The Home & Youth Affairs Bureau and the Youth Development Commission today launched the new Funding Scheme for Youth Positive Thinking Activities to subsidise eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to organise projects that are conducive to nurturing positive thinking among young people, particularly those which would involve cross-sectoral collaboration or could be youth-led and drive community building.

The Chief Executive stated in his Policy Address that the Government should create opportunities for children to develop and flourish while nurturing a new generation of young people who have an affection for the country and Hong Kong, possess global perspectives, and will contribute to the country and the city.

The bureau recently published the first edition of the Youth Development Blueprint which outlines the Government's principles, objectives and actions in pursuing youth development.

To work towards the direction of the blueprint, the bureau and the commission earmarked about $150 million under the Youth Development Fund to roll out the new scheme. It aims to subsidise NGOs to promote the awareness of young people's physical and mental well-being, nurture positive thinking among them and cultivate their positive values.

As positive thinking covers many aspects, the sponsored projects must have a clear objective and direction, such as enhancing young people's sense of belonging to the country and society as well as the advancement of the rule of law.

The first round of the scheme will last for around two years, with applications closing at noon on February 17, 2023. Each application may have a total budgeted expenditure of up to $5 million and in general not less than $3 million.

To ensure that the applicant organisations are capable of and committed to organising activities of scale, such organisations are required to, on their own by way of matching funds, deploy their internal resources and/or obtain non-governmental funding and sponsorship to partly absorb the total expenditures of the approved projects.

Interested NGOs may browse the commission's webpage for details and download the application form.