1. Good morning everyone. I am delighted to welcome all of you to the inaugural MSF Partners Conference.
Our partnership is built on the 3Cs
2. Those of us gathered here today come from many different backgrounds. Some come from the corporate sector, others from the non-profit organisations, and still others from public agencies.
3. But the thread that binds us is the shared belief that we can go further together.
4. When we bring our ideas together and act on them, we can nurture more resilient individuals, stronger families and a more caring society.
5. As a small and multicultural society, in an increasingly uncertain world, Singapore faces new and increasingly challenging circumstances. Nevertheless, our work at MSF remains anchored in four principles:
i. Family-centricity;
ii. Proactive and upstream intervention;
iii. A strengths-based approach; and
iv. A whole-of-society partnership.
6. This fourth principle, in particular – a whole of society approach and partnership – is what has brought us together.
7. Over the years, we have shaped this partnership through what I call the three Cs: Co-creation, Cooperation, and Collaboration. Let me elaborate.
a. First, the co-creation of innovative, future-ready solutions.
b. Second, cooperation beyond our borders. We learn from others, share what we know, and evolve our practices to better serve our families.
c. Finally, deep and lasting collaborations with our partners like yourselves, to better support families and individuals.
8. These are the principles that have brought us thus far, that we continue to build on, and will take us to the next bound.
What We Have Built Together
9. Let me begin by taking a moment to celebrate what we have achieved together.
10. MSF's goal is to support families to progressively achieve the three outcomes: Stability, Self-reliance, and Social mobility.
11. But this is not work that any Government can achieve alone. It requires our collective efforts. And I believe that this is exactly how and what we have done.
a. First, we have made a decisive shift to move beyond providing episodic assistance, to empowering lower-income families to achieve their longer-term goals. Today, together with our partners, we support around 11,000 ComLink+ families across Singapore. Under ComLink+, each ComLink+ family is supported by a dedicated Social Service Office family coach or Family Service Centre case worker, who works with them to co-create an action plan tailored with their strengths, needs and goals. ComLink+ Progress Packages in turn provide financial top-ups to recognise and supplement families’ efforts when they make progress in key areas such as preschool attendance and employment. But it is not just MSF and Social Service Agencies (SSAs) that are involved. Our corporates are important partners too. In particular, I would like to acknowledge DBS Foundation’s partnership with us. Since 2022, they have committed over $30 million to ComLink+ Progress Packages for Preschool and Home Ownership. Through this, we have seen families move forward: saving for their first home, giving their children a strong start in their education. Thank you, DBS Foundation.
b. Second, we worked to provide every child with a good start. Since 2016, KidSTART has supported more than 11,000 children and lower-income families, reaching parents as early as during pregnancy, and walking alongside them through their child’s earliest years. Behind this progress is an entire ecosystem of support: Hospitals, KidSTART agencies and their dedicated frontline professionals, volunteers, community networks, government agencies and of course, our corporate partners. Here, I would like to again extend a word of appreciation to SP Group, a steadfast supporter of KidSTART since 2019. Their commitment has helped more families access the resources and experiences that nurture children's development in their early years. Thank you, SP Group.
c. Third, we deepened our collaborations with corporates, with a sharper focus on lasting social impact. In 2024, the National Council of Social Services launched the Sustainable Philanthropy Framework and Social Impact Metrics, this was jointly developed with:
i. National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre,
ii. Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise, raiSE,
iii. SG Cares Office, and
iv. Partners such as the Singapore Business Federation.
d. The Framework guides businesses in articulating, measuring and enhancing their contributions to social goals. It reflects a shared commitment to journeying with communities, not just supporting them from a distance. I am heartened that 123 companies have already come on board, and I invite more to use the Framework as a guide to deepen and sustain your social impact.
12. Ladies and gentlemen, because of these partnerships, we have made tremendous progress in empowering our families, building stability, self-reliance, and equipping them to reach their full potential.
Why Innovation is Necessary
13. But our efforts cannot stop here. The circumstances we are operating in, and the world our families live in is changing – and changing fast. There are 3 key driving factors and forces that we will need to respond to:
14. The first is demographic trends. Singapore’s population is ageing rapidly. Our birth rates are at its lowest. More and more families therefore find themselves caught in the middle, caring for ageing parents, while raising young children, with fewer hands on board. This is the sandwiched generation, and their numbers will only grow. With them comes a growing demand on our social services that we must be prepared to meet.
