INTRODUCTION
1. Good afternoon, very nice to see every one of you.
2. In 2023, we dedicated the year to celebrating our partners, which included our social service agencies (SSAs), corporates and Institutes of Higher Learning. We built on this foundation, and we designated 2024 and 2025 to celebrate our volunteers and our social service professionals respectively.
a. We have done so because we want to recognise and honour the valuable contributions that all of you have made to the social service sector.
b. To our partners – thank you for supporting MSF’s mission with your resources. Through the giving of your time, talent and treasures, we are able to journey with our clients, and develop innovative solutions to meet their needs.
c. To our volunteers – thank you for partnering us to uplift those in need. The impressive 237,000 volunteering hours logged by all of you in 2024 bear testament to your dedication and generosity.
d. As we conclude this Year of Celebrating Social Service Professionals, I would like to especially express my appreciation to our professionals.
i. We have found in a recent survey that three in four of our professionals choose a career in social service as it provides a greater sense of purpose. Other highly ranked reasons include the desire to positively impact others and contribute to society. This desire to help, impact, and contribute is what drives our professionals!
ii. And indeed, our professionals play a vital role in supporting individuals and families through life’s challenges. The work is not always easy, but the impact is profound. You represent a beacon of hope and strength, helping them to build resilience and thrive.
iii. Thank you all, for your tireless service and commitment.
3. Now, as 2025 draws to a close, I would like to share MSF’s broad direction in the coming years, and new initiatives that our sector professionals can look forward to.
MSF’S GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES
4. At MSF, our policies and programmes continue to be guided by four mutually reinforcing philosophies.
a. First, we are family-centered.
b. Second, we adopt a strengths-based perspective. We recognise and tap on the unique strengths of the family and individuals to achieve good outcomes.
c. Third, we are proactive and go upstream in supporting families and individuals.
d. Fourth, we take a whole-of-society approach. MSF closely collaborates with partners to tackle issues systemically and amplify our impact.
5. But challenging times lie ahead of us.
a. Our population is ageing rapidly, and families are becoming smaller. Families’ needs are evolving with new challenges such as mental health issues, digital inclusion, and social isolation. We are also seeing more families with complex needs.
b. These shifts will likely result in increasingly complex demands placed on the limited manpower in our sector.
6. What do these challenges mean for us?
a. First, we must continue to strengthen our sector manpower pipeline and capabilities to meet evolving needs.
b. Second, we must leverage technology to deliver better services more efficiently.
c. Third, we must also harness the strengths of sector partners to address clients’ needs more comprehensively.
7. This, we will do through our 3Cs – the ways in which we co-create, collaborate, and cooperate with our partners locally and internationally.
MSF’S FUTURE – CO-CREATE, COLLABORATE, AND COOPERATE (3Cs)
8. Let me elaborate. First, Co-creation. Our vision is a strong social service sector coming together to co-create future-oriented and innovative solutions that will take the sector into the next bound.
a. To achieve this, we must begin by ensuring that the sector and our professionals are continually equipped with the resources, competencies and capabilities. We have undertaken various initiatives in recent years and will continue to do more.
i. First, we will widen the pipeline of sector professionals. Part of these efforts include the launch of the School of Social Work and Social Development by MSF and the Singapore University of Social Sciences in March. Looking ahead, from next year, we will expand the Social Service Tribe Study Award to include aspiring professionals pursuing associate-level qualifications in our polytechnics and ITE to encourage more to join the sector as associate professionals.
ii. Second, we will better equip existing professionals to meet our clients’ evolving needs. I am pleased to share that under the Professional Development Sponsorship, social service professionals pursuing professional qualifications can look forward to additional support. MSF will increase the current 75% tuition sponsorship, to full coverage.
iii. Third, we will better support the development of leaders in our sector. MSF will expand funding for foundational leadership training to include both first-time and senior leaders in SSAs. Our newly established Professional Services Group will also collaborate with the sector to establish a dedicated professional network, the Supervision Nexus, to better support and improve supervision standards and practices.
b. Within the social service sector, we must be ever forward-looking, anticipating the problems of tomorrow and leveraging available tools to create solutions that improve the quality of life for our clients and ourselves.
i. I have heard from many of you that incorporating AI in your work has enabled you to focus on providing clients with what really matters – the human touch.
ii. In fact, AI-powered tools like Scribe have been well-received by the sector, helping our professionals reduce the time spent on administrative work like notetaking and focus more on client engagement.
iii. The adoption of AI will continue to present a key opportunity for the sector in the coming years, to improve operational efficiency and ensure better outcomes for our clients.
c. In the past few months, I met with our social service agencies and heard how they have incorporated AI in their work.
i. For example, at AWWA’s Early Intervention Centre, Mr Ashokkumar Ramachandran uses the AI-driven platform (EfficiencyAI), which supports practitioners in conducting behavioural assessments. This enables them to provide faster, and more precise intervention to the children they care for.
ii. We must continue to encourage the use of such solutions in our sector. For this reason, MSF and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS have established communities such as the Social Work Informatics and Technology Champion (SWITCh) and Network of Artificial Intelligence Starters and Enthusiasts (NAISE), to identify and share solutions to enhance productivity and transform service delivery.
d. These are exciting times, and we welcome all to join us, as we embark on the journey of co-creating technology and AI solutions fit for the sector.
9. Second, Collaboration. When we work together, the impact of our efforts is amplified, and we are better able to serve our clients.
a. Take ComLink+, for example, where social service agencies, corporates and academics come together and work with MSF family coaches to uplift lower