2017 Programme Schedule:

16 social service leaders from Asia and in particular ASEAN, were selected to come to Singapore to learn and to share their experiences from their own communities with Singapore social work and service practitioners. This programme provides opportunities for professionals in our social service field to learn about current issues faced by their counterparts in different countries in the region and how they manage to deliver services with limited resources.

The program started on Monday 12^th June with a team bonding session in the morning followed by a tour of the NUS campus and getting the participants to settle in. The program was officially opened on Tuesday 13^th June by Guest of Honour, Mrs Betty Chen, Patron of Chinese Women’s Association, who encouraged participants to network and learn how to promote innovative services to meet needs of their respective communities. For the next 3 days, the participants were divided into groups and were attached to a Family Service Centre to gain some understanding of social work case management in Singapore. The groups were also assigned a mentor to help them process their learnings and prepare for their presentations in the subsequent week.

A cultural immersion tour was also organized for the participants on the weekend with visits to YMCA, National Museum and Chinatown. In the second week, the participants were given exposure to an area of specialization which included Medical Social Work, Mental Health, Child Protection, Family violence or Disability through a 1 day attachment to a specialized agency. They also visited Henderson Home, a one of a kind elderly home which provided 3 in 1 senior care services. They were impressed with the novel way to help the elderly living in the neighbourhood to age in place. The Home is a model which can be replicated in other places in Singapore and other urban communities in the ASEAN region. The group concluded the visits and attachments satisfactorily. For the rest of the three days, the participants had to work on giving a presentation of their groups’ views to local social service practitioners focusing on their work back in their home countries. They also attended two training sessions which were conducted for them by Dr S.Vasoo on the topic of ‘Promoting Organizational Change and Development’ and local social worker Mr Phua Chun Yat on ‘Program Development and Evaluation in NGOs’. On the last day of the program, the participants gave an individual presentation on their learning takeaways and the action steps they would take once they return. The program was closed by Guest of Honour, Mr Richard Eu, group CEO of Eu Yan Sang International, who presented a certificate of participation to the participants, agencies, mentors and volunteers who were involved in the program, followed by a closing speech. Mr Richard Eu encouraged the participants to help promote services and programmes to help the poorer sector of the community in view of the growing social divide in the various societies in ASEAN. The sharing through social network amongst them can help to bring about useful exchanges of ideas to better their communities.