15. The second is the evolving nature of family needs. The challenges families face today go well beyond financial hardship. We see changing family structures – single-parent households, multi-generational caregiving arrangements, and complex webs of need that do not fit neatly into any single service. We cannot continue to address symptoms in isolation. We must adopt a family-centric lens to strengthen the family as a whole unit.
16. The third is technological advancements. We are living through a moment of rapid advancement. Artificial Intelligence or AI, in particular presents real opportunities for our sector. I know that for many in this room, that word raises questions – and rightly so. Some may even regard it with scepticism: is the impact of AI truly as great as it is made out to be? Some may regard it with fear: could it replace the professional in caring for the family? These are fair questions. I want to address them directly, and I will do so shortly. But for now, let me say this: AI is not a silver bullet, nor can it replace the care professional. But used well, AI can help us reach further, respond faster, and support families more effectively than ever before.
17. Taken together, these three forces make one thing clear: the social service sector cannot continue to operate as it always has. The complexity of what lies ahead demands more of us. We must evolve into a sector that is strong and future-ready – a professional workforce, enabled by technology, and always anchored in our mission. A sector willing to seize new ideas, to forge new partnerships, and rise to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
The Next Bound: Three Focus Areas
18. So where do we go from here? Our next bound is shaped by three focus areas.
19. The first is Strengthening Prevention. Our vision is to develop an anticipatory social service ecosystem – one that reaches the family far earlier, before challenges have the chance to take root and intensify.
a. When we invest in protective factors early, we build families that are more resilient.
b. This also means being smarter about how we identify those who need support. With better use of data, we can identify those at risk while the window of change is still widely open. And by connecting partners into a single, coherent network, we can reach families in a timely manner.
c. No single agency, and no single sector, can do this alone. Which is why the second focus area is just as important.
20. The second is Reimagining Partnerships. Our vision is partnerships that open new frontiers in research, in innovation, and in community.
a. We want to deepen our research partnerships with Institutes of Higher Learning, academics and international counterparts, so that the best ideas from around the world can shape what we do here at home.
b. We want to build systematic pathways that turn promising innovations into sector-wide solutions. And we want to involve the community and our SSAs more deeply in developing innovative approaches, because our social fabric is strongest when care is not only delivered through services but woven into the communities that surround every family.
21. The third is Leveraging Technology. Our vision is to leverage technology and AI to enhance the quality of life of both the families we serve, and the professionals who serve them.
a. This is not a distant aspiration. Around the world, including in Singapore, AI innovation for the social sector is already underway. I have had the privilege of witnessing some of it firsthand.
i. For those with disabilities, I saw AI-powered solutions like exoskeletons that continuously learn and adapt to their users’ movement, enabling independent living. Researchers are further enhancing motorised wheelchairs to not only ascend staircases, but also navigate crowds on their own just like autonomous vehicles. For the hearing-impaired, AI glasses now transcribe spoken words as captions in their field of vision. Users can follow a conversation, attend a meeting, or simply share a meal with their family without missing a word.
ii. For the social service professionals and family, I have seen AI used overseas in early intervention centres to track the developmental milestones of each child. Therapists receive regular updates on the child's progress, with the system surfacing suggestions for further intervention where needed. At the same time, parents are given visibility into how their child is progressing, along with tailored activities they can carry out at home – extending and reinforcing the work being done at the centre.
b. The innovation of AI in social services is real. It is happening globally. It is accelerating. And it is changing lives. Then the question is: where does Singapore stand in this conversation, and what role does each of us have to play?
i. I believe Singapore is well-positioned to seize this moment. We are small enough to move fast, and connected enough to share. The partners needed to make it happen are already in this room – technology companies who can co-develop scalable solutions, research institutions who can help us validate and refine them, and SSAs with invaluable frontline knowledge. Together, we have everything we need to lead.
ii. But this means that we must move fast, and more intentionally. As the Government, we will take the lead in funding and pushing for AI to be directed towards social good.
c. I want to speak directly to our SSAs. As we talk about leveraging technologies, the question I hear most often is: where do we begin?
