Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 142

Special Editions
Summary
Social development in Singapore is a tripartite relationship among the
people sector, the private sector and the public sector. The people
sector includes individuals, non-governmental organisations and service
providers. Individuals support the community’s access to services and
help by participating and providing help and giving constructive feedback
and suggestions to service providers and policy makers. Service providers
provide good and safe services as needed by the people and regularly
evaluate their service to ensure that they meet the needs of the population.
The private sector fuels growth of services and programmes by adopting or
sponsoring them and providing expertise and facilitating solution-finding
by sharing their skills and know-how. The public sector provides essential
services and helps the people to navigate the services available to obtain
the help they need. The government provides stability and growth in society
which allows for these social services to be carried out. It also provides
funding for some programmes and social transfers for the most vulnerable
members of society.
Beyond these three sectors, there is a special role for intermediaries who act
as bridges between the sectors and facilitate partnerships between them.
They tie things together and open doors for greater partnerships between
the sometimes disparate agencies and sectors. Indeed, successful social
development is premised on effective collaboration among the various
parties. The many helping hands approach has allowed Singapore to ensure
that services are identified, implemented and improved to meet the needs
of vulnerable people.
Yet for social services to further develop in the city-state, four key things
need to be done:
1) Individuals must continue participating and facilitating mutual support
and building the community
2) Service providers need to offer alternative and innovate and improve
services
3) Public servants need to continuously ensure that the just-in-time services
provided are appropriate and relevant to the needs of the people
4) The government needs to communicate with diversity of constituents in
mind to ensure that information and help are understood by users
Only when each sector does what it nee