socialservice.sg presents: "Before the Ballot"

One year ago, we documented community initiatives and discussed related structural challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. One year later, we are inviting the same guests back to talk about their work, how they are feeling, and what they think we have learnt or have yet to learn from the pandemic. Today, we have Abhishek Bajaj , who leads the volunteer-run initiative 6th Sense ....

A year ago, with Singapore just coming out of its circuit breaker and the world still coming to grips with the COVID-19 virus, Aaron Maniam explained in a TED talk that the language we use to talk about the pandemic was shaping how we thought about it. Instead of using a "war" metaphor, for instance, he argued that characterising COVID-19 as an "ecology" would help us better understand the pandemi...

As a strategic foresight practitioner, Cheryl Chung has led futures projects across different government ministries, within a public policy school, and in a number of community projects and initiatives. With her experience and expertise, we explore the application of futures and foresight in public policy, the public sector, and the community in Singapore. Cheryl is programme director of executive...

For students in Singapore, the notion of a “future” feels very well-defined: Do well in school, acquire the necessary skills and knowledge, and prepare for your job and career. But how do we prepare for an uncertain future if the present is precarious? And what if we’re wrong about trajectories of education and higher education in Singapore? With Dr. Adrian Kuah , we learn more about going beyond...

In an increasingly complex and uncertain world, how do we start thinking about the future? Or our futures? And how do we apply futures thinking and futures studies in Singapore? Co-designed with research associate Eddie Choo , "Thinking about futures" is a socialservice.sg mini-series featuring three guests, focused on education and higher education, the community, as well as public policy and the...

Feelings of burnout can be unsettling or even terrifying, and around the world social work burnout has been very well-documented. Over time, we hope to better understand the causes of burnout, including the structural causes, but for now, as a start, it feels important to normalise such discourse in Singapore. Therefore, in this episode, we speak to two young Singaporean social workers, “Jing” and...

It has been more than 18 months since Singapore’s first climate rally at Hong Lim Park in September 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as we have documented time and time again in this podcast, has only highlighted and exacerbated existing socio-economic inequalities in the country. With one of SG Climate Rally’s founding members, Estella Ho , we talk about intersectional climate justice and the une...

In a commentary on climate governance for academia.sg, Belicia Teo made the case that the impact of climate change is not equal, and that, as a consequence, identifying and addressing these risks "should be up for debate and public scrutiny". This was important, she added, so as to address differences in norms and values in Singapore. Her research was based on 10 interviewees from six climate grou...

Ever since the paper was published in 2019, I was excited to speak with its authors about how they used quasi-experimentation to study the relationship between debt relief among low-income individuals and their psychological functioning and economic decision-making . In other words, what is the effect of debt reduction in low-income Singaporean households? With lead author Dr. Ong Qiyan, we also l...

We're running a research study to explore the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on young Singaporeans between 13 and 21 years old. In particular, we are interested in their psychological well-being, employment and educational outlook, and civic engagement.  After the survey, there will be a random draw of $30 gift vouchers for 30 participants. We'll also look to involve some of them...

In 2019, Dr. Ng Kok Hoe was part of two important studies in Singapore. First, he led the first nationwide street count of homelessness in the country ( read the full report here ), and second, he was part of the Minimum Income Standard or MIS study , which in a participatory manner determined the household budgets necessary to meet the basic needs of ordinary Singaporeans. Starting with a discuss...

With the aim of improving the way the National University of Singapore handles sexual misconduct through community-led efforts, Students for a Safer NUS - or safeNUS - was formed by a group of concerned students in 2019. With one of its co-founders, Carissa Cheow , we learn more about the initiative and its work to cultivate a safer and more inclusive campus, as well as the challenges the team fac...

If you're not on the Telegram channel OpenJio , you might be missing out on the latest events and causes in Singapore's social sector. But in addition to learning more about the initiative, how do we sustain the interest of youths and young adults in these social events and causes? In our conversation with core team member Amos Liu , we also talk about his personal volunteerism journey and some ch...

