Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Manifesto NUSTLS Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Manif | Page 83

Issue 14: Instilling Community Work Amongst Tamil Community
Topic of Interest: How can we further enhance SINDA Youth Club’s efforts in engaging youth in Volunteer Efforts?
CASE STUDY: SINDA Youth Club and SINDA Youth Leaders Seminar
Focus of SINDA
Some of the Programmes currently conducted by SYC
SINDA's vision is to "build a strong and vibrant Singaporean •
Indian community"
In this process, SINDA's mission is to build a "well-educated,
resilient and confident community of Indians" who can
contribute positively to a multi-racial Singapore. (from
SINDA website)
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•
SINDA Youth Club (SYC)
•
•
Launched officially in 2010, SYC is managed by a young and
vibrant team of professionals and the SYC Secretariat.
The main objectives of SYC are to engage and nurture Indian
youths to achieve their full potential.
Subsequently, platforms are created to enable Indian youths •
to mutually support each other in their endeavours.
Furthermore, SYC will provide youths with the access to a
network of mentors and role models.
•
•
SINDA Young Leaders Programme (SYLP)
• SYLP is an annual programme that seeks to empower
aspiring Indian youths to engage in community service
and leadership activities in Singapore and overseas.
• Selected participants will undergo a six-month training
programme before embarking on local or overseas
community involvement programmes.
SINDA Youth Leaders Seminar (SYLS)
• SYLS is a platform for Indian students from tertiary
institutions to explore issues confronting the
community, engage with distinguished individuals and
engage in service-learning projects.
Distinguished Speakers Series (DSS)
• DSS is an annual event specifically for tertiary students
and young working professionals to interact with
prominent individuals in the community- Ministers,
former Members of Parliament, Chairpersons of
successful Multinational Corporations (MNCs).
SINDA Youth Leaders Seminar (SYLS)
Strengths
Areas for Improvement
• Participation of Indians from different kinds of tertiary educational • Although there is participation of youths from
institutions (Junior Colleges, Polytechnics, Institutes of Technical
different tertiary institutions, there must be a
Education).
stronger focus to attract participants from
• Provides Indian youths the opportunity to mingle with
Polytechnics and ITEs.
members of their ethnic community.
• Due to the decentralised system of ITEs, it is
• From a cohort of 50 youths in 2011, the number has steadily
harder to establish regular tie-ups with students
grown to more than 150 youths in 2016.
through Indian Cultural Societies.
• This is due to the inclusive culture in SYLS. According to Jeremy
• However, even this situation has been improving
Aruldoss (Vice-Chairman of SYC), it does not matter which
with the introduction of the ITE Leadership
"institution you are from or even your GPA or grades, but what
Programme (ITELP) and other initiatives.
matters is people with bright and ambitious ideas, and passion
to serve collectively".
•
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Exposure of youths to issues confronting the Indian community.
•
• Gives youths an opportunity to understand the needs of the
Indian community and directly be engaged in a unique
experiential component.
• Service learning where youths are brought to the heartlands to
visit elderly and underprivileged households to distribute
household items etc.
• Furthermore, in 2013 Design Thinking has been introduced to
help youths apply tools for deeper understanding of the
community's needs, problems and brainstorm for high impact
solutions.
• In 2015, a Hackathon was introduced to challenge students to
ideate on workable solutions for the community's problems.
Networking opportunities with leaders and prominent individuals •
in the Indian community.
•
Proper follow-up is required to encourage at least a
segment of SYLS participants to be involved with
SINDA activities in the long-run.
• Nevertheless, to clarify, the main objective of
SYLS is not to create a sustainable pipeline of
volunteers.
• Also, as Jeremy Aruldoss (Vice-Chairman of SYC)
stated, "commitment is relative and any time
taken to volunteer is important."
SYLS is probably the last time some of these youths
interact with prominent individuals or role models
from the Indian community.
Mentors, role models and community leaders could
make a more conscious effort to engage with youths
and start an informal mentorship programme.
Issue 14: Instilling Community Work Amongst Tamil Community
PAGE 83