i. Start by looking at where our professionals spend their time. Every assessment typed up after a home visit, every form filled by hand — these are hours taken away from clients and yourselves. AI can help reclaim that time for the deeply human work of walking alongside families in need.
ii. We are already seeing what this looks like in practice. Scribe, developed by Open Government Products, automatically generates structured case notes from conversations — across multiple languages, and yes, even in Singlish. Over 100 SSAs have adopted it in the past year. Social workers tell us it has given them back time — time they can spend for themselves, but more importantly, the people they care for – their clients, rather than on paperwork.
iii. Now, beyond reducing administrative burden, AI can also sharpen how we identify and support families’ needs. MSF is progressively deploying CaseCentral, which will transform case management through streamlined processes, automated workflows, and holistic insights on clients — enabling more integrated and timely support across agencies.
iv. But our professionals are not just users of technology. They are also co-designers of it. I encourage our SSAs to pilot, learn and refine it. I am heartened that many of you have already taken this step. Later today, some of our SSA partners will be sharing the innovative practices they have built from the ground up — real solutions, shaped by frontline experience, tested with real families.
d. Let me make one last point. As we chart the path forward, I know that there is a background of worry that AI will replace us and our jobs. Let me reassure you, AI cannot replace the care professional. Instead, it will augment how we do what we do.
i. I want to offer a way of thinking about this that I believe would resonate with many of us here today. When I visited ETH Zurich, I encountered a framework that any solution, not just AI, must hold three people in view at once – the client, the professional, and the caregiver – usually the family.
ii. Social services have often been centred on the individual client, structured around a programme, and concludes once intervention ends. But our clients do not exist in a vacuum – do not exist in isolation. They leave and return to a family. Any solution that addresses only the individual, without accounting for the family around them, will always fall short. And so, even our AI tools must be designed with the family at the centre, not as an afterthought.
iii. This has direct implications for how we think about AI. Let’s think about what AI imaging has done for radiology. It does not replace the clinical judgement by the doctor, in fact it enables the doctor to detect what the naked eye might miss and act even sooner. This is the model I envision for our sector. AI that sharpens our professionals’ insight into a family’s needs. AI that frees the professional from paperwork so they can spend more time with their clients. Our professionals remain at the heart of this work. Technology is simply the tool that deepens their impact.
iv. Innovation is most meaningful when it is grounded in purpose. Not efficiency for its own sake, it’s what technology makes possible — for the family who needs support, for the professional who provides it, and for the community that surrounds them both. This is the standard we hold ourselves to.
v. And it is the standard that will guide us as we move forward. As we explore and deploy emerging technologies across the social care sector, we will be anchored in human-centred design, professional oversight, transparent and explainable outputs, and safe, evidence-based approaches – always asking not just what is possible, but what is right.
New Initiatives
22. Ladies and gentlemen, to this end, I am pleased to share three commitments that MSF is making to support sector innovation.
23. On Co-creation: We will step up to co-create solutions with our SSAs to leverage technology and AI, to accelerate innovation and achieve better outcomes for individuals and families.
24. On Cooperation: Good ideas know no borders. When another country finds a better way to support its most vulnerable, we want to learn it, adapt it and bring it home. Singapore has always believed in learning from the best, wherever they are. As we deepen our international engagements, more details will be shared in the coming months.
25. On Collaboration: Today, I am proud to announce that MSF will be signing Memoranda of Understanding with two home-grown technology companies, ST Engineering and NCS, who will work alongside us, not just to pilot emerging technology solutions, but to build lasting technology capability within our social service sector. MSF will be setting aside $15 million over three years to incubate and pilot emerging technology projects. This is our commitment to investing in the future of how we care.
26. These MOUs are more than agreements on paper. They are a signal of our commitment to building purposeful technology that will transform how we care for our social service professionals, and the families we serve. They form part of our commitment to shape a future-ready social service sector.
Conclusion: Better Starts with Us
27. Ladies and gentlemen, "Better Starts with Us." It starts with the belief that no family should be left behind. It starts with the courage to build together, across organisational lines, and even across sectors.
28. MSF will act. We will invest. And we will do this together with all of you.
29. Better starts with us and let’s begin that today.
30. Thank you.