(Front, from left) Professor Ang Hak Seng, Director of SUSS CESG; and Mr Andrew Ang, Deputy Chief Commissioner of SSA, inked the partnership.
(Back, from left) SUSS President, Professor Cheong Hee Kiat; Minister Grace Fu; and SSA President, Mr Raymond Chia, witnessed the signing.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 19 February 2022, SUSS and the Singapore Scout Association (SSA) will co-drive efforts to empower youths with knowledge and values to champion causes for social good, through the development and delivery of a programme based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This collaboration will prepare Singapore youths for the green economy through education, research and community outreach movements. Through Singapore’s active and engaged youth community, the new partnership aims to motivate youths, and subsequently the wider Singapore community, to renew, refresh and take action to help advance the people sector of Singapore’s Green Plan and other important social causes.
Led by SUSS’s Centre of Excellence for Social Good (CESG) , a series of initiatives such as courses, workshops and community projects will be launched in several phases. Under the programme, SUSS students will take short sustainability-related modules, such as on using new technology to further the green movement. They will also do more community service – a graduating requirement for all SUSS full-time undergraduates – and are encouraged to initiate and co-create green projects with the community.
SUSS will leverage its online learning platform, SUSS UniLEARN to lead conversations in the people sector and work closely with the communities, public sector and private enterprises to develop people-centric online modules. CESG will also expand the SUSS UniLEARN curriculum and work with more youth organisations to catalyse a youth movement to mobilise the community for greater social impact.
The SDGs comprise 17 global ambitions, such as Affordable and Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Climate Action, which are intended to be achieved by 2030.
Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, was the Guest-of-Honour at the MOU signing ceremony and also part of a fireside chat panel held in conjunction with the ceremony.
(From left) SUSS marketing student, Mr Soon Ping Huay, moderating the fireside chat featuring Minister Grace Fu and Dr Ang Hak Seng.
Minister Grace Fu said: “SUSS and SSA’s programme to equip youth with skills and knowledge in the SDGs is a good step towards empowering youth to act and contribute towards achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. Youths can plant seeds of sustainable development in their own spheres of influence, be it in the organisations they work in, education institutions they study at, or social enterprises they belong to.”
Mr Desmond Chong, Chief Commissioner, SSA, said: “We hope that through our partnership with the SUSS, we would develop more impactful community engagement programme centred around the SDGs and through that, our young people will be ready to take on a more active role in their community and contribute to ‘Creating A Better World’.”
A question from the floor to the panel during the fireside chat.