Program

1. Child Participation Program

Empowering children in Internet Governance Issues
The Internet has become a mainstream media and a critical infrastructure for business. Adoption and development of the Internet has the potential to dramatically transform and improve people’s quality of life, bring new opportunities in education, employment and socio-economic development. However, the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” is widening rapidly. This digital divide problem is emerging as a major social development and poverty alleviation concern for modern society.

Current situation of Youth Participation in IG–YIGF
Young people are shaping online culture in so many ways. They use the Internet to meet people around the world, create the videos that go viral, they create art that moves us and start and stand behind online social movements that make us think. They are building their dream Internet. And yet when it comes to policy discussions, most of them are not at the table. Facilitating them with a big picture of how internet is governed and how it should be properly utilized are of essence.

With this in mind, with the joint efforts from civil society, the government and industry players, a Youth version of IGF (YIGF) also become an integral part of the UNIGF. The Asia Pacific Regional YIGF was initiated by one of the founders in 2010, and since then they are held in parallel annually featuring a simulation of the multi-stakeholder discussion model among the young people on various Internet governance issues.

We aim to bring together a network of dedicated young volunteers to get devoted to promoting digital inclusion, Internet governance as well as a respectable and harmonious Internet environment.

The program recruits a group of students from Hong Kong and Greater China every year. We train and sustain a network of volunteers to contribute to digital inclusion works. We are endeavoring to empower young minds, through training, exchange opportunities, international conferences and community projects, therefore to constructively contribute to the local, regional and global Internet governance discourse.

With joint forces, we have always been supporting youth participation on Internet governance and the ambassadors themselves are actively participating in various international Internet conferences such as ICANN meetings, United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF) and Asia Pacific Next Generation Camp (APNG Camp). As NetMission is endeavored to empower and engage youth on Internet governance discussion, the ambassadors have been organizing the Youth Internet Governance Forum (yIGF) in different Asia Pacific countries since 2010 in Hong Kong. It has also been successfully held in Singapore, Tokyo, South Korea, India and Macao.

2. Teenage Social Entrepreneurs

This is a generation that, according to a Deloitte survey, ‘Mind the gaps: The 2015 Deloitte Millennial survey’ revealed places great importance on “job creation,” “profit generation,” and “improving society,” as well as an expectation that a business should be good for individuals by offering employment, and to have a positive impact on the wider society.

Hence, we are keen to offer knowledge and platforms to facilitate those young hearts with solid support in addition to their passion. The course received consultation from Center for Entrepreneurship of CUHK, Social Enterprise Incubation Centre of Hong Kong and support from various NGOs.