About the Springboard Programme
The Youth SDG innovation platform for Asia-Pacific
Singapore
Youth Co:Lab in Singapore was launched in 2019, by the United Nations Development Programme and Citi Foundation, through Citi Singapore. In order to create meaningful engagements with the youth in Singapore, we have partnered with the National Youth Council (NYC), Singapore, the overarching national agency that drives youth development and broadens outreach to young Singaporeans and youth sector organisations, to ensure that no youth in Singapore is left behind. Youth Co:Lab team in Singapore is part of UNDP Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam.
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Youth Action Challenge
The Youth Action Challenge (YAC) is a key thrust of the SG Youth Action Plan (SG YAP). The YAC is organised by the National Youth Council, Singapore in partnership with Citi Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through their Youth Co:Lab initiative. It empowers youth to champion ground-up initiatives in partnership with the government, businesses and community organisations, to achieve youth’s vision for Singapore in 2025.
The 4-month programme provides the opportunity for youth to turn their ideas into reality through curated workshops and guidance from experienced industry professionals. By the end of the programme, teams get awarded grants ($5,000 - 50,000 SGD) to execute their solutions in Singapore.
YAC Inaugural Season (Jan - July 2020)
During the YAC Season 1, 57 pitched their ideas to a selective and diverse judging panel. The three themes in the inaugural YAC were - Environment, Job & Future of Work and Societal Issues.
By the end of the programme, 3 teams were then selected as Winners, and 2 teams were identified as Youth Co:Lab Champions.
To find out more about the YAC Inaugural Season, click here.
YAC Season 2 (Oct '20 - Jan'21)
Due to COVID-19, the YAC S2 was held fully digitally. This Season empowered 50 youth teams in the thematic areas of Mental Well-being, Support for Vulnerable Communities, Jobs & Future of Work, and Environment & Sustainability. From this Season onwards, early-stage youth-led enterprises were also invited to join.
To learn more about YAC season 2 click here.
YAC Season 3 (Oct '21 - Jan'22)
During this Season, 75 teams got the opportunity to learn about the landscape, pick up useful tools and frameworks to help them ideate and evaluate potential ideas, as well as be provided with key resources, networks, and up to $50,000 in grants to implement their ideas.
To find out more about YAC Season 3 and their journey click here.
YAC Season 4 (Oct '22 - Jan'23)
The YAC Season hosted 73 teams across the thematic areas of Inclusivity, Mental Well-being, Support for Vulnerable Communities, and Environment and Sustainability.
Learn more about YAC Season 4 here.
YAC Season 5 (Oct '23 - Jan'25)
The YAC Season is getting starting in October! Stay tuned as we share the latest highlights of this Seasom
Learn more about YAC Season 5 here.
Meet the latest Singapore Youth Co:Lab Champions!
Our Anchor Partners
Other Engagements
Youth Social Entrepreneurship (YSE) Series Blogs
For the last year, alongside the support programmes, the Youth Co:Lab Singapore team has been speaking to and sharing conversations with youth social entrepreneurs as well as ecosystem enablers through the Youth Social Entrepreneurship (YSE) series blogs. The idea is to create a repository of first-hand knowledge on what it takes to build a successful social enterprise.
To read all our blogs available, visit: https://youthcolabsingapore.medium.com/
Movers in Singapore
Movers was launched in Singapore in July 2020. The Movers Programme is a regional movement of youth volunteers who develop SDGs awareness, entrepreneurial mindsets, and 21st-century skills by conducting localised workshop trainings at the grassroots level. Movers Programme uses a train-the-trainer approach and works with key community partners to target harder-to-reach groups to make sure that no one is left behind. To learn more about Movers, click here.
Our Impact in Singapore
250+
1300+
58%
92%
50+
$2m+
Youth-led initiatives brought to reality by the YAC.
Youth empowered through the YAC & Movers Programme.
Female participation in the YAC Programme.
Felt inspired to take action and make a difference after YAC
Partners in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem
Grants to the Youth-led Initiatives in YAC
Youth Co:Lab Singapore in the Media
A repository of first-hand knowledge on what it takes to build a successful social enterprise. Some of the key learnings and advice for youth on their entrepreneurial journey, from across the ten interviews are captured here.
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To demonstrate how social entrepreneurs are taking the lead to empower youth and students for entry into the workforce, we spoke to Felix Tan, Co-Founder of Skilio — a one-stop, pedagogy rooted, and data-driven soft skills development platform.
Partnerships and Collaborations
If you are keen to know more about the Youth Co:Lab initiative in Singapore and would like to explore partnerships and collaborations, you can write to Ms. Karla Barradas - Programme Lead of YCL in Singapore (karla.rodriguez.barradas@undp.org).