Deputy Director/senior Assistant Director

**What the role is**
- The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) was formed in 2012 to build a cohesive and vibrant society, and to deepen Singaporeans’ sense of belonging to our nation. As we look to the next 50 years, we have to be prepared for challenges that might pull at the social fabric we have worked so hard to build. Our citizens’ needs are getting more complex. There is a greater diversity and potential polarisation of views on national and societal issues, with a more active and vocal civil society. Within these challenges lie significant opportunities to better harness the energies of citizens to play a part in nation-building. Youths in Singapore (defined as aged 15-35 years old) play an important role in this space, contributing to the success and strengthening the social fabric of our nation. Youths are increasingly civically engaged and have a desire to make a difference. It is important that our youths believe that their views are being heard and are valued, and that they have sufficient opportunities to partner the Government and achieve their diverse aspirations in life. At the same time, the Government needs to continue to provide youths with opportunities and pathways and achieve their diverse aspirations in life. Through these efforts, we aim to nurture future-ready and committed youths for Singapore.

**What you will be working on**
- You will lead a team that oversees youth-related policy-making and research. This will involve working closely with other Government agencies as well as the National Youth Council (NYC) and *SCAPE, to develop strategic plans guiding the design and implementation of policy moves and programmes to strengthen youth well-being across a wide range of policy domains. This includes ensuring sufficient opportunities around jobs and skills so that youths can achieve their diverse career aspirations, ensuring support for their mental health and well-being so that they can be more resilient, and building their civic capacity so that they are empowered to contribute to society. As part of the work, you will help to advocate for youth issues and interests at Whole-of-Government policy platforms. You will drive partnerships with community and youth sector organisations on the ground, to conceptualise and implement programmes in support of youths. You will also lead cross division collaborations within MCCY to leverage cross sector platforms for youth engagement, programming and data sensing of the youth sector. You will oversee youth-related research to ensure that we have robust data to inform our strategies and initiatives. It is important to have a well-informed and regular pulse on the state of youth well-being, and understand how youths’ sentiments, attitudes and outlook are shifting. This will involve analysing and sense-making data across a wide range of sources, including polls and studies by NYC, youth-related data from other Government agencies, as well as qualitative feedback from our youth engagements. You will also scope and carry out research studies on specific issues we want to deep dive on.

**What we are looking for**
- You are someone who can keep the big picture in focus, while being grounded in citizens’ sentiments and issues. You have a keen grasp of national objectives in the context of people’s needs and their environment, make connections between insights and public policy and/or service, and think about connected systems rather than problems in isolation. Broad thinking, with awareness of trends across different fields, is critical. You have experience in policy analyses and research and are able to make sense of a wide range of policy considerations and data, keep up with the changing landscape we are operating in, to generate deep analyses and insights to guide our strategies. You are curious, analytical, and imaginative, constantly questioning the status quo and dreaming up ideas to make the world better. You should be comfortable engaging with diverse stakeholders across public, people, and private sectors, and be able to anticipate and solve problems. You should have excellent communication and inter-personal skills, with proven ability to take initiative and build strong, productive relationships. You should have experience leading a team and can effectively oversee a diverse portfolio of work across the team. You are able to mentor, guide and support the team’s growth and development, as well as motivate officers under your charge. All applicants will be notified on whether they are shortlisted or not within 4 weeks of the closing date of this job posting