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Caring Company/Caring Organization
Logo Award 2006/07
Sincere congratulations to all Federation partners
Sincere congratulations
go to all of the Federation's partners who have been
awarded the Caring Company/Caring Organization
Logo 2006/07
by The Hong Kong Council of Social Service. Their good
corporate citizenship shows what can be achieved through
strategic partnerships with the business, public and
social service sectors. We are most grateful to all of
them for sharing our commitment to youth. Click here for list of awardees.
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HKFYG Tuen Mun gambling counselling
centre
The Federation is operating
a pilot gambling counselling centre commissioned by the
Home Affairs Bureau in Tuen Mun. The
new initiative will last for 2 years, financed by the Ping
Wo Fund to provide community-based treatment
for problem and pathological gamblers and their families.
The centre
provides preventive education for young people
in the district and ethnic minority groups in particular.
Professional counsellors will be available on a special
counselling hotline: 1834 633.
HKFYG Gambling Counseling Centre
Address: 2/F, Butterfly Bay Community Centre, Tuen Mun
Opening Hours: Mon-Wed 10am to 6pm
Thurs-Sat 2pm to 10pm
Closed Sundays and public holidays
Contact: Gary (2413 6669) or Robert Luk (2396 4711) for more information
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Hong Kong Arts Festival: free
tickets for Mozart's Great Mass
The Hong Kong Jockey
Club Charities Trust is sponsoring HKFYG youth members to
learn about ballet and classical music by offering them
free tickets to this major festival event on 10 March
at the Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Mozart's
Great Mass will be performed by the Gewandhaus Orchestra
with the Leipzig Opera chorus and soloists and the Leipzig
Ballet. Youth members who have never had such an experience
are encouraged to go and broaden their horizons. For
more information about the programme, please click here:
http://www.hk.artsfestival.org/
en/prog/12/
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Joint HKFYG/VTC seminar series
on Parenthood
HKFYG is organizing 4
seminars for parents again this year with the Vocational
Training Council from 11 March to 1 April. We have
invited professional social workers and celebrities
to share their views on how parent-child communication
can be improved. They will discuss issues such as career
and life planning for young people, parent-child conflict
management, youth internet use and issues concerning
spoiled children. Enrollment by phone (tel 2919 1588/
2836 1858) or online www.vtc.edu.hk/ero/parents/
More information on the seminar series at: http://u21.hk/partnership/
issue94_feb2007/images/VTC-Poster.jpg
Supporting organizations:
District Federations of Parent Teacher Associations:
Hong Kong Eastern, Wanchai, Wongtaisin, Central and Western
District, Tai Po District, Tuen Mun, Tsuen
Wan, Kwai Tsing, Northern, Kwun Tong, Kowloon City,
Shamshuipo, Yuen Long, Saikung
Plus, the Joint Council of Parent-teacher Associations
(Shatin District), the Joint Parent-Teacher Association
(Kwai Tsing District) & the Tseung Kwan O Parents
Association
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Mingpao: youth discounts for
online subscriptions
Mingpao is offering exclusive
online subscription discounts for u21.youthnet members.
It is hoped that young people will read the paper for
local and world news. Click here for details of members'
benefits: http://marketing.mingpao.com/
hkfyg/.
u21.youthnet now has over
210,000 members and 74 companies give them special
privileges. We warmly welcome any other stores or companies
who wish to do the same. Please contact the membership
unit, tel 3579 4560, to discuss the possibilities. |
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| Action
on unemployment |
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Statistics for youth unemployment remain high,
even though the overall figures have dropped markedly since
2003. Young people entering the workforce have an uphill struggle.
Unless they have relevant vocational training they lack both
marketable skills and experience needed by employers. We collaborate
on government job training and work experience programmes but
there is a lot more to be done.
The Federation tries to bridge the gap between formal education
and the workplace with extra courses, workshops, job placement
and internships. Read this week's Feature Story to
find out about the Youth Employment Network's Chinese New Year
Flower Market training workshops for young stall-holders. Opportunities
like this help youngsters make that first practical step which
gives them the confidence and know-how to get started. |
| Feature
Story |
| Learning workplace
skills for the Chinese New Year Flower Market
The Lunar New Year Bazaar Award will go to
the best team of stallholders enrolled for the custom-designed
HKFYG flower market training workshops. Ming Pao is our media
partner in this programme and will give free news subsciptions
as prizes and Shell Hong Kong are giving cash awards. We
asked the 15-30 year-old team members how well prepared they
felt just before the market opened: 'We made a bid for a stall
at the Yuen Long flower market and the workshops brought
us up to speed on management, finance and human resources,' said Ku Man-wui, a 21 year-old business student at the
Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education.
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Along with 280 other young people, he was at the YEN*
workshops in January to learn background skills on time
and manpower management, teamwork, budgeting, pricing and
sourcing. Calvin Pang, one of the workshop tutors, is a
very good entrepreneurial role model, currently running
a travel agency and diversifying into wholesale organic
foods:
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'Practical experience matters far more than
academic qualifications when it comes to doing business.
