Young Changemakers From Taipei Help Develop Pathways for NEET Youth in Ottawa
Two outstanding young professionals from Taiwan, Lin Tzu-Ming 林子茗 and Tsai Te-Jung 蔡德蓉, were selected to participate in a research-based project in Ottawa, Canada under the Taiwan Global Pathfinders Initiative – iYouth Talent Program. This initiative is designed to encourage young Taiwanese aged 15 to 30 to go abroad and broaden their horizons, interact and exchange ideas with young people overseas, and with international methods, then bring what they’ve learnt back to Taiwan.
The Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada worked with Algonquin College to arrange their participation as interns in the TASTE project at the College’s Human-Centred Design Lab. This two-year project is a community-based research initiative to support at-risk youth—in this case young people not in employment, education or training (NEET)—by identifying the challenges they face, and practical pathways toward further study and employment. It’s part of a NEET program led by Prof Jed Looker. The project involves working directly with local NEET youth to gain a deeper understanding of their needs and perspectives and then developing suitable programs.
Tsai Te-Jung has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in industrial design and has had several years’ experience in outreach and educational projects involving indigenous youth in Taiwan. Lin Tzu-Ming, a licensed social worker with professional experience in mental health counselling for post-secondary students, was able to contribute his expertise supporting young people navigating educational transitions, and their emotional well-being and resilience.
Lin and Tsai worked on the second phase of the TASTE project with the project team from September to December 2025. This included assisting research design, data collection, workshop planning, and hiring twelve NEET youth who would be paid to co-design six workshops scheduled to be held in Winter 2026. Bringing the first-hand experiences and perspectives of the young NEET partners into designing the workshops for their peers will help ensure that the workshops make post-secondary education a realistic and accessible option and they will be paid for their participation, giving them professional work experience.
Their time as interns working with the TASTE project team gave Lin and Tsai practical experience with this Canadian project’s user-centered and human-centered design approaches, including the application of user experience (UX) principles in research and program development. This will be able to inform their future work with disadvantaged and high-risk youth in Taiwan and contribute to incorporating more inclusive and participatory design into approaches to education and employment support.
You can read more about their time at Algonquin College and the TASTE project here.
