Social Sector Conference Shared Insights on Social Services And Safety Nets - Giving to Grow, Growing to Give

Some 300 social service practitioners, policymakers and academics attended a Ministry of Social and Family Development – Civil Service College Singapore (MSF-CSC) Social Sector Conference to share insights on the latest trends and developments in the social service sector and provision of safety nets.

At the conference, speakers, moderators and participants exchanged ideas and perspectives on policy designs and experiences and deepened their understanding of clients’ needs through the use of different analytical and research tools.

Mr Chan Chun Sing, Acting Minister for Social and Family Development said that while we help the needy with their immediate needs, we should endeavour, where possible, to also help them get back on their feet so that they can look after themselves. Our social assistance programmes must be sustainable over the long term so as not to burden the current or future generations. To these ends, it is important that we harness the energies and ideas of the private and people sectors and design our social services and assistance schemes based on a more in-depth understanding of human instincts and social behaviours.
 
A key theme of the 1-day conference was “New Approaches to Social Sector Development and Policy Design”. Chairman of the New South Wales Public Service Commission Advisory Board and CSC Senior Visiting Fellow Professor Peter Shergold, shared his thoughts on new approaches to designing services jointly with stakeholders, commissioning of public services, consumer directed care and access to social investment during his keynote address. Another keynote speaker, Dr David Halpern, Director of the Behavioural Insights Team at the UK Cabinet Office and a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, spoke about how behavioural insights could be harnessed – by fostering the capacity of citizens to nurture and support each other – to further improve outcomes and strengthen society.

ISSUED BY                                                                                                                                        
MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT
CIVIL SERVICE COLLEGE SINGAPORE