Making ‘champions’ out of youths

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THE Champions – a Youth Work Asia (YWA) programme – gives young people a platform to augment their empowerment and development.

It is not an organisation, a club or a society but purely a programme based on the concept of a free movement for youths to discover a sense of belonging and strive for significant achievements. And in the Malaysian context, the programme – as its name denotes – aims to develop young citizens into ‘true champions’.

To do this, the youths will be allowed to define the meaning of ‘champions’ themselves. This empowerment will give them effective space to develop and define their own social circles and values.

ATTENTIVE: Young Sarawakians at the Youth Transformation Lab with Youth Works Asia in Kuching.

YWA chief executive officer Bernard Hor told thesundaypost that in a rapidly changing world, youths needed their own space, identity and empowerment to make their own decisions.

“Gone are the days when the practice of “creating for the youths” was still valid. Nowadays, we must “create with the youths” – that is what the Champions programme is doing,” he said.

Hor, in his 20’s, is optimistic the programme will create a common platform for youths to come together and “IN-CREATE” with each other.

“Youths today trust their peers more than anything else.  Peer-to-peer influence is the underlying factor that drives the success of a programme, brand or any youth engagement effort,” he noted.

“We need to give these young people their own space. They may make mistakes but they can learn from them. It isn’t about designing or developing the best youth programme or organising the biggest youth event in town but simply the ability to ‘let go’ and allow the youths to take ownership of the platform, define it, colour it, design it and more importantly, own it.

“In this way, we hope to not only develop pro-active youths but more importantly, also a new generation of responsible, selfless, courageous and purpose-driven youths. Now, these are true Champions.”

Transforming youth landscape

YWA’s involvement in the state is bridged through their Sarawakian intern 20-year-old Melody Bendindang.

Hor said through her fellowship, they learned the values of new cultures, met new people and made new friends in East Malaysia.

According to Hor, Melody’s vision is nothing very complicated – to transform the youth landscape in Sarawak.

“It is a vision driven by a strong sense of purpose, and everything we know about Sarawak’s youths illustrates pretty much our close relationship with Melody.

“Soon, we were making fortnightly trips to Sarawak. Our focus was clear – to help Melody fulfill her young Sarawakian dream and tell her story,” he explained.

Melody later joined YWA full-time and was posted back to Kuching and appointed head of Youth Outreach.

With her appointment, YWA has connected with the locals at the personal level to better understand the cultures and values of the people here.

Hor agreed there were a many disadvantages when it came to ‘youth exposure’ in places like Sarawak.

He hoped their programme would help turn disadvantages into advantages, saying from both the social and business perspectives, there were plenty of opportunities in Sarawak and the local youths must realise this.

“They must see they are living in a Blue Ocean. What they need is not another youth programme but a paradigm shift in mindset and the courage to step out of their comfort zone and face challenges. The youths will drive the socio-economic development of Sarawak in the future and they must be ready for that.”

Social, human capitals

Hor said in Sarawak, YWA was looking into two things – social capital and human capital development to ensure the youths could develop professionally to become future leaders.

He suggested it would be best to focus on transforming the mindset of the youths through extensive development of these two capitals.

Hence, YWA’s two key objectives in Sarawak are:

l  To enhance social capital among the youths by developing a sustainable ‘support environment’ to facilitate their social growth.

l  To increase productivity among the youths through human capital development for sustained economic growth in the state and country.

To ensure the programmes are implemented as planned, they not only need the support the youths themselves but also the help of the eight campuses of higher institutions of learning in the state which can potentially reach out to over 25,000 youths  between 18 and 24.

“This is most important to ensure the success of the Champions programme,” Hor said.

As the social revolution cannot be achieved by Sarawakian youths alone, a strategic partnership with the stakeholders from both the public and private sectors has to be in place to ensure more substantial growth for the youths.

Hor said public sector support was integral to the growth of  the Champion’s programme, and the Champions BootCamp from Sept 9 to 11 in Kuching was strongly supported by the Social Development Ministry.

He applauded the support, saying it did not come from funding but guidance and connecting the young Champions to the right people.

“This proves the youths of Sarawak do not rely on handouts from the public sector but are ready to go the extra mile to adapt to this change.

“I must say the Champions programme has been gaining pretty good ground, especially among the campus youths. For the first time ever, we can see youths from different backgrounds and cultures in Sarawak coming together on one common platform.

“They strongly believe they themselves are the change they want to see. This is what I call the unity of youths.”

Hor said he had seen the drive and positive attitudes of Sarawakian youths during his 11-month stay with them.

According to him, Sarawakian youths have two very positive strengths over their peninsular counterparts – first, a very strong sense of loyalty towards their state and secondly, a strong desire for greater achievements.

“These young Sarawakians look forward to returning home after completing their studies elsewhere. And among the reasons for this is that they want to give back to their community,” he said, adding that there is also the desire to achieve more.

“The perception that Sarawakian youths are contended and laid back, I believe, will remain a perception – not a reality.”

He likes to see the two key strengths – strong sense of loyalty and burning desire to succeed – catalyse the socio-economic development of the youths.

For the programme to be accepted, he pointed out, the vision of these young Sarawakians must be clearly spelt out in the mission of the Champions.

“The strategy or approach is to always ‘let go’ and allow the youths to take ownership of the Champions programme. The team in Kuching is very focused on this – they are determined to ensure 101 per cent inclusiveness of the youths in Sarawak.”

Hor admitted staying relevant to the youths would be a challenge, noting that trends among young people today changed by the second.

“It’s tough to gauge exactly what the youths want. As such, the team always go to the ground to talk with the youths and
grow with them. And yes, I’m confident they will succeed,” he enthused.