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Commission on Youth releases Youth Development Strategy: Public Engagement Report (with photo)
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The following is issued on behalf of the Commission on Youth:
 
     The Commission on Youth (CoY) today (March 7) released the Youth Development Strategy: Public Engagement Report.
 
     The Public Engagement Report consolidates the opinions collected from four public engagement sessions and 101 focus group meetings, which were attended by young people of different backgrounds and a wide range of stakeholders involved in youth development work, e.g. parents, secondary school principals and teachers, and representatives from tertiary institutions, uniformed groups, non-governmental organisations, corporations, start-ups, social enterprises and other entities serving or working with young people.
 
     Having regard to the comments collected during the public engagement and in view of the impending establishment of the Youth Development Commission (YDC), the CoY recommends that the YDC should adopt a holistic Youth Development Strategy as the basis of its work and as an overarching framework to ensure that all policy bureaux and stakeholders should uphold the same principles in fostering youth development.
 
     The Strategy comprises a vision for moving forward, guiding principles, building blocks forming the key areas of youth development and recommended actions. With a view to providing an enabling environment for youths so that they can realise their full potential in different areas, the Strategy comprises the following building blocks: education, career pursuit, housing and financial independence, health, civic participation and whole-person development, plus an additional building block on equal opportunities which permeates the Strategy and ensures that the development of young people will not be hindered owing to their background.
 
     The CoY recommends that the YDC should give priority to discussing issues that have cross-bureau implications to give effect to its role as a cross-bureau and inter-departmental steering committee. In addition, the YDC should continue to engage young people and various stakeholders throughout the policy formulation and discussion process, with a view to fostering territory-wide support, so that the society can work towards the Strategy's vision and ensure that the Strategy becomes a living document.
 
     At the CoY meeting today, the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, emphasised that youth development would be a priority policy area of the current-term Government. He also welcomed the recommendations set out in the Public Engagement Report.
 
     Mr Cheung said, "I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the CoY Chairman, Mr Lau Ming-wai, and all members of the Commission for their dedication. Under the leadership of Mr Lau, the CoY has offered much sound advice to the Government and successfully raised public awareness of the development of the younger generation of Hong Kong. Mr Lau is a close partner of the Government in promoting youth development. Last year, he guided the CoY through more than 100 public engagement sessions fruitfully, and based on the comments collected, formulated a holistic youth development strategy and called for the community’s united support for our next generation through cross-sector collaboration.
 
     "Looking ahead, the new YDC will vigorously promote cross-bureaux, cross-departmental collaboration and undertake 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 and the future YDC will study the findings and recommendations of the report in detail with a view to formulating the work plan of the future YDC," Mr Cheung added.
 
     The CoY conducted the Public Engagement on Youth Development Strategy from May to October 2017 to invite young people, relevant stakeholders and the general public to deliberate on the future direction of youth development work. 
 
     As announced in the Chief Executive's 2017 Policy Address, the YDC, to be chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, will be set up in the first half of 2018 to enhance policy co-ordination within the Government and enable holistic and more effective examination of, and discussion on, issues of concern to young people. The existing CoY under the Home Affairs Bureau will be incorporated into the higher-level YDC.
 
     The full report can be downloaded from the website of CoY at www.coy.gov.hk.
 
Ends/Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Issued at HKT 18:31
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Photo

The Commission on Youth (CoY) held its 144th meeting today (March 7) and released the Youth Development Strategy: Public Engagement Report. Photo shows the Chairman of the CoY, Mr Lau Ming-wai (right), submitting the Report to the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung (left).