Special Youth Edition: Thoughtful Trails

A special youth edition of our Resilience Trails

 

Skillseed aims to build a more cohesive civil society across different segments of society, driven by trust. Towards this end, Skillseed launched Thoughtful Trails and Conscious Conversations (TTCC) in collaboration with the National Youth Council under the National Youth Fund (NYF) from December 2022 to July 2023.

Thoughtful Trails and Conscious Conversations is a special youth edition of Skillseed’s Resilience Trails. A by, with, and for youth programme, we aimed to equip youths with the skills to co-facilitate the trails with a community member, as well as hold space for deep and respectful conversations for fellow youth participants to unpack questions around social inequality, mobility and community building. Having recently concluded the programme, we are excited to share some significant milestones of TTCC.

We completed a total of 15 trails from February to July 2023 alongside our 5 community guides, training 21 youth facilitators and engaging 136 youth participants! 

Our Journey

The project started with the recruitment of our youth facilitators in October 2022, followed by the onboarding and equipping of the facilitators from December 2022 to February 2023. Our actual trails and conversations with youth participants occurred from February to July 2023, ending off on 1 July 2023 with a programme closure.

Our facilitators and participation’s satisfaction

Overall, 85% of the youth participants and 100% of the youth facilitators rated a ‘4’ or ‘5’ with regard to their satisfaction with TTCC. 82% of the youth participants and 95% of the youth facilitators shared that they will recommend TTCC to others (rated 4 & above). 

Our Impact on Youth Facilitators and Participants

There were our goals for both our youth facilitators and participants: 

  1. Increased awareness of and appreciation for the lived experiences and strengths of vulnerable families and their communities

  2. Increased awareness of one’s own biases/assumptions about a certain community, and therefore increased clarity around different perspectives of, and from that particular community

  3. Increased confidence in how one can engage in a dignity-promoting way with stakeholders from different backgrounds and/or cultures

  4. Increased knowledge of how one can go about building trust and relationships across differences 

 

Based on our pre and post survey results, we are happy to share that we have observed a positive increase in the percentage change across all of these indicators.

Through the immersive nature of the Trails, the youth participants fostered deeper empathy, awareness and understanding of different communities’ lived experiences. They also grasped the complexities of social inequality, and left with a more possibility-oriented mindset on addressing these gaps. The Youth Facilitators benefited from sensing the vista of youth sentiment on this issue, whilst enhancing their capabilities in facilitation. From the pre and post survey responses, we also observed an increased desire from participants to use their skills and knowledge to give back to the community and society.

Average % change across 21 facilitators

 

Average % change across 15 runs (136 participants)

Building a community of Youth Facilitators

The youth facilitators also reported an increase in confidence in their ability to lead and run inclusive and meaningful conversations around sensitive topics. After the programme, 20 facilitators shared that they are confident in facilitating conversations around potentially polarizing topics (rated “agree or “strongly agree”), reflecting an almost 70% increase in facilitators’ confidence from pre-programme to post-programme.

Out of the 21 facilitators that we inducted, nearly 70% of the original cohort have agreed to continue their journey with us! We are grateful for their continual support toward Skillseed.

Impact on our Community Guides

We have channeled a total of $1,800 directly to our Community Guides, who are past or current beneficiaries of AMK or Cheng San FSC as they co-led the trails together with the youth facilitators.

 

An enriching experience for everyone involved

 

Lastly, Skillseed is thankful for the sponsorship and support from GIC and Singapore Pools for this programme.

 

Interested in arranging a curated neighbourhood trail for your organisation?

If you are keen to join a trail, please let your organisation know so that we can organise a group trail for you.

If you are keen to embark on one of our trails, do email us at info@skillseed.sg to further the conversation.
Find out more by downloading our information deck here.

CONTACT US
 info@skillseed.sg