International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development is observed on the 5^th of December every year. Created by the United Nations, it is a day that recognises the volunteer efforts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies, government authorities, and the private sector.

Despite the proliferation of studies and publications on voluntary organisations, the article “The changing relationship between the state and the voluntary philanthropic sector: special reference to Singapore” (Asian Journal of Political Science, 2018), zooms in on the largely unexamined relationship between the state and the voluntary sector. The article, written by Professor M. Shamsul Haque (NUS Department of Political Science) focuses on the case of Singapore and the relationship between the state and its 400 Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs), underscoring several major causal factors that determine or shape the relationship.

Prof Haque explains that VWOs in Singapore are volunteer based, non-profit making in nature, and are largely coordinated, supervised and financed by the state through the National Council of Social Service Act (NCSS), a statutory board under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). On the whole, the article defines the state-voluntary relationship as a government-dominant framework, with VMOs having to comply to government regulations across legal, institutional and financial dimensions. Under this framework, the government provides and manages financial support and assistance, while VWOs are tasked with delivering the approved services.

What shapes the government-voluntary relation in Singapore is characterised by the article as the statist-corporatist frame. Prof Haque explains that the ‘statist’ aspect of the framework can be attributed to the government’s opposition to being a welfare state, the regulatory control over the formation of voluntary organisations, and the facilitation of VWO’s fundraising activities through organisations like the NCSS. On the other hand, the ‘corporatist’ frame assumes that the state maintains its voluntary sector to gain support from social elites. Taken together, this combined statist-corporatist frame defines the particular characteristics of the state-voluntary relationship and its government-dominant nature.

The article concludes with two recommendations: the first points to the need for VWOs to be more autonomous in order to respond to the changing needs of the people, which necessitates the relinquishing of a degree of state control. The second suggests the government become more involved in welfare programmes to address a growing socioeconomic need that VWOs may not be able to adequately meet.

Read the article here.