On Nov. 4th 2018, Ministry of Education’s Youth Development Administration (YDA) held the final session of “Localism & Co-creation Forum” at Taipei New Horizon. To promote the concept of Localism and enable more young people to return and stay in their hometowns to improve the development of local industry. This event aimed to increase the public will and energy for Localism through the sharing of experiences and discussion workshops by representatives from different Government sectors, non-profit organizations and social enterprises that are continuously working on community development and promoting local industries, and young people who are interested in Localism.
In his opening remarks, Lo Ching-Shui the Director General of Ministry of Education’s Youth Development Administration, mentioned that Urbanization, An ageing Society, and Population decline are some of the problems of Taiwan society, and it was a great pleasure to see so many people willing to pay attention to these important social issues. Through the discussion process, he hoped to encourage young people to transform existing expectations and visions for their hometowns into action to start their own business or find careers in their hometowns.
This is the first year the YDA has collaborated with local Non-profit Organizations and Social Enterprises to hold nine sessions of “Localism & Co-creation Forum”. The main purpose is to concentrate together all the creativity, passion, and action plans of young people, not only to create a new look for local communities but to develop the concept of co-creation, and to seek more possibilities for future development.
The attendees of the Forum included youth representatives from each of the previous sessions, the CEO of the National Culture and Arts Foundation Sun Hua-xiang and three local organizations; Happen Social Design, Alishan Young Ambassadors, and Soulxfamily. The delegates shared their experiences and feedback on the topics “Youth return to hometown” and “Local Culture Preservation ”.
The COO of Happen Social Design, Chou Chia Wei stated that the first step in starting a new business in ones hometown is to carefully analyse the initial business idea and that by being determined one can solve most difficulties during the process of setting up a business.
Lin Chih Ting from Alishan Young Ambassadors stated that problems in remote rural areas are almost always the same. They believe that education is at the core of community empowerment. Alishan Young Ambassadors hopes to stimulate local young people to develop a natural sense of belonging and identity with their living environment in order that young people will be able to continuously contribute and facilitate Localism over the long-term.
The founder of Soulxfamily Chen Peng Wen reflected from his own personal perspective as an art worker, encouraging everyone to unite into a large group. He mentioned that the key point in Localism is “public consensus” which is the most challenging part but definitely worth investing the time and effort to achieve.
At the end of the forum, government representatives from The National Development Council, The Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Ministry of Transportation and Communications, The Ministry of Culture, and The Council of Agriculture set out the future strategies for Localism, and stated what resources would be available for the young people in the future. They hoped delegates would be clear on current government policies on Localism.