Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 154

Special Editions
Role of the government – to provide stability, growth and basics and
especially for the vulnerable. The role of government has evolved through
the years from that of controller and regulator to that of nurturer and
facilitator, and going beyond nurturer and facilitator to that of convenor
and aggregator. Its role needs to be more visible and active engagement
with service providers and users of services will enable it to communicate its
policy intent more directly and clearly. The direct communication through
the building of relationships will allow citizens to experience its “heart” and
not just accept its “head.” It needs to communicate more and in various
ways to more people and in deeper ways to share information. The Ministry
of Social and Family Development took a lead at this at the Committee
of Supplies in March 2014. The communication of the work, as with the
previous years, was about the approach in helping the less fortunate, lower
income and those with special needs. However, the clarity came from specific
examples of how individuals and families are helped. The approach which
requires the community, volunteers and others to come alongside social
workers and other professionals to be part of a more holistic support system
was explained. So the communication is not about top level numbers on
social spending alone but also includes how the numbers impact individual
lives and families.
Role of public service – to provide essential services well and to help the
public to navigate to get services including help; it implements government
policy to serve the public the best way possible and strives to meet the
needs and hopes of the people of the land. It needs to communicate and to
understand the needs and situations of users so that the services it provides
will be appropriate and relevant. In the face of rising expectations, it needs to
engage the public even more, to welcome the co-creation of solutions and
to make improvements to current services and policy implementation. Too
often, implementation is understood to be execution (for example, getting
things done without sufficient consideration for communication). The key to
communication is to evaluate how things look like from the public’s point
of view rather than from the policy maker’s point of view. Communication
cannot simply be a minister’s speech or a press release or a reply to the
forum page of a newspaper. It involves explaining and in a way so that the
public perceives the genuineness of its intentions.
Role of service providers – to provide good and safe services and to
evaluate delivery to offer improvements; they should never slip into being
a “contractor of services” but aim to be social innovators as well. Service
providers can offer alternatives to current ways of delivering services and
programmes. They can re-think and re-imagine improving people’s lives
and creating value for clients. More significantly, they have the potential
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