Most students who want to run these stalls haven't given
a moment's thought to money management or setting up a
duty roster. They want to play at being shopkeepers for
fun and then get disappointed when they don't make a profit.' |
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The training and award scheme has helped concentrate
minds. Judges are visiting the markets this week to make
their initial selection and stallholders will send in reports
on their work after the New Year holidays. There are 14
seasonal flower markets throughout Hong Kong. The cheaper
stalls are in the New Territories and the Victoria Park
market is the most expensive, with stalls costing bidders
upwards of HK$20,000 to rent.
Man-wui continued, 'We ran a stall at last year's
fair as well and made 80% profit on an
investment of HK$10,000 so this year we are putting HK$30,000 into it and we
feel pretty confident. We've got a variety of goods and there will be underwear
with roses for Valentine's Day as well.' |
Calvin approves of this kind of attitude:
'I have advised them on sourcing stock at realistic wholesale
prices and how to avoid both overstocking and duplicating
other stalls' goods. I also taught them how to organise their
teams into shifts, how to issue receipts and keep accounts.'
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'We'll sell inflatable toys made in
China,' said 6th former Liu Shing-tat. 'It's the first time I've
run a stall and it's really good to learn about budgeting,
staffing and marketing. They are all totally new to me
even though I am in the commercial stream at school.' 'I'm doing a marketing degree and have
helped a classmate run a stall before. It gives me the
chance to
put all the theory learned at university into practice. That's
how I get better business sense,' commented 26 year-old Ho
Ka-yin. 'HK people love shopping at the fairs and the economy
is looking up so we can charge more this year at the Fa Shi.' |
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| These upbeat young stall-holders make a stark
contrast with Anthony, a creative graphic designer, who can't
find a job. He told us how bad it feels to be out of work: |
| 'I'm worried, in fact sometimes I'm terrified.
It's four months since I was last working full-time and day
by day I'm losing confidence in myself as rejection after
rejection comes in. I even wonder if I made the right career
choice, but all my experience and qualifications are in design
work.' |
| Anthony has done voluntary and freelance work
while job-seeking to broaden his experience and build up
his portfolio: |
| 'I've also asked about internships and applied
for dozens of jobs, but still nothing. Pressure from my family
makes me feel worse and I'm feeling embarrassed about seeing
old friends now because they always ask the same question
… got a job yet?' |
| The stigma attached to long-term unemployment
is invidious. Anthony is by no means in this category but
nevertheless is already filled with self-doubt. The city
has many thousands like him and the Federation will do all
it can to get them going. |
| The HKFYG Youth Employment Network runs regular
programmes and courses to help young people into the workforce.
Contact Gary, Chi-waior Miranda, tel 3113 7999 for details.
The award ceremony for this programme will be at 3pm on 18
March at The Duke of Windsor Social Service Building in Wan
Chai with James Tien, JP, Legislative Councillor as Guest
of Honour. |
| Upcoming
events |
Financial
Secretary in Dialogue on Budget with Youth
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with Financial Secretary The Hon
Henry Tang, GBS, JP
date Thursday 1 March 2007
time 5-6.30pm
at Hong Kong Academy of Medicine
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| The
Hong Kong Melody Makers Campus Concert |
date Saturday 24 February 2007
time 7.15pm & 9pm
at Hong Kong Arts Centre Agnes b CINEMA
with guest performers Hayden Singers and Joyous
programme: a cappella songs
enquiries Maggie Chung (Music Administrator) tel 2564 1277
http://www.hkfyg.org.hk/hkmm
*free admission (with priority to secondary school students) |
| Facts & Figures |
Young, Southeast Asian
and unemployed
Published statistics for youth unemployment
in Hong Kong put the latest figure at 23.7%. Youth unemployment
is on the rise throughout Southeast Asia. The global figures
showed a 14.8% rise from 1995-2005 and the largest increase
was in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.** It witnessed a devastating
85.5% increase in that period, from 5.2-9.7 million. Across
Southeast Asia 15.8% of the young (15-24 year-old) labour
force is out of work.
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Asia as a whole accounts
for over half of the world's total youth population yet the
majority cannot find jobs or have only badly paid work. In
Southeast Asia and the Pacific youth make up 27.5% of the
total working population and that quotient is destined to
grow in the region between now and 2015, with another 11
million expected to join the workforce.
The region is not alone in its unemployment trends. In
most parts of the world, youth are almost 3 times more likely
than any
other age group to be out of work but in our region the likelihood
is five times higher. 44% of the world's unemployed are youth
and of the 1.1 billion in the 15-24 year-old age group by
late last year, 1 in 3 were unable to find a job or had already
given up looking. These youth are living on less than HK$15
per day. ***
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readers: please send your contact details |
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| Kung
Hei Fat Choi for the Year of the Pig |
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