The Government today (December 28) started the recruitment under the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth (MSSY) Phase II. The application period will close on January 28, 2019.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau said, "The Government strives to address young people's concerns about education, career pursuit and home ownership, and encourage their participation in politics as well as public policy discussion and debate. The Government will continue to create a favourable environment for young people to join different advisory committees under bureaux/departments. The MSSY has been regularised and two rounds of recruitment will be rolled out every year. The target is to increase, within the current-term Government, the overall ratio of youth members aged between 18 and 35 to 15 per cent."
The MSSY Phase I was open for recruitment in June 2018 and all the assessments of the 10 participating committees have been completed. Five of the 10 committees have already completed their appointment exercise and announced their appointments (list of appointees in Appendix), while the remaining five committees will complete their appointments by the first quarter of 2019 with relevant announcement to follow.
​The MSSY Phase II opens for application today. The following 10 committees, which cover a wide spectrum of policy areas, will each offer two seats for application:
- Ping Wo Fund Advisory Committee;
- Commission on Poverty;
- Committee on the Promotion of Racial Harmony;
- Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS;
- Aviation Development and Three-runway System Advisory Committee;
- Committee on Home-School Co-operation;
- Animal Welfare Advisory Group;
- Museum Advisory Committee;
- Advisory Committee on Gifted Education; and
- Working Group on Green Burial and Related Matters.
"Young people aged between 18 and 35 on January 28, 2019, i.e. the close of application, with a commitment to serve the community are invited to self-nominate to become members of the 10 specified committees," the spokesman continued.
A Recruitment Committee (RC) has been set up for overseeing the implementation of the MSSY. The RC comprises the Secretary for Home Affairs, a representative of the Youth Development Commission, non-official chairpersons or members of the aforementioned 10 committees and representatives of the bureaux/departments concerned. Under the RC, 10 Assessment Panels (APs) will be formed to take care of the applications concerning the 10 committees respectively. AP members include the non-official chairperson and/or members of the committee concerned and representatives of the bureau/department concerned. The APs will conduct interviews with applicants to facilitate the assessment.
The APs will consider whether the applicant has a strong commitment to serve the community, good understanding of the policy area concerned and good analytical and communication skills. The above three criteria are the only assessment criteria that will be adopted under the MSSY. Following the principle of meritocracy, the Government aims to, through the MSSY, recruit young people who have the commitment to serve the community and the ability to contribute to the committees concerned for recommending to the relevant bureaux/departments for consideration of appointment. Subject to the actual number of applications received, the assessments would be completed in the second quarter of 2019.
The application form and other details of the MSSY Phase II are available on the website of the Home Affairs Bureau (www.hab.gov.hk). In completing the application form, applicants need to write no more than 600 words or provide a video/audio clip of no longer than three minutes to explain, in either Chinese or English, his/her suitability of being appointed to be a member of the relevant committee. Applications may be submitted through the online application system, by post or by hand.
