BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Youth Centre is focused on improving its facilities and management to set itself as a “hub” for the youth and to establish more strategic partners, said Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ (MCYS) Youth and Sports officer, Muhd Amirul Syazmie Ibrahim.

The decision to rebrand the centre in 2012 had breathe a new life into its youth-related services and activities.

The management of Pusat Belia has taken steps to ensure the rebranding programme is a success, with efforts focusing on revitalising the centre’s physical aspects and services.

In the last four years, we emphasised on rebranding the programmes and improve the facilities of the centre. Now (April 2015), we have seen that the centre has slowly evolved to be the hub that it aspires to be,” Muhd Amirul said. The centre focuses on education and youth programmes.

He said that every activity done by the centre serves one purpose - to develop the youth. The centre is now equipped with dance and jamming studios, mini gym, saloon, multi-purpose hall, briefing room, IT laboratory, male and female hostels, as well as the recently opened Cafe Belia (Youth Cafe).

Muhd Amirul said these facilities aim to attract more youth to the centre. Members of youth associations can use the facilities free-of-charge, and that they will be given the priority, he said.

Frequent users of the facilities include the Qasidah Club and the Ash-Shaliheen Mosque Youth group. He acknowledged that the centre needs to stand out more not only as a venue for gathering and discussion amongst the youth, but also as a platform where youths can help each other.

“People have now realised the role of the centre. However, most of them only use the centre seasonally (when they have activities or events). It is rare to see youths using the centre as a place for discussion on most days,” he said.

“We plan to have more activities and programmes to further introduce the centre to youth associations and schools so that they would come here and use the facilities,” he added.

The Youth Centre’s multi-purpose hall is also a popular venue for expos and bazaar because of the available facilities.

“However the challenge here is that without proper advertisement on the organisers’ part, the expo may not attract as many visitors as they hoped,” he said.

With the resources available at the centre - such as the various youth associations active in religious, traditional and modern performances, arts and drama - we can also provide the organisers with the right group of youth to perform at their event, he said.

This will highlight the skills and talents of our youth, which can help our youth develop further, he added.

The Brunei Times