realize their dreams. We also strive to address young people’s concerns about education, careers and home ownership, while encouraging their participation in politics and engagement in public policy discussion and debate. The aim is to enable the younger generation to see hope and opportunities for upward mobility and to nurture them as responsible leaders of tomorrow’s Hong Kong, equipped with a positive outlook on life, a commitment to society, a sense of national identity, a love for Hong Kong and an international perspective.

To achieve our common goals in youth development, the Government relies upon and attaches utmost importance to working closely with our partners without whom many of our youth development initiatives would not have been possible. Taking the Youth Hostel Scheme as an example, it is premised upon placing the use of spare development capacity into the hands of NGOs which can build youth hostels, thereby giving young tenants an experience of independent living at concessionary rents and saving to realize their aspirations. I am delighted to note that the scheme has begun to bear fruit: PH2, the first-ever project under the scheme, undertaken by the

Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG), has recently opened and met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from young people and the community at large.

Entrepreneurship: Hong Kong and beyond

The Government is committed to supporting youth entrepreneurship through the provision of seed funding, dedicated incubation services and above all the creation of a supportive and sustainable ecosystem for startups. We hope to unleash the potential of our young entrepreneurs and enable them to flourish, showcase their creativity and realize their innovative aspirations for the good of society.

The Government established the Youth Development Fund (YDF) for this purpose. HKFYG, as one of the nine funded NGOs under the first round of YDF, has successfully supported the development of 15 youth startups’ businesses in a wide range of industries including education, retail, catering and information technology. We are also glad to see that HKFYG has been collaborating with the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub ( 前海深港青年夢工場 ) to extend the geographical reach of entrepreneurial support and provide a platform for Hong Kong startups to tap the opportunities brought about by the development of the Guangdong-Hong KongMacao Greater Bay Area (GBA). In fact, there has been rapid development of youth entrepreneurial bases in the GBA in recent years with massive hardware and software to support innovative and entrepreneurial activities. We look forward to closer collaboration with HKFYG and others to strengthen our support for youth entrepreneurs starting up businesses in Hong Kong as well as other GBA cities.

To help young people seize the vast opportunities, the Government introduced a new and enhanced funding scheme under the YDF to provide seed capital and incubation services that befit the needs of Hong Kong young entrepreneurs both locally and in the rest of GBA.

We will also secure more internship opportunities in international organizations for Hong Kong young people, including expanding the depth and breadth of the existing United Nations Volunteers – Hong Kong Universities Volunteer Internship Programme. For youth entrepreneurship, the Government will establish an Alliance of Hong Kong Youth Innovative and Entrepreneurial Bases in the GBA, with a view to pooling the resources of NGOs, universities, chambers of commerce, youth organizations and other valuable partners while creating a one-stop platform to support our youth entrepreneurs and help them leverage opportunities arising from the development of the GBA.

Sports and wellness

The Government is committed to promoting sports in the community and school to encourage active and healthy lifestyles. We will continue to implement the School Sports Programme (SSP) for students of primary, secondary and special schools in Hong Kong to participate in diversified activities in line with their schools’ daily schedules.

We are also mindful of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on young people’s wellbeing. In March this year, we introduced enhancement measures to the Funding Scheme for Youth Life Planning Activities (2019-22). All funded organizations were invited to organize no fewer than five additional activities within the current school year and to make use of technology for life planning activities. Activities that enhance young people's wellbeing and stress management, thus providing life planning support and training during the epidemic, are included. The enhancement measures have received positive response. HKFYG, as one of the funded organizations, took advantage of the new measures and received an additional grant.

Future: working together for youth

We will step up outreach to young people of various backgrounds through a variety of means. We will listen to their views on employment and other issues, thus enabling us to incorporate their comments and suggestions in policy decisions. We will continue to enhance our various youth exchange and internship programmes in mainland China and overseas in partnership with NGOs, with a view to enriching opportunities for our young people.

To this end, we will continue to work closely with NGOs, schools, community organizations, and most importantly, young people themselves to take forward youth development.

民政事務局局長徐英偉先生認為青年面對大量挑戰，包括 住屋、就業、社會參與等，而特區政府會盡力針對青年需 要，提供他們發展所需，並積極聆聽他們的意見。