By Lisa Lee
In March 1995, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, then-Acting Minister
for Community Development, introduced Singapore’s “Many Helping
Hands Approach” at the World Summit for Social Development in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
He explained Singapore’s initiative
to “develop self-reliance in a society that is robust, yet
compassionate and caring” through the government’s partnership with
“concerned citizens, corporations, community organisations,
religious groups and family members” in helping the
disadvantaged.1
Every society needs many helping
hands in partnership to deal with its multitude of problems. But
what is the nature of this partnership in Singapore? And how best
can these many hands help?
The Online Citizen spoke to Ms Ho
Hoy Fong, Chairman of Kim Tian West Residents’ Committee (RC), and
Vice-President of Evercare Welfare Centre, a non-profit voluntary
welfare organisation (VWO) that provides for the needy in the Tiong
Bahru area.
Six years ago, Ms Ho was appointed
RC Chairman in Kim Tian West zone. Today, many of her residents
from the 11 housing blocks under her care know her, through her
regular house visits and community events.
Many residents were in great need
of financial help, jobs, housing and even food. However, she was
aware that the RC funds are only for large-scale ‘whole-community’
events and cannot be used to help needy residents.
This is why she started Evercare
Welfare Centre, a non-profit VWO, in October 2008 in order to
provide social and physical support, food rations, befriending,
medical escorts and emergency financial assistance to the needy in
her community.
The limitations of
centralised needs provision by government agencies
What about help from ComCare and
the Community Development Councils? As RC Chairman, Ms Ho is
involved in writing appeal letters or connecting needy residents
with the relevant government agencies. But sometimes it would take
time to process the application, she admitted. This is where
Evercare Centre and its Emergency Cash Fund come in.
She told us of a recent case she
saw – a man who had to take care of his two young children alone
because his wife was in jail. As a result, he lost his job. He came
to Ms Ho to ask for help because they had run out of food and milk
powder.
“I needed to buy him food and milk
powder immediately,” she said. “Evercare must do it quickly. When
they come to you, that is when they most need your help! In these
cases how to wait one or two months?”
Yet, one can see the reasons for
the need for processing time and strict criteria of government help
agencies. Any welfare provision will inevitably encounter problems
of abuse and over-dependence on the system – there is need for
stringent checks to evaluate how genuine the cases are.
Furthermore, limits are needed to
ensure that government help agencies serve only those who are truly
in need and do not create a drain on the government funds for those
who are slightly more well-off.
There is also an understandable
reluctance to make a compassionate exception for fear of setting a
precedent for other cases which will demand for more exceptions to
be made. As a result, help agencies have a strict assessment
process of paperwork, documentation and extensive checks.
Is it then unavoidable that
centralised help agencies will take a long time to process
paperwork, given their inability to conduct house visits and needs
assessments on the fly? Are the unfortunate cases that slip through
the cracks of this safety net merely necessary sacrifices in a
system that is rigorous in its assessment?
The value of local
connections
Ms Ho’s long-term and personal
relationship with her residents allows her to understand the needs
of her community. This fosters trust between the VWO (in this case,
Evercare) and its beneficiaries, and hence minimises potential
abuse of the system.
When Evercare provides assistance
to needy residents, Ms Ho is firm that they use the money or food
rations well. The residents seemed to agree. “Sometimes when needy
residents have more money, they tell me, this month, we don’t need
food rations!” Ms Ho laughed.
She told us of another time that
she visited an old man who had sought financial assistance from the
Meet-The-People session. During a house visit, she found that he
had a dog, lived comfortably and had three children who give him
money regularly.
“I told him he isn’t needy and he
agreed, but said that his neighbour told him he could get some easy
cash by visiting the MP.” she said.
Evercare makes approximately 50
house visits each month, which act as checks on possible abuses of
their assistance. Thanks to the relationship that Ms Ho and her
team of dedicated volunteers have with the residents and the
respect they have for her, there appears to be little such
abuse.
Many helping
hands
No doubt collaboration between
large centralised government help agencies and small grassroots
VWOs already exists, but these links can be improved upon to
maximise the strengths of each other.
Some small VWOs are already doing
good and efficient work, led by grassroots leaders who know their
community and are able to minimise abuses of the system. Yet, there
is often little support for their work.
For example, in spite of Evercare
Welfare Centre’s non-profit status and the fact that it does not
have any paid staff (Ms Ho is its full-time volunteer
Vice-President), the HDB continues to charge Evercare the
commercial rate of more than $300 per month for an office the size
of a 1-room flat in the void deck of Block 26B Jalan Membina. There
are also commercial rate charges for their electricity, water and
other utility bills.
To fund its running costs and
provide financial aid, Evercare relies on donations from the
Management Committee and well-wishers. This is made even more
difficult, because it cannot yet apply for IPC (Institution of a
Public Character) status as the Centre is still quite new. Its
donors thus cannot be given tax rebates for donation.
The difficult birthing process of
any VWO thus includes surviving for at least a year without IPC
status and managing commercial rental charges – all whilst doing
good work in the community.
Perhaps the government can help
effective VWOs by providing subsidised rental and utilities
charges, quick IPC status, and direct funding. Alternatively,
agencies such as ComCare and CDC could enhance their efficiency by
decentralising offices and employing help from local support
networks and VWOs.
Yes, we need many helping hands to
support the disadvantaged people around us, but there should be
more transparent evaluation of how hands can better work together.
The many hands must take their fair share of the weight, each
according to their abilities and unique strength.
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/02/many-helping-hands-how-can-hands-best-help/