APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS, SUBSIDIES OR SPONSORSHIPS FROM NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL

Mr Harun A Ghani asked the Minister for Community Development (a) how many organisations have applied for grants, subsidies or sponsorships from National Youth Council since January 1998 to date, and of these how many were successful; and (b) how many Malay organisations have applied for the said grants, subsidies or sponsorships, and of these how many were successful.

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: Funding by the National Youth Council for projects organised by youth and youth organisations is drawn from the Youth Development Fund, or YDF in short. YDF is an endowment fund set up by a grant from the Government. The YDF works on the principle of co-funding. That is, NYC will provide only partial funds. This is to encourage youth and youth organisations to obtain corporate or community support for their projects.

Each year, NYC uses interest earnings generated from its YDF deposit accounts to co-fund youth projects. The amount of funds available is determined by the interest yield on the fund. This sets the budget, and ensures that careful use is made of limited funds. With a low interest rate in 1999, there is a smaller budget to fund youth projects. NYC decided to give higher funding priority to youth community service projects. This is in line with the NYC's aim of encouraging youth to be actively involved in the community.

From 1st January 1998 to June 1999, NYC received a total of 455 YDF funding requests. These requests came from about 160 youth organisations. Of these, 335 projects or 73% of the total number of requests were successful.

In the same period, 18 Malay youth organisations applied for funding from YDF for 42 projects. A total of 32 projects or 76% of the total number of funding requests were successful. This success rate is comparable to the overall success rate for funding requests.

NYC will continue to promote youth development to corporate and community sponsors. We hope that with their participation and support more funds and resources would be available to support meaningful and promising youth projects.