The Government today (December 20) released the Youth Development Blueprint (Blueprint), outlining the overall vision and guiding principles for the Government's long-term youth development work in the future. At this initial stage, more than 160 concrete actions and measures supporting youth development are put forward.
Releasing the Blueprint today, the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, said, "In his important speech delivered on July 1 and the Report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi reiterated that 'A nation will prosper only when its young people thrive', 'Hong Kong will prosper only when its young people thrive', 'Hong Kong will develop only when its young people achieve well-rounded development', 'Hong Kong will have a bright future only when its young people have good career prospects'. The Chief Executive stated in the Policy Address and his election manifesto that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government will formulate the first edition of the Blueprint to summarise and outline the development direction of the youth work in the future."
Youth development work covers a wide range of policy areas and stretches across the work of different policy bureaux. The Government will enhance the co-ordination and adopt a systematic and continuous approach to plan for and implement Hong Kong's youth work, with a view to bringing young people together.
"Our vision is to nurture a new generation of young people with an affection for our country and Hong Kong, and equipped with global perspective, an aspiring mind-set and positive thinking. In this connection, we are committed to providing young people with an enabling environment to cherish hope for the future and strive for continuous growth, so that they can unleash their full potential in society and contribute to Hong Kong, the country and the world."
Having regard to the development stages of youths, the Blueprint includes the following four chapters which unveil the Government's direction under the specific theme and propose corresponding actions and measures:
1. Exploration – Encouraging exploration, preparing for the future
- Enhance national education, national security education, awareness in the rule of law and national pride;
- Provide quality and diversified education, including enhancing life planning, promoting vocational and professional education and training, improving special education and promoting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, ARts and Mathematics) education; and
- Promote exchange and internship outside Hong Kong to promote young people's understanding of the country and the world.
2. Hope – Instilling hope, fulfilling dreams
- Enable young people to capitalise on the opportunities brought by the National 14th Five-Year Plan, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Development, the Belt and Road Initiative, etc, and integrate into the overall development of the country;
- Provide young people with more internship, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in different fields and support their diversified career development;
- Enhance employability of young people and support continuing education for youth; and
- Address young people's housing needs through a multi-pronged approach, which includes continuing to identify land for housing development, increasing supply of youth hostel places, and relaunching the Starter Homes Project for Hong Kong Residents.
3. Empowerment – Resilience band whole-person development
- Enhance youth welfare services;
- Support the community to enable young people's whole-person development, instil positive thinking and foster team spirit through various services and activities including adventure activities and the annual Youth Festival;
- Strengthen moral education, promote family values and nurture positive values and attitudes;
- Promote sports, arts and culture and enrich diverse experiences;
- Strengthen support for youths on various fronts, including mental well-being; and
- Support non-Chinese speaking youths.
4. Contribution – Youth engagement and contribution to society
- Enhance youth participation in public affairs, including expanding the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth to strengthen young people's sense of responsibility and ownership;
- Enhance the platform for communicating with young people, including making use of the Internet and social media to listen and respond to the views of young people more effectively; and
- Encourage youth's participating in volunteer work.
To highlight the importance that the Government attaches to youth development, the Deputy Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs (Youth Affairs) will be designated as the Commissioner for Youth. The Commissioner will co-ordinate youth work in various areas within the Government, and represent the Government in liaising with different sectors to promote youth development work together. The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB) will also establish a platform for youth engagement, including a new youth network and a youth-based mobile application. Separately, the HYAB will launch the "Youth Dashboard" to consolidate youth-related data and trends so that the Government can keep better tabs on the pulse of young people.
Since July this year, the HYAB, in collaboration with the Youth Development Commission (YDC), have organised and participated in over 170 consultation sessions reaching out to thousands of young people and stakeholders in youth work, and received over 190 written submissions. Miss Mak expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the YDC and different stakeholders for offering their valuable views, and to various bureaux and departments for their support and contribution in the preparation of the Blueprint.
The Blueprint signifies that the Government will continuously promote long-term youth development and will draw the community together to attach importance to the development of and care for young people. The HYAB welcomes young people and stakeholders to offer their views on the first edition of the Blueprint, so that the Government can continue to review and revise the contents and formulate updated edition as appropriate, and ensure that the Blueprint is a living document that can keep up with the times and respond to the needs of young people.
The full text of the Blueprint has been uploaded to the dedicated website (www.youthblueprint.gov.hk).
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