CDCs to get closer to the ground

shanfan SG

CDCs to get closer to the ground
By S Ramesh

SINGAPORE: Singapore's five Community Development Councils (CDCs) are taking steps to get closer to the ground.

The aim is to reach out to those who may fall through the cracks.

At the recent appointment ceremony for the mayors, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke about the basic ABCs for the councils - namely Assisting the needy, Bonding the people and Connecting the community.

North East CDC moved to a smaller office but has bigger tasks for the team.

To address residents' needs, 20 per cent more officers have been deployed.

Teo Ser Luck, mayor of North East CDC, said: "We have a particular assistance scheme just for transport.

"It's not just for people who are poor and needy.....(but) also for people who face ad-hoc expenditure and find it difficult to cope with the daily costs of living."

While the scheme is not just based on income ceiling, Mr Teo added that "it is based on the family situation and what they are facing at the time of the day."

On its part, South West CDC feels there is a need for flexibility in implementing assistance programmes.

Close to 2,400 people received various forms of assistance from the CDC in the first five months of this year.

Amy Khor, mayor of South West CDC, said: "We have increased the income ceiling criteria for our own local schemes, from S$1,500 to S$2,500 per month early this year, to help more residents.

"In addition, we launched a One Million Dollar South West Flexibility Fund to help those whose needs may not be covered under the scope of the current National ComCare schemes.

"For instance, families with disabled, families with chronic disease and immobile, we can help them alleviate part of the transport or medical expenses that they may have to incur on a long-term basis.

"The key idea is to allow flexibility to be exercised for such assistance delivery so that everyone genuinely in need of help would not be left to fend for themselves."

At Central Singapore CDC, cases of residents seeking help have gone up 25 per cent in the last month.

The CDC is also enrolling more people into its local schemes like CASH UP, which gives low-income families up to S$1,000 matched savings if they play their part to keep costs down through prudent budgeting.

In an email response, mayor of Central Singapore District, Sam Tan, said: "I have instructed our officers to be empathetic to the needs and concerns of our residents, and we will do our best to assist in a warm, timely and flexible manner.

"We will try to be as flexible as possible, to extend help through temporary grocery vouchers and activate resources from voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) and other community organisations who may be able to help.

"We are reviewing our work processes to increase efficiency, and exploring possibilities like a satellite office to reach more people in need."

Meanwhile North West CDC is tapping on the resources of the better off.

Teo Ho Pin, mayor of North West CDC, said: "We set up a Club100 in North West - a philanthropy club - to encourage individuals or corporations to make regular donations to help the needy in the district.

"We have also set up a ComCare local network, which is a partnership among all the VWOs and 67 grassroots organisations."

South East CDC's approach is to form micro-communities to identify those who need help.

Maliki Osman, mayor of South East CDC, said: "I will tell my grassroots leader,
'you are an RC member, you are responsible for this block, you live in this block. You must know the profile of this block, you must know where the needy are, you must know where the resources are'.

"If we can create such an infrastructure and every micro-community is supported by committed grassroots leaders, we would be able to achieve the objective of strengthening the community."

The CDCs have also been very active in the area of job assistance and job matching, since the global economic downturn in 2008 and 2009.

But with an improved economy now, the mayors said the focus is to encourage residents to go for training and retraining.

One group which still needs help, the mayors said, are the professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETS).

Mr Teo said: "With the low unemployment rate that we are facing today, there will still be those who are employed but still struggling to make their ends meet, because they probably got employed in a job with a low income. So, right now we continue to up-skill them and find them higher-paid jobs."

Dr Khor said: "The South West CDC launched our own 'Up-skill the Un-skill incentive scheme' to give the job seekers upfront incentives in the form of transport or meal vouchers to encourage them to go for training and skills upgrading. For the first five months of this year, we have seen a 19 per cent increase in job seekers going for training. Of this, some 500 have benefited from the subsidy."

- CNA/ck

shanfan SG

To get closer to the grounds, please lah don't wayang. Seriously if they want to get closer they have to change their mindset, attitude and learn to be kind, humble and understanding.

Have enough of them. They are a bunch of people trained to brainwash Singaporeans.