Most efforts related to youth development are aimed at implementing physical activities; too few involve revisions to the electronic youth community building, accompanied by support for the funding of ongoing operations. The challenge of building electronic youth community and developing an effective model has gone largely unaddressed. Similarly, there are few initiatives to train and support local leaders of such reform. In short, there are several arenas in which business leaders could contribute to the effective use of technology in youth development.
Technology is not the answer to youth’ development reform, but it is an important tool. With it, our children can achieve much more than we ever did; without it, they will watch the world pass them by. The scarce commodity is leadership. We owe it to our children to provide that.
YouTHeme believes that there are three key areas that must be addressed in order to bridge the digital divide- access, knowledge and contents. To deal with the problem of access, the organization hopes to create a social environment which is aware of information technology and its uses. To address the problem of knowledge, the organization recognizes the youth’s need for adequate training so as to attain the relevant skills to operate in the information society. Lastly, YouTHeme also believes that in order to enhance the information technology experience, youth must first be interested in what they are doing - contents on the Internet and in the computer programs then play an important part in engaging their interest.
By targeting at youths of age 13 - 24, the YouTHeme project is to produce a youth portal to accommodate youth aspiration, expression and actualization and promote youth creativity. The project will involve the building of the electronic youth community that goes down to the grassroots, community level to provide access to technological resources where inequalities exist, allowing low-cost or free access to all sorts of computing technologies in an environment supportive of youth development and learning.
The project will provide youth aged 15 – 24 with online youth development related resources, personal support, and information (such as extra-curricular activities, access to financial scholarship, special interest groups, etc.) to assist with the development of their technology and life skills. It aims to support enhanced interaction between all schools’ stakeholders, and provide online tutoring, linkage to personal mentors, monitored chat rooms for online monitoring, email, and up-to-date relevant information (such as extra-curricular activities, access to financial scholarships, special interest groups, etc.) including portal-like access to other youth services. At the same time, it aims to also support enhanced interaction between all schools’ stakeholders – administration, teachers, parents, and students, more so – inter-schools. By doing so, the beneficiaries under this project are given the opportunity to explore, create knowledge, and collaborate under a dynamic virtual learning environment.
The project also seeks to link up youth organizations/communities and schools in a district/region to each other, to the Internet, and eventually to other national networks, under ONE single electronic community network because technology and connectivity can create an exciting learning environment in which the beneficiaries can get involved in national development while learning life skills that prepare them for the future.
A project website will be established for the promotion of collaboration and sharing of experiences. The project will encourage young volunteers to create a "youth serving youth" scenario with an aim of developing concern for their peers and a sense of responsibility amongst the marginalized youth that will be involved in its implementation.
This electronic youth community is facilitating the co-ordination and integration of programs, services and activities geared towards youth development, while recommending and designing programmes to enhance and propel youth development in Malaysia. In other words, this is the agency that acts as the first point of contact for any young person, or any Agency interested in or already working on youth issues.
The primary functions of this Online School community therefore are:
Research and policy advice
Program design and development
Program co-ordination and monitoring
Information dissemination
By bringing Internet technology into the schools and exposing the youth to an enormous wealth of technology, this project is expected to build up and develop the abilities of the youth because technology can allow for greater self-expression and self-directed learning amongst the youth while opening up new roads for community interaction; thereby better developing the nation's human capital. With time, the project is expected to increase retention rates of the youth at secondary schools and colleges, have members wanting and having the skills to become volunteer mentors for an effective outreach program.
The following are objectives of YouTHeme:
To foster a thinking and knowledge creation and innovation culture for positive youth’ development and a culture for youth’ participation in decision making around activities that affect the lives of youth
To inculcate Malaysian values among the youth and produce a generation of caring, peace-loving and environmentally concerned citizens
To develop leadership skills and enhancement of the social skills of youth
To foster lifelong learning culture amongst the youth
To bridge the digital divide, by bridging Internet technology to youth
To equip youth with IT competence and prepare them for the Information Age
To enhance communication and interaction among all stakeholders in schools
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By bringing Internet technology into the youth organizations and youth communities at schools, thereby exposing the youth to an enormous wealth of technology, this project is expected to build up and develop the abilities of the youth because technology can allow for greater self-expression and self-directed learning amongst the youth while opening up new roads for community interaction; thereby better developing the nation's human capital. At the very least, it promotes the computer literacy and networking and information skills that are required in more and more jobs
With time, the project is expected to increase retention rates of the youth at secondary schools and colleges, have members wanting and having the skills to become volunteer mentors for an effective outreach program.
This project will also attempt to establish as a benchmark for future policies formation and design of similar ICT projects in Malaysia as well as in neighbouring countries. To achieve this, proper documentations on best practices, lessons and experience learned pertaining to the entire project implementation must be captured; and post-mortem evaluations and project guidelines must be readily available to be disseminated to relevant parties such as government agencies, community associations, etc with a view to serve as a replicable model.
Why the focus on youth? 18.9% of the Malaysia’s people are under the age bracket of 15- 24. Furthermore, youth can be powerful agents for change if given the opportunity to voice their views and develop and test their capabilities and creativity. The project will work in an integrated way to meet the challenges of youth in Malaysia and make sure that youth’s views and challenges are included when decisions are made.
One of the proven forces that can transfer Malaysia to the better side of both economic and digital divides is Information and Communications Technology. From the Asian perspective, Singapore, India, China and Japan are witnesses to the impact of ICT on any nation’s economy and overall existence. This then explains the reason why our nation appreciates the efforts of the different stakeholders in the industry as we journey towards a better, more efficient and globally competitive ICT industry in Malaysia.
Since the strength of any nation cannot be isolated from its hope for the future, the youth of Malaysia have risen to the challenge of catalyzing Malaysia’s innovative and dynamic participation in the global village. Furthermore, youth development, understanding the other person’s point of view and the grasp and usage of technology are essential and critical traits towards contributing to the development of oneself and eventually the nation.
In conclusion, we strongly believe that this project will help to create well-informed and educated youth of today, which will then lead to the emergence of responsible and mature leaders of tomorrow; who can then lead the country to greater heights.
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