Growing partnerships in skills-based volunteers with Singapore Nurses Association and Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore

Speech by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law, at the MOU Signing Ceremony helmed by SG Cares with Singapore Nurses Association and Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore

Ms Samantha Ong,
President of Singapore Nurses Association

Mr Nathaniel C Vanniasingham,
Chairman of Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Good morning to all of you. I am honoured to join you today to witness the signing of two MOUs.
   a. First, the MOU signing between SG Cares Office and Singapore Nurses Association (SNA).
   b. And another MOU signing between SG Cares Office and Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore (CSIS).
   
   

   The Value-add of Skills-based Volunteerism
   

2. Partnering professional bodies like SNA and CSIS is really part of our commitment
   a. to inculcate the values of care, consideration, and contribution in working professionals through skills-based volunteerism.
   
3. Skills-based volunteerism has very tangible and intangible benefits not just to those who receive the benefits of volunteerism, but also to those who give.
   a. This approach helps one expand beyond their usual corporate centric goals, to encompass a larger purpose in society, in building a truly inclusive Singapore; and to find real meaning in the work that they do and the skills that they have.
   b. This is why we encourage regular volunteering as part of one’s professional life and personal development.
4. I am pleased that we have not just one today, but two MOU signings to add to the earlier ones we have, bringing it up to five.
   
5. And indeed, this brings together the best professional expertise from all of society, all of the different sectors in Singapore, to serve the needs of the community.
   
   

   Skills-based Volunteerism – Improving and Enhancing Community Healthcare in Singapore
   

6. Let me first talk a little more about the importance of skills-based volunteerism in the healthcare sector.
   
7. I think the elephant in the room has been the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 has put a strain on everyone, in particular our healthcare sector, where many of our frontline healthcare workers working  tirelessly at little or no consideration to their own personal well-being as they take care of their families as well.
8. So let me say, on behalf of everyone in this room:
   a. Thank you very much to our healthcare workers.
   b. Please convey our greatest appreciation and gratitude to the nurses and everyone in SNA.
   
9. In difficult times like this, it may seem like there is almost nothing left to give after having done so much.
10. But yet, despite all that we have gone through, we are here today with SNA to sign the MOU signing on top of what we have signed with Singapore Medical Association two months ago.
11. This truly reflects not just the resilience and care our healthcare professionals have, but their deep sense of paying it forward in Singapore society.
    a. To go above and beyond the call of duty and partner with us.
12. Through this partnership, our SG Cares Volunteer Centres will work closely with SNA
    a. to provide platforms for nurses to train community partners and caregivers to strengthen our community healthcare support network.
13. I think we all know that Singapore is aging quickly.
14. And the support of this network to build up more capacity in caregiving is going to be vital and increasingly so in the years to come.
15. For example, SNA’s nursing students and nurses can volunteer their time
    a. to befriend caregivers or to share tips through webinars on topics such as palliative home care,
    b. to help caregivers better support their loved ones.
16. Caregivers are often in a position whereby they love and care for their beneficiaries so much, but don’t often have the skills or the know how to do this or to find support from services around them.
17. SNA can help to provide emotional support to many caregivers who may feel stressed or burnt out over time.
18. Apart from physical health, they will also be able to share knowledge on mental health and wellness with the community.
19. Ms Samantha Ong, the President of SNA is also the Chief Nurse at the Institute of Mental Health.
    a. Samantha has volunteered in SNA’s Psychiatric Nurses Chapter for over 15 years and she continues to lead by example.
    b. She is a strong advocate of mental well-being and believes in early detection and intervention, both of which are crucial upstream in assisting with mental health.
    c. Before the Covid restrictions, Samantha and other psychiatric nurses were involved in monthly health screening for seniors at two Community Centres.
    d. The combination of the physical examination with mental health assessment during the screening, enabled early identification of seniors facing stress, anxiety, depression, or short-term memory loss. They were able to refer them to resources in the community for better and early follow ups.
    e. I believe SNA can partner our SG Cares Volunteer Centres in scaling up this initiative to benefit more seniors right across the different towns in Singapore.
20. Providing timely psychosocial support to affected individuals and families, is really so key especially in this pandemic.
21. One of the lessons I take away from this pandemic is that we can never underestimate the impact that social stresses has on mental health and mental well-being.
22. So I hope that this partnership will strengthen our many helping hands in society and in the community and enhance the overall healthcare support, especially to the most vulnerable, the last, the least, the lost amongst us. 
    
    

    Skills-based Volunteerism – Promoting Effective Governance and Administration of Non-Profit Organisations

23. Next, the partnership between SG Cares Office and CSIS is equally crucial, as CSIS’s mandate is to advocate for effective governance in the corporate and non-profit sectors.
24. I understand that CSIS has been doing this for some time already, focussing on skills-based volunteerism for at least the last five years.
25. Some of their members have been providing pro-bono consultancy services to the charities sector through virtual consultation clinics and the like.
26. This is good work that we want to continue to facilitate, to build upon, to strengthen, to enhance.
    a. By partnering CSIS, they will be able to expand its pro-bono services to even more organisations in the non-profit sector,
    b. including our SG Cares Volunteer Centres and our community partners.
    c. The time spent on skills-based volunteerism will continue to sharpen the skill needed at work.
    d. As such, it will also be counted as part of CSIS’s annual Continued Professional Development (CPD) requirement.
27. I thank CSIS for recognising your members’ contribution towards volunteerism when they employ their skills to aid the non-profit sector.
28. Effective governance promotes confidence in the donating public and confidence of the donating public in charities and organisations means that there will be more support.
29. Ensuring governance, financial regularity is important, but many smaller charities pay a disproportionate dollar for it.
30. So the partnership that we have with CSIS and other professional bodies like Institute of Singapore Chartered Accounts (ISCA) will really help.
31. I believe that in turn, this also helps CSIS members to go beyond the traditional learning modes such as conferences and seminars;
32. they will learn through hands-on engagement with non-profit organisations where issues can be more complex and challenging. Sometimes there are no one size fits all to these problems.
    
    

    Conclusion

33. In concluding, let me just say that skills-based volunteerism is really the way to go.
34. We look at this as the new frontier; to partner with people who already have these skills in society and community.
35. It also offers opportunities for professionals to not only contribute to a larger more meaningful cause,
    a. but also at the same time hone their professional skills and harness the talents and skills that they are already proficient in.
36. This year, SG Cares has forged partnerships with professionals from the legal, accountancy and medical sectors.
    
37. Today we welcome very warmly another two professional bodies to the SG Cares family.
38. With all these partners coming together, we will be stronger and greater than the sum of our parts to build this network, to take a multi-disciplinary approach to helping community and tacking community problems.
39. And this is the ecosystem that SG Cares strives to achieve, to ensure that people in the community can serve better and no one gets left behind.
40. On that note, I would like to thank SNA and CSIS for partnering us to nurture volunteerism among professionals
    a. and encourage them to make a difference in the community with their skills and expertise.
41. Together, we can certainly achieve so much more.
42. Together, we will be greater than the sum of our parts.
43. Thank you very much.