From our initial interviews, 4 main themes emerged.
1. Financial Assistance
While all our participants were already receiving some form of assistance under at least one government scheme, they all indicated they did not know what assistance was available to them or where to go to receive these information. They were only aware of short-term financial schemes from schools, such as bursaries and financial assistance schemes (FAS) since those were more heavily publicised.
Problem: Information asymmetry when it comes to available assistance.
2. Emotional Support
4 of 5 participants said they did not have anyone to turn to for emotional support when faced with stress at work and at school. Some reasons cited were distant relationships within one's family and the reluctance to share sensitive information with friends.
Problem: Lack of emotional support.
3. Difficulties juggling studies and work
Most of these underprivileged youth spend their free time working or searching for work, making it difficult to cope with both studies and work. Since time outside classes is spent on work, these youth found it difficult to afford time to study and often find themselves trying to catch up with their classmates. Tuition is often not considered due to its high cost and time-consuming nature. One participant mentioned that the school does not provide enough support for students who need additional help.
Problem: Lack of infrastructure in place to help working students with their studies.
4. Owned smartphones
An interesting observation made in speaking with these underprivileged youths was that they all owned smartphones with access to internet, providing us with a potential platform to reach out to underprivileged youth through an online communications campaign.
These key themes formed the basis for which our group crafted our communications campaign. Click here to read about more Youth matters!
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