PEER is the community’s largest, volunteer-led mentorship programme for Malay / Muslim youths in secondary schools.
The 6-month structured programme had about 100 mentee-participants coming from the most diverse range of profiles to date. It includes students from madrasahs, lower income families, and those with strong leadership potential.
This year’s edition also saw significant updates to programming through new activities that focused on the themes of “sustainability” and the “future of work”.
Image 1: Graduation ceremony of PEER @ Tampines with Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Health and Ministry of Law, and Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC, Ms Rahayu Mahzam
Singapore, 7 August 2023 - The MENDAKI Club (MClub) held the closing event of its flagship community mentorship programme, PEER, after a successful 6-month run in collaboration with M3 @ Tampines and Woodlands. The event was graced by Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Health and Ministry of Law, and Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC, Ms Rahayu Mahzam, and Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC, Ms Mariam Jaafar.
Community’s largest, volunteer-led mentorship programme
Under the 3rd edition of the programme, more than 60 mentor volunteers from local tertiary institutions, and young working adults were matched to around 100 participating secondary school mentees. Together, they undergo a line-up of bi-weekly activities spanning a period of 6 months that have been specially curated by volunteer organisers to instil the 5Cs of positive youth development: Confidence, Competence, Community, Character and Connection.
Speaking at the closing event for PEER @ Tampines, Ms Rahayu expressed her appreciation to many of the volunteers involved in helping to make this year’s edition a success: “We are tremendously grateful to the many volunteers, specifically over 100 of them, including programme organisers that have stepped forward throughout the past year to make the 2023 edition possible for our mentees. Volunteering is not easy. Many have day jobs, families, and other commitments but have decided to carve out time to be part of this. We are heartened to see the passion exemplified by the mentors to help our youths gain confidence and realise their potential. Such efforts go a long way towards strengthening the people-to-people ties within the Malay / Muslim community.”
At the event, several mentors were also honoured with the inaugural PEER Mentorship Dedication Award, an acknowledgment reserved for mentors who have been repeat contributors of the programme over the years.
The most diverse cohort of mentees to date
Through dedicated outreach initiatives to schools, this year’s edition was able to attract a highly diverse group of mentees coming from madrasahs, lower income families, and those with leadership potential. During her closing address to participants of PEER @ Woodlands, Ms. Mariam emphasised the significance of extending the reach of such a programme to a much broader audience. She commented: “I applaud the organising team for their diligent efforts in ensuring the inclusion of individuals from various backgrounds, particularly those who would benefit greatly from having a mentor. This will go a long way to strengthening the overall social compact of our community.”
Image 2: Mentee-Graduates and their mentors from PEER @ Woodlands
Programming gets a boost with parents support
This year’s edition also saw significant updates to the programming component of PEER where new elements that are reflective of youths’ interest areas were incorporated. Danial Hakim, Chairperson of the PEER Community Programme 2023 and President of Mendaki Club shared: “Words cannot adequately convey the immense pride we collectively feel on the progress we’ve made with PEER over the years. Throughout the planning phase, we actively considered feedback from previous editions and developed a programme plan that responds to themes that deeply resonate with youths, such as sustainability and the future of work. Our collaboration with new partners enabled us to bring these plans to fruition and enrich the experiences of our mentee participants over the last six months.”
Examples of activities that mentees got to participate from this year’s edition include tree planting in support of the nationwide OneMillionTrees movement, and a learning journey to the Mediacorp Campus to learn more about new opportunities that have come about in the media industry.
Mentor recruitment for PEER’s 4th edition will take place at the end of this year, with mentee registrations to commence in February 2024. Details will be unveiled on MClub’s website: www.mendakiclub.org.sg
We have also appended the following images from the event to accompany the release. Please download them via this link.
Picture of SPS Rahayu interacting with mentees
Picture of MP Mariam interacting with mentees
Picture of SPS Rahayu giving her closing speech
Picture of SPS Rahayu and the PEER organising team
Picture of the moment when SPS Rahayu took a we-fie with the organising team
Picture of recipients of the PEER Mentorship Dedication Award (Tampines)
Group picture (Tampines)
Group picture (Woodlands)
Tree-planting activity
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Mohammad Matin Mohdari ExCo Member and Director for MarComms, MENDAKI Club HP: +65 9177 3146 Email: mdmatin.mohdari@gmail.com Zuraidah Comms Senior Exec Asst, MENDAKI HP: +65 8749 5636 Email: sitizuraidah.taib@mendaki.org.sg |