Youth Corps Singapore Mission X is programme designed to promote volunteerism and develop youth community leaders. The ‘X’ in the programme’s title represents the multiplier effect, where participants were to be trained to lead peers in enacting positive change in the society.

I had the privilege of participating in a online version of the programme in June 2019 while at home in the midst of COVID-19.

The Programme

Over the course of 5 modules in 5 days, we were brought throught the process of organising volunteer activities, starting from conducting needs analysis to retaining volunteers for sustainability of programmes. The 5 modules were:

  • Needs Analysis
    The combination of information gathering and community engagement for the purpose of community improvement. We learnt about the types of local needs and finding the root cause of problems.

  • Creative Solutioning
    All about brainstorming and divergent & convergent thinking techniques.

  • Volunteer Recruitment
    How to design programmes that will attract volunteers based on 4 senses: Purpose, Belonging, Confidence and Ownership.

  • Leading and Managing Volunteers
    How to manage volunteers as a volunteer coordinator/leader and providing useful feedback and conducting reflections

  • SG Snapshot
    A quick overview of pressing social issues in Singapore, including but not limited to Social Mobility and Mental Health

On top of these modules, we particpated in group activites where we focused on a social issue and created mock volunteer programmes based on the learning points from each day.

My Experience

My group (Stella) was focused on mental health in Singapore. We had the opportunity to interact with specialist from Singapore Association of Mental Health to learn about problems that people with mental health issues face and how the volunteer community can do its part to help this sector. My biggest takeaway from this dialogue was that mental health was very much an individualised issue. Taking care of one’s mental health starts from oneself,
incalculating positive habits and doing things in moderation.

With newly-gained knowledge, we worked on identifying a root problem in Singapore’s mental health community - that call helplines during the COVID-19 season was not effective as opposed to face-to-face meetings, and created a volunteer activty that intended to address the problem. As a team, we created publicity posters and fleshed out details on how such an acitivity may run, as if we were organising the real event. While all these may be a practice or trial-run, it certainly gave me the confidence to understand the processes of organising a volunteer event.

Other group activities included discussions and sharings on our past volunteer experiences and group bonding activities. I particularly enjoyed the group bingo sheet and legacy board - where we had to completed a series of activites as a group to complete a bingo sheet for points, and the cumulative points earned by all groups contributed to a legacy award we would leave as a cohort. This certainly drove partipation in all activities and encouraged everyone to play their part.

Conclusion

While disappointed that I could not be a part of the full fledged Mission X, I am still very satisfied by the organisation of the online programme and its content. I must say that I have learnt quite a lot in the five days and enjoyed every moment of it. I strongly recommend this programme to everyone with an interest in creating positive change in the society through volunteerism.