NTUC Club and NAFA signs MOU to Empower Youths and Bolster Communities

Singapore, 18 April 2022 (Wednesday) – NTUC Club and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) will embark on a three-year partnership to empower youths by honing their leadership skills, preparing them for the workforce, as well as strengthening youth volunteerism. Both organisations will sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Wednesday, 20 April 2022, at the academy. Though this agreement, NTUC Club's youth arm, nEbO (nobody Enjoys being Ordinary), will afford all NAFA students opportunities to participate in three key programmes – Work-Ready Headstart Programme, nEbO Life-Ready Community Service Projects, and nEbO World-Ready and Leadership Development Learnings.

The MOU between NTUC Club and NAFA is a result of a two-year working relationship, which started when NTUC Club first approached the academy in 2020 to redesign its new office space at Downtown East. Then, students from NAFA's Diploma in Design (Furniture and Spatial) took on the brief as their final-year project. Following the success of the partnership, nEbO initiated further discussions on cementing future opportunities with the MOU. Both parties identified synergies and chartered pathways for NAFA students to build up competencies and skillsets to be resilient in handling life and world challenges and be ready as a worker of tomorrow.

Ms Gigi Low, Director of Membership Engagement & Experience at NTUC Club, said: "This is a meaningful partnership between NTUC Club and NAFA, where there is a dynamic exchange of resources and ideas to further empower and enrich our youths today. nEbO's core programmes will significantly elevate the learning curve of students, equip them with the knowledge, exposure and skills through relevant and invaluable work-life programmes before they step into the workforce as working adults.”

Mrs Tan-Soh Wai Lan, President of NAFA added, “nEbO has a rich history of supporting youth initiatives in Singapore and we are proud to establish this purposeful connection with them. Through the 10 workshops and learning journeys, 30 internship placements with NTUC’s network of companies, as well as community service projects afforded per year; our students will be able to apply their unique talents to enrich lives and communities while honing their skills. We are also appreciative of these opportunities that allow our students to acquire industry-based competencies and gather relevant experiences for the future. As we look to continue inspiring growth through the arts with nEbO, I encourage our students to channel NAFA’s spirit of creativity, resilience and exploration in pursuit of their passions.”

nEbO Work-Ready Headstart Programme

The Work-Ready Headstart Programme aims to prepare students for the workforce by providing a multitude of opportunities to leverage on the Labour Movement’s extensive network of affiliated unionised companies, associations and practitioners to offer industrycentric internships placements, work exposure, mentorships and skill-based learnings.

Together with NAFA, NTUC Club will also customise a series of short skill-based workshops and industry-specific learning journeys for students with at least 10 sessions per year – in areas of communication, digitalisation and social networking – to value-add to their soft skillsets and work competencies. Through NTUC's internal network of arts, media, and design companies, it will offer up to 30 student internship placements annually.

Both NTUC Club and NAFA will co-design and develop an On-the-Job-Training (OJT) blueprint, where mentorship workshops will guide student-interns to achieving their learning goals.

nEbO Life-Ready Community Service Projects

nEbO and NAFA will grow and strengthen youth volunteerism through initiatives for community building and character development, with the goal of inculcating values of care and advocating for societal changes among the students. This includes do-good initiatives where youths can help the less-privileged communities, appreciate unsung heroes, as well as advocacies to bring awareness to key social issues. At least two community service projects per year will be jointly organised, and these projects can be undertaken as student projects.

nEbO World-Ready and Leadership Development Learnings

Under this programme, all NAFA-nEbO members will be given the opportunity to hone their leadership skills and develop their potential. They will be guided and mentored, growing the nEbO youth leadership pool to ensure a sustainable and active nucleus at NAFA. NAFA student Lim Han Quan, 25, benefited from this programme. He was nominated to represent NAFA at nEbO’s Youth Leadership Development Programme’s Orientation Session on 26th March 2022. It allowed him to understand his role as a new nEbO Leader and the opportunities that are available to him.

A keen learner, Han Quan led his groupmates in the discussion topics and was very vocal in expressing his thoughts and opinions. He will also be attending two more curated leadership workshops that aim to equip him with project management and teamwork skills to kickstart youth-initiated projects. Throughout his nEbO journey, Han Quan will be engaged at nEbO’s different platforms (YouTube Series, Do-Good Events) so that he can broaden his horizon and try out events of different genres to learn and develop himself holistically.

Han Quan said: “It was an eye-opening experience to know that there is a youth organisation like nEbO that provides youths with such leadership development opportunities. It gives me an additional platform to pursue my interests and meet likeminded youths from other schools. I’m looking forward to more enriching activities before I graduate and continue to impact the society!”

In October, Han Quan will attend the Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute’s Leaders Graduation Ceremony, alongside fellow nEbO Leaders, as a form of recognition for his efforts and commitment to nEbO.

nEbO will be the main programme driver in the NTUC Club-NAFA collaboration. It will offer NAFA students an exclusive programme package which includes a three-year nEbO Membership, where they can also enjoy the full benefits and perks under NTUC Club’s nEbO membership programme.