Community & Charities
Education and Training
Jockey Club helps local youth harness their creativity to address social challenges
22/01/2016
The creativity of young people can bring different possibilities to a fast-changing society. Since the establishment in 2012 of the Jockey Club Make a Difference (MaD) School – a major initiative to inspire and empower Hong Kong youth – it has successfully attracted over 21,000 participants to various programmes designed to develop and enhance their creativity, a highlight being the annual MaD Forum.
The Club’s Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said at the most recent Forum in January that the Club attached particular importance to the nurturing and growth of Hong Kong’s young generation, believing they should be offered a diversified learning platform to broaden their horizons, encourage them to think ‘out of the box’ and stimulate their minds towards innovation. The creative education programmes, workshops and activities offered by MaD not only inspired but also empowered young people to be socially conscious ‘change-makers.
Some 1,300 aspiring change-makers from more than 100 Asian cities joined the 2016 forum, which took the theme of “Village Reinvented” and included various ripple forums, interactive workshops and activities. Past speakers were also invited back to recount the challenges and difficulties they encountered when implementing the projects innovated at that time. For more information, please visit http://mad2016.mad.asia/home.
The MaD Forum actually pre-dates the MaD School, having been launched with the Club’s support in 2010. It was the success of the Forum that inspired the Club to make a further donation two years later to establish the Jockey Club MaD School in partnership with local and leading global social innovators. The School provides innovative programmes for the young generation through a systematic and sustainable learning platform that links them with cross-disciplinary change-makers from around the world. It is also developing an online education library and producing educational kits that are expected to benefit around 47,000 participants.
Art devotee Yuen Mei-po is one of the participants of the Jockey Club MaD School, and acquired a seed fund to run an open studio and free classes for grass-roots residents. “I share the same values as MaD, which encourages youngsters to respond to social issues with our innovative ideas and talents,” she said. “The advice and support of MaD inspired me to find a community studio and make art accessible to people from all walks of life, which really fulfils my dream.”
Over the past decade, the Club has contributed some HK$1.3 billion to youth-related education and development projects. In the next few years, it will extend its commitment in this area, strategically focusing on ways to channel youth energy into social innovation and seek creative and alternative ways to tackle complex social challenges.
