RM10 mln allocation for Impact Malaysia programmes - Syed Saddiq  

PUCHONG, April 19 (Bernama) -- The government has allocated RM10 million to Impact Malaysia, which was set up for youth and social development through the participation of various volunteers under one roof, said Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman.

He said Impact Malaysia is a platform as well as a reform made to connect government bodies, corporate companies, non-governmental organisations, civil community organisations, social enterprises and individuals.

"At the moment, we have too many volunteer programmes, in fact many ministries also have the same volunteer programmes and there are overlapping, resulting in ministries competing among themselves.

“Therefore, Impact Malaysia is a combination of all parties, opening doors to NGOs, corporate companies, industries and even individuals to carry out social innovation with the latest technology,” he told reporters after launching Impact Malaysia at Spacecubix, here today.

Commenting further, Syed Saddiq said Impact Malaysia is not only a rebranding of 1Malaysia 4 Youth (iM4U) as all programmes formulated are different and they would give effect to the community in the long run.

Meanwhile, Impact Malaysia chief executive officer Ahmed Faris Amir said there are three strategies formulated namely Impact through Technology (ITT), Impact Through Community (ITC) and Impact Through Business (ITB) to enable interaction cooperation between various interested parties through all programmes.

He said ITT connects youths with innovators to enable technology to reach the people at a more effective  cost while ITB facilitates the process for corporate companies and business to participate in the social change arena.

On the other hand, ITC is to realise more social impact projects led by youths.

“Currently we have two pilot projects under ITT which brings the water filtration technology to Sungai Buloh, Selangor and the lighting technology using solar power in Sungai Koyan, Pahang.  

"We will enable them to channel technology to the people at a more effective cost. This will help youths to contribute their skills to the local communities,” he said.

-- BERNAMA