SSR Seminar Series: AWWA’s FEP – Results and Insights from an 18-month Cash Transfer RCT for Low-Income Families in Singapore
Watch Here
Watch the seminar presentation here:
- This is a physical seminar event.
- Registration slots are limited and will be assigned on a first-come, first served basis.
- Please register by 16 October 2024. Successful registrants will be informed by 18 October 2024 via email.
- In the event when you cannot make it after receiving the email confirmation, please let us know as soon as possible via email so that others can get a chance to attend the event.
Seminar Details
AWWA’s Family Empowerment Programme (FEP) ran from May 2022 to October 2023. It was a pay-for-success experiment in piloting innovative poverty alleviation tools in Singapore. It provided a stable and predictable monthly cash transfer over 18 months to lower-income families who had been accessing AWWA’s Family Services for at least a year. The 75 families in the Treatment group received cash transfers of between $300-$550 a month. There were no strings attached to how they could use the money, and the families had the autonomy to spend it according to their unique needs. The 95 families in the Control group did not receive these monthly cash transfers. Families in both the Treatment and Control groups continued to receive wraparound case management from AWWA social workers.
We used mixed methods to evaluate the FEP. The Treatment Group did consistently better than the Control group on a range of indicators related to employment and well-being, some of which were statistically significant. Our analysis also underscored entrenched challenges lower-income families face, like significant caregiving responsibilities and being unable to find inclusive jobs, which impact their longer-term financial independence and security. The FEP highlighted the benefits of a whole-of-society approach to poverty alleviation.
Consultant, Special Projects
AWWA
Director, Family Services
AWWA
Pooja heads Impact and Special Projects for AWWA, a large multi-service charity. She is also the Founder of EveryChild.SG, an NGO working towards a loving and nurturing upbringing for every child in Singapore, through research, public education and advocacy. Pooja spent 6 years at the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), heading policy on disability early intervention for children, and then manpower planning for the social service sector. In a prior life, she was a diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). She also serves on the Board of Tasek Academy and Social Services (formerly Tasek Jurong), a charity focused on grounds-up engagement of children and youth from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Huixia leads the Family Service Centre and Transitional Shelter teams at AWWA, that works to uplift and empower individuals and families with complex needs. With training in Social Work and Counselling, she brings 19 years of experience to her role, focusing on equipping clients with the skills and resources necessary to meet their longer-term goals. In addition to her work at AWWA, Huixia is an Adult Educator at the Social Service Institute (SSI) and actively volunteers with the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW) Housing support network and the National Heart Centre’s Medifund Committee.
Associate Professor (Education)
Department of Economics
National University of Singapore
Dr Ong EeCheng is Associate Professor (Education) at the Department of Economics at the National University of Singapore. She graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Economics, and from Brown University with a Ph.D. in Economics. She teaches economics of inequality and labour economics, as well as introductory and intermediate microeconomics.