The Y-WE program is organized by Child Development Initiative Alliance (CDIA) is an approved charitable organization established in 2014 voluntarily by a group of caring business corporations and community leaders with the objective of developing the next generation. It does not receive any Government funding, but is recognized as a Strategic Partner in youth development by the HKSAR because of the success of its Y-WE program.
Target beneficiaries : Y-WE targets at senior secondary school to post-secondary students aged 16 to 20 from deprived families as defined by the HKSAR ( i.e. those receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, low income, single parents, the ethnic minorities and the new immigrants).
Practicum in the real workplace : each youth participant will be matched and placed in a real business environment for work practicum, typically from one week (consecutively five days) to two months for their Y-WE, based on the youth’s interests and aptitude.
Strongly support by the Government and business sector : It is the job of CDIA to proactively reach out to different industries and organizations including government and quasi-government organisations, and small medium enterprises to search for suitable work placement opportunities. Those organizations are called “Work Experience Organization”.
Soft skills foundation training to prepare the youths : Y-WE emphasis on soft skill training. CDIA engages trainers for designing and delivering soft skills training(roughly 3 days in total) like Workplace Communications, Understanding the Workplace, How to take on responsibilities, Present Yourself in a CV etc, to the youths to ensure they are well prepared before the work placement starts.
Y-WE is a systematic and a well-structured nurturing process : As part of the program, a “Business Advisor” is engaged and matched to each youth participant. They are seasoned professionals or management staff whom we recruit as volunteers to open the minds of the youths to the workplace, to coach, guide andsupport them before, during and after the Y-WE, leveraging on their extensive work and life experience. To complete the Y-WE, all youths participants must go through a debriefing to reflect and galvanize their learning.