Youth Action Challenge (YAC) Season 4 is now in its last week of voting. The challenge allows youths to pitch their ideas (some projects are already live) to get funding to positively impact the community. The programme also provides the teams with curated workshops, mentorship and guidance from experienced industry professionals for insights to help bring their projects to reality and greater heights.
Projects of YAC season 3 that received the Outstanding Award include Insect Feed Technologies, a local insect farming company that farms Black Soldier Flies as animal and pet feed and fertiliser, and Earth School Singapore, Singapore’s first school for environmental education.
Participatory Budgeting Exercise
Instead of voting, it gives us a chance to act as “investors” to choose which of the 52 participating projects to fund. This Participatory Budgeting exercise provides us with “S$30,000” (30 votes) to allocate between projects (minimum 3 projects, maximum 30 projects). The minimum voting amount is S$1,000 per project and we don’t have to finish allocating the S$30,000.
If you have no idea how to allocate the funds, here are 5 criteria on which you can base your allocation of funds
- Innovativeness of the idea
- Feasibility
- Importance to the community
- Impact on the community
- Resonates or inspires you
I allocated S$1,000 to each of the projects and then slowly increase the allocations to those projects that I prefer more until I finish the S$30,000.
A panel of judges will decide on a grant amount between S$5,000 – S$50,000 (real money) to each team. The Participatory Budgeting exercise will determine the additional grants that teams will receive on top of the S$5,000 – S$50,000.
This exercise is open to Singapore and Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) youth aged 15 to 35 years old. Foreigners are welcome to join, but will not be eligible for the giveaway. National Youth Council will pick 1 winner each week (2 total) with the most thoughtful feedback to win an iPad 9th Generation. More details here.
This PB exercise is designed to provide a platform for youth to have a say in how funds are allocated to projects in the community. Through this, budgets can be spent in a more effective manner which better reflects the strengths, needs and aspirations of our community.
You can participate in the exercise here between 11 February 2023 – 25 February 2023.
Four Major Themes
This season’s challenge will focus on four major themes.
| Mental Well-Being
(15 teams) |
Peer Support |
| Awareness & Engagement | |
| Environmental & Sustainability
(23 teams) |
Sustainable Lifestyle |
| Rising Sea Levels / Coastal Protection | |
| Inclusivity
(2 teams) |
Race & Religion |
| Local-Foreigner Integration | |
| Support For Vulnerable Groups (12 teams) | |
I have looked through all 52 teams and have identified 9 projects that I find interesting.
Mental Well-Being Projects
Check-In Champions
Project Description: How Are You? aims to normalise mental well-being through check-ins. We have collaborated with various organisations to advocate and raise awareness for the past 1.5 years.
In 2023, we will be rolling Check-In Champion (CIC). CIC is a programme that aims to normalise and nurture the habit of checking-in from a young age. We partner with established mental health organisations to equip youths with basic mental health skills and knowledge.
This range from preventive (check-in) to proactive (support and crisis management) training. We will also be working closely with schools/organisations to nurture a weekly check-in routine within their schools/organisations.
My Thoughts: Checking-in with the people around you has no monetary cost but it can achieve a lot. It can also condition us to share our feelings with the people checking-in with us, preventing any unneeded misery before bad feelings manifest into something worse. If this program is successful, it can possibly be incorporated into the Health Education curriculum under mental health.
Environmental & Sustainability Projects
Flint Paper Battery
Project Description: As the world moves toward a more renewable future, we face the irony that the batteries we use right now are not renewable themselves. That’s because current battery technologies are highly toxic to the environment and are limited by their design in terms of safety and cost.
Flint aims to launch an eco-friendly rechargeable battery made of cellulose paper, zinc, and magnesium. What’s great about this paper battery is that it’s wholly compostable at the end of its life cycle, making it eco-friendly, and almost half the cost of what it takes to manufacture regular lithium batteries.
It is also flexible, can be cut into unique shapes, and is much safer than lithium batteries — opening so much potential to how gadgets can be designed and manufactured with it. We have a working prototype ready, and extensive R&D is underway to increase the efficiency of this battery – to either meet the same standard of lithium batteries or surpass it.
Upon launch, Flint’s paper battery will be seamlessly integrated into Flint Charge: our flagship product and the world’s first carbon-neutral, modular, and wireless power bank. Join us on this journey towards a more sustainable future!
My Thoughts: While they are only currently looking to implement their battery solution into their portable charger, I believe that there is huge potential of replacing all devices that use rechargeable lithium batteries. We own at least one portable device that makes use of lithium batteries which are extremely toxic to the environment, both during extraction and disposal. It also has the potential to be successful commercially not only in Singapore but worldwide if they are able to succeed in its development.
Divert for 2nd Life (D2L.sg)
Project Description: D2L.sg is fostering a circular loop where all surplus food goes to its highest and best use, powered by tech and data. We are creating hyperlocal ecosystems of food circularity, empowering the private, people, and public sectors to be part of our zero waste movement. We recover and redistribute surplus food, helping businesses become zero food waste, and making it accessible to everyone anywhere.
Psst, did someone say free food? Yes! Through saving and redistributing surplus food, you, yes you, can access a wide variety of free food anytime anywhere! We use tech and data to make each business and individual’s contribution to food waste reduction visible, by quantifying and tracking the environmental and social impact of the surplus food saved.
Our vision is for communities all over Singapore to work together to achieve zero food waste. A zero food waste Singapore, a zero hunger nation. Tackling climate change in the most impactful manner by reducing food waste.
My Thoughts: Redistributing surplus food in Singapore is still quite decentralized and inefficient. This project can potentially redistribute surplus food at a much larger scale by providing a centralized platform for businesses and consumers to come together to reduce at much food waste as possible to prevent wastage. With the right data and technology, they might also be able to help provide businesses with insights to reduce their food surplus in the first place. This project can also help indirectly contribute to Singapore’s 30by30 goal as it can help prevent food wastage by redistributing any surplus agricultural produce.
Worthy
Project Description: Worthy aims to connect businesses with unused, surplus, end-of-use items or by-products to buyers who need these in large quantities, at a lower price. Acting as a middleman, the Worthy web app allows businesses to post items they urgently want to get rid of in large quantities to those who will use them, saving costs instead of purchasing brand new. Consumers can also post if they have items in larger quantities. Worthy also has ongoing long-term partnerships with businesses to give a second chance to these end-of-use items. Worthy will kick start by redistributing items from MoNo.sg for free.
My Thoughts: On the individual level, our impact is small. Businesses create the most waste. Businesses currently might not have the resources and contacts to find parties to take or potentially buy stuff that they no longer need. This project provides businesses with a platform to connect with parties that might want their “waste”, reducing waste on the corporate level in bulk.
Inclusivity Projects
OwnYourCourt
Project Description: An organised basketball league to integrate foreigners into our local culture. The teams will be a mix of both locals and foreigners, allowing cross-cultural learning and community building.
Each basketball game will be held at different parts of Singapore, giving them a sneak peek into what Singapore has to offer in the various neighbourhoods. Makan sessions (lunch) will be organised after each game so that friendships can be forged through meaningful conversations!
My Thoughts: This is a cool idea for incorporating non-locals with locals. The project provides an additional platform for both parties to come together via sports. However, I hope that this can be expanded into other sports like soccer or frisbee. Additionally, sports like Kabaddi, a sport popular with some migrant workers can be made into a league allowing both non-locals and locals to participate
Support For Vulnerable Groups Projects
Guub
Project Description: guub is where creative collaboration happens! We aims to provide social organisations with an alternative way of fundraising by connecting them with local artists to produce limited edition merchandise.
As an end-to-end merchandise platform, we match them with an artist, take care of production and fulfilment, and also provide a platform for sales. Through these merch collaborations with artists, social organisations not only have an opportunity to raise funds but also reach out to new audiences through the buzz generated from these collaborations. Organisations can also leverage on the art community and artists’ own following. Ultimately, guub aims to also empower creators in Singapore – to help them gain visibility and find collaborative projects to work on. Join us in our journey to empower creators and spread awareness of important local causes through unique merch!
My Thoughts: I like that they provide a platform for both social organizations and local artists to achieve their goals, resulting in a win-win situation. Just plain fundraising might be boring and less effective while local artists, especially small ones, might find it difficult to monetize their work and reach a wider audience. Both parties can benefit from the potential increase in fundraising and marketing reach. This collaboration has the potential to be self-sustaining without additional funding as it creates additional economic value through the monetization of local art.
SpedGrow
Project Description: SpedGrow makes independent living possible & safe for the vulnerable population. Our smart protection system, embedded within a digital wallet, helps the vulnerable population carry out autonomous financial transactions in the community while providing caregivers with a level of control to protect them.
We believe in bridging the digital divide and utilising technology to enable actions that used to be impossible, possible.
My Thoughts: I find that it is quite similar to the POSB Smart Buddy project which is already live. However, POSB’s project is only available in some canteens and bookshops of primary and secondary schools and NETS retailers. The project can potentially add specific functions that are useful for certain groups, help expand the reach of such financial tools for groups outside students and make payments outside bookshops, canteens and NETS retailers. The project also has the potential to be incorporated with POSB’s project in the future.
Scholarly
Project Description: Scholarly is a social enterprise that provides university and scholarship application coaching for students that lack resources or awareness about the opportunities available to them. With a network of high-performing undergraduates, master’s students and scholars, it will also seek to motivate these high-potential, underrepresented students upstream to increase their take-up of these opportunities & break the narrative that these opportunities are not for them.
My Thoughts: It will be a pity if an individual with potential is unable to pursue higher education because they are unable to afford it or lack the know-how/awareness to apply for aid or scholarship. With a network of high-performing volunteers, they will be able to help these individuals. When the individuals become successful, they will also be able to go back to help future generations.
SHANGE (HAYWECARE)
Project Description: Our Solution: Shange is a web-based volunteering platform focused on revitalising the excitement of volunteering through collaboration with social organisations and daily touchpoints, aiming to drive awareness, action, and appreciation amongst volunteers across all ages to inspire and support them in doing good and strengthening our society’s social fabric.
Shange addresses this through our M.A.P approach
Matching Up: Making volunteering opportunities more bite-sized by breaking down the specific impacts, skills required and commitment, as well as lowering the barrier of entry for non-volunteers.
Alleviating Friction: Reducing the number of communication and administrative hassles involved in connecting a volunteer with a cause that needs support.
Providing More: Sharing the beneficiaries positively impacted across opportunities and connecting volunteers with future activities that resonate with their values.
My Thoughts: Choosing how to volunteer as a newbie can be overwhelming if you don’t have someone you know to bring you into volunteering. There are so many projects available that one might find it difficult to decide where to start looking. Hopefully, this project can make it easier for individuals to volunteer and for social organisations to look for volunteers. Any logistical or administrative work can also be standardized and streamlined.
TL, DR
Youth Action Challenge Season 4 is now live and you can vote now for your favourite projects in 4 major themes by allocating funds to them. Get a chance to win an iPad when you provide feedback.
