Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 32

Working with Various Client Groups

Dear Social Service Practitioners,
In an earlier letter (“Letter 15/ Vol 1.: Understanding Policy Issues on
Poverty”), I touched on how we are fortunate that social work here in a
city-state with good housing means that we do not have to grapple with
distressed communities with intractable issues of poverty and worse still,
persistent intergenerational poverty. We also examined how despite
research being done, most countries still struggle for generations in public
policy making and testing out of strategies to eradicate intergenerational
poverty without much success. Research however can direct policy making
towards at least 3 areas of focus that can make a difference if the strategies
are sustained with a long term view. The areas are education, work and
family relationships. In terms of work it is not just about employment but
skills upgrading, reskilling and job aspiration.

Strategies
Decades of experimentation and learning have led to an evolving set of
findings and principles for antipoverty efforts in large countries. These
strategies include revitalising neighbourhoods and moving families out
of severely distressed urban neighbourhoods which undermine families’
capacities to meet their children’s developmental needs, and thereby
trapping children especially of a certain ethnicity in poverty. Research has
also shown that nationwide efforts to expand employment opportunities,
boost wages, strengthen systems of work support, and bolster the social
safety net are necessary. They are however insufficient for children living
in severely distressed neighbourhood environments. Dual-generation
interventions that target the neighbourhood conditions most damaging to
children’s healthy development are also thought to be critical in “moving
the needle” on persistent, intergenerational poverty.

If we have only 3 policy focuses – what will they
be?
It has become clearer over decades and after various attempts to find the
answer to the question of how we should help the poor, that the answer is
not that difficult although it may sound ironically simple. The answer lies in
ensuring access to school or education (and being motivated to complete
them), good jobs and family ties.

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