Taipei City Government

Carrying out Mayor Wen-je Ko’s political ideal of open government and public participation, the Taipei Youth Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”) was officially established with the inaugural meeting on September 1, 2015. The Commission seeks to develop a blueprint for the young Taipei citizens’ future through the expansion of youth participation and the integration of social resources. The first meeting announced the 10 youth representatives of the Commision selected from the online self-nominations, namely Ta-han Lin, Chun-lun Lin, Ting-yao Hsu, Yan-liang Chen, Wei-lung Ling, Wei-chih Yan, Kuang-yi Ku, Meng-lan Shih, Jun-yu Shih, and Tan Lo.

Mayor Ko serves as Chairperson of the Taipei Young Commission and assigns Deputy Mayor Li-fang Chou to be one of the vice chairpersons. The other vice chairperson is the Legislator Yi-jie Chen. The other eight members of the Commission include three expert members - Chien-hsing Huang, Yi-han Lin, Chih-chen Lin, and five officials from the Taipei City Government - Li-min Hsu, Commissioner of the Department of Social Welfare, Hsiang-ling Lai, Commissioner of Labor Affairs, Shih-tsung Lan, Commissioner of the Department of Civil Affairs, Chung-chieh Lin, Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development, Yu-yan Chien, Commissioner of the Department of Tourism and Information. All 21 members of the Commission serve a one-year term without compensation.

Mayor Ko sets a goal to surpass Singapore in eight years. For the next stage in the long-term development of Taipei, he thinks it is important to consider young people’s opinions and adopt their perspectives on urban development and public services to develop youth policies, no matter education, employment, entrepreneurship, housing problems, maternity, etc. With youth inputs, the city development will be more dynamic, and the policies will meet their needs better.

Young people are the key to bring Taipei City forward. The Taipei Youth Commission brings together the administrative team, youth leaders, and social elites. By way of opinion collection and exchange, the Commission sets out to answer young people’s needs and make policies the most advantageous for their future. Mayor Ko believes the Commission represents the youth to communicate with the municipal administration and will invigorate policy making and execution.