RCE Greater Gombak - 2022

Sejahtera YSM (Empower Youth and Single Mothers for Sejahtera Community)
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Sejahtera YSM (Empower Youth and Single Mothers for Sejahtera Community)
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Greater Gombak
Contributing organization(s) : 
A. Financial Institutions
1) Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad
2) SME Bank Berhad
3) Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad

B. Business Mentors
1) Wild Urban Sdn Bhd
2) Nours Dms Three Sixty Health & Beauty
3) Mamasab International Sdn Bhd
4) Agar Premium Sdn Bhd
5) Penta Harvest International Sdn Bhd
6) Dimaz Delima Industries Sdn Bhd
7) SABAR Training and Resources
8) UMooda Nutriscience Resources
9) Sulur Herba Resources
10) SLa' Seri Collections
11) Saleha Mat Empire Sdn Bhd
12) Wazzup Me Sdn Bhd

C. Strategic partners
1. Cosry Wise Sdn Bhd
2. Majlis Pengurusan Komuniti Kampung
3. Masjid Muadz bin Jabal
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zainal Abidin Sanusi
Organizational Affiliation: 
International Islamic University Malaysia
E-mail: 
zainalsanusi@iium.edu.my
Name: 
Assoc Prof Dr Norhayati Mohd Alwi
Organizational Affiliation: 
International Islamic University Malaysia
E-mail: 
mhayati@iium.edu.my
Format of project: 
Capacity Building, Community Empowerment, Social Enterprise
Language of project: 
Malay and English
Date of submission:
Friday, September 9, 2022
Web link: 
https://flagship.iium.edu.my/ysm/
Additional resources: 
https://www.facebook.com/SejahteraYSM
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB4NBXbkA3CWViHm3APEAwA/videos
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Asia-Pacific
Country: 
Malaysia
Location(s): 
Gombak, Malaysia
Address of focal point institution for project: 
International Islamic University Malaysia
Jalan Gombak, 53100, Selangor
Ecosystem(s):
Urban/Peri-urban
Target Audience:
Community, Higher, Primary, Youth (Informal)
Single Mothers
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Gombak (town) also refers to as a locality (town/area/suburb) in the northern and central portion of the Setapak subdistrict (both in Gombak and Kuala Lumpur). Kg Sg Pusu and its neighbouring villages are located within RCE Greater Gombak. Despite its suburb location, socioeconomic disparity exists and is skewed towards B40 (the bottom 40% of income earners). The existing infrastructure such as telecommunications and utilities within the area are also in need of improvement.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
Sejahtera YSM is addressing the socioeconomic disparity among the community members. COVID-19 pandemic imposed a great impact on the socioeconomic status of the community, especially the youth and the single mothers. One of the main issues among this group of society are lack of capital and inadequacy of relevant knowledge and skills to ensure financial sustainability. Economic sustainability is crucial as it relates to various aspects of life such as health, education and livelihood as a whole. The inability to secure financial sustainability will therefore lead to disruption of daily living of the community.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
January, 2021 to September, 2022
Rationale: 
The proposed project aims to initiate activities that could develop the economic well-being of youth and single mothers living in Gombak. The lack of capital and relevant knowledge to economically sustain themselves especially during this pandemic of Covid 19 are the primary reasons for this project to focus on these two groups of beneficiaries. The project has adopted a holistic approach which integrates entrepreneurial training and personal development from a spiritual perspective. This project will equip the participants with necessary financial and entrepreneurial skills such as e-commerce, digital marketing and financial literacy/management and beading skills.

Apart from the above activities (developing financial and entrepreneurial skills), this project will also integrate aspects of mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the participants. Personal development modules, which are mainly to strengthen the spiritual, mental and emotional being will be embedded in the training and coaching activities. Thus, at the end of the project, a combination of holistic approach via interactive modules is expected to bring new life to the participants; economically self-sustaining, and emotionally and spiritually balanced.
Objectives: 
1. To enrich financial literacy, entrepreneurial skills, beading skills and personal development among youth entrepreneurs and single mothers in the RCE Greater Gombak area.
2. To have direct engagement with youth entrepreneurs and single mothers (B40 community) with holistic and practical approaches, activities and measures related to financial literacy, entrepreneurial skills, beading skills and personal development.
3. To expose the participants to electronic banking systems and e-commerce which could assist them in doing online business transactions more effectively
4. To develop youth and single mothers to become insan sejahtera (one who is balanced in cognitive, physio-psychological, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions) and uplift their economic wellbeing.
5. To offer life long learning for the RCE Greater Gombak community
6. To produce modules related to financial literacy, entrepreneurial and personal development modules for youth entrepreneurs and single mothers as training references for this project as well as other similar community projects.


Activities and/or practices employed: 
There are 4 phases throughout the programme. In Phase 1, the objective is to gather information on the community. The activities involved are identifying participants, conducting field work/site visits, and collecting data through needs assessment. At the end of Phase 1, the number of participants for the project were finalised.
The modules for the programme are developed during Phase 2. There are 3 Modules, namely, Module 1: Financial literacy/management, Module 2: E-commerce and digital marketing, and Module 3: Personal Development.
In Phase 3, the workshop and training for the participants are implemented. Each of the aforementioned modules are used in a series of workshops and training that was conducted face-to-face and/or online and hands-on approach for the Beading Training. To ensure participants are well equipped with the knowledge and skills, continuous coaching and monitoring were provided.
Publications and data collection were done during the final Phase. Data collection, analysis and compilation were carried out to produce a case study from the whole programme.
Size of academic audience: 
51
Results: 
“Usahawan YSM” or YSM Entrepreneurs programme has managed to produce 19 entrepreneurs from the first cohort and another 32 potential beading entrepreneurs. The programme also managed to develop and implement the E-commerce/digital marketing module, the financial literacy/management module, and personal self-development module. IIUM students were also involved to aid the participants throughout the programme as YSM Buddies. In line with the UNESCO Pillars of Education, this project provides a platform for students to “learning to live together” with the community. This is showcased through the integration of the project into nine(9) classes involving 138 students of “Usrah in Action” course, which is a compulsory course designed for the student to apply sustainable development knowledge and skills to solve real community problems.
Lessons learned: 
Empowering youth and single mothers requires commitment and collaboration from multiple stakeholders i.e. government agencies, industry, NGOs, academia and local community (as outlined in the quadruple helix model. The process however should go beyond the sharing of knowledge, where the participants would implement and practise the skills to ensure the improvement of their livelihood.
Key messages: 
On average, most of the B40 group consists of youth and single mothers, who are often marginalised due to the disparity of income in urban environments. Employing quadruple helix network, Sejahtera YSM, a university flagship project brings together diverse stakeholders such as successful business mentors, and financial institutions to empower women and youth for higher economic status and improve their wellbeing thus leading to Sejahtera community.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
None
Funding: 
Government Funding: KTP-RIGS USD 2,222
Private Funding: SME Bank USD 3,711 Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad USD 13,333

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon YSM Buddy - NORHAYATI MOHD ALWI.jpg (4.67 MB) The YSM Team Sejahtera YSM
Image icon ysm 2.jpeg (308.29 KB) Beading Workshop Participants Sejahtera YSM
Image icon ysm 4.jpg (36.27 KB) Workshop Sejahtera YSM
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Direct
Theme
Arts 
Indirect
Curriculum Development 
Direct
ESD for 2030-Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
state: 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 4 - Mobilizing youth 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
state: 
Direct
Update: 
No
I acknowledge the above: 
Yes