The last time we discussed mental health on this platform was in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. With former nominated member of parliament Anthea Ong, we examined the levels of awareness, acceptance, and action. Today, with Chirag Agarwal , co-founder of Talk Your Heart Out , we focus on mental health at the workplace. In addition, we discuss the state of professional services and the struc...

While reports of food insecurity have previously featured in the media , Singapore's first nationally representative food insecurity study documented that about 10 per cent of Singaporean households experienced food insecurity at least once in the last 12 months, and that only 22 per cent of these food-insecure households were receiving food support from an organisation. Published by the Lien Cent...

This month, in the same week that the Department of Statistics revealed that households in the bottom 10 per cent were the group hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, with their monthly total earnings from work falling by 6.1 per cent, Beyond Social Services published its "Mind the Chasm" report ( https://beyondresearch.sg/mind-the-chasm-covid-19-deepening-inequalities-in-singapore/ ). Beyond docu...

The Singaporean discourse on poverty and inequality is advancing, and while he argues that Singapore has done better than most under meritocratic systems, PhD candidate Nathan Peng Li also details both causes for hope and worry. He first explains that macro-level trends of inequality and mobility have been stable in Singapore. Next, we discuss concepts of “pragmatic meritocracy” and “time two meri...

What started as a published collection of stories to coincide with Singapore's National Day has now evolved into "The Birthday Collective" ( https://thebirthdaycollective.org/ ), a not-for-profit that creates and holds space for conversations that matter to the country. With its editor Cherie Tseng , we discuss the collective’s initiatives beyond the “essay-writing crowd”, the value of giving conv...

Final-year PhD candidate in the University of British Columbia’s Department of History Edgar Liao studies the history of youth in Singapore. His work is informed both by his archival work and his previous experience as a volunteer and youth leader in the youth work scene in the country. After helping us understand the theoretical (Foucauldian) concepts he employs, Edgar explains how Singapore’s yo...

“Hard at Work: Life in Singapore” ( https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/hard-at-work-life-in-singapore ) is a collection of 60 stories, of people in contemporary Singapore talking about their work and life. With author Prof. Gerard Sasges , we discussed how he conceptualised the book and discussed the important elements of interviewing and ethnography. We also explored significant themes which em...

I am a huge fan of the “Saga” ( https://aware.org.sg/saga/ ) podcast, which documents the saga surrounding gender-equality group AWARE, the Association of Women for Action and Research. Themes from the 2009 saga, poignantly highlighted across the 12 episodes, are still relevant in 2021 Singapore. Because I am a podcast junkie, speaking with Kelly Leow and Jasmine Ng , writers and producers of “Sag...

With so many aid and assistance schemes scattered across organisations, ministries, and institutions, how should social workers and volunteers identify the most relevant ones for the individuals and communities with whom they work? In response, Tan Weilie created SchemesSG ( https://schemes.sg/ ), a searchable, indexable directory of schemes in Singapore. We hear more about how he got started with...

Postdoctoral fellow Rayner Tan , at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health in the National University of Singapore, studies substance use, recovery from addiction, and trauma as risk factors for substance use disorders in Singapore. Because his research projects involve and centre on the community groups with whom he works, we talk about his community partnerships and the structural challenges...

Gift for Good ( giftforgood.io ) is an online in-kind donations platform connecting non-profits to donors. Run by a team of students from the National University of Singapore Developer Student Club ( previously featured on this podcast ), it hopes to galvanise in-kind donations towards a more generous Singapore. Today, we speak to business head Yeo Qin-Liang and tech head Marcus Koh about Gift for...

Today, we are joined by professors Cherian George and Donald Low , to talk about their bestselling book, "PAP v PAP: The Party's struggle to adapt to a changing Singapore" (purchase the book via Epigram bookstore or the audiobook via Storytel ). We discussed the balance between elite governance and democratic deliberation, the phenomena of elite reproduction and overproduction, and how the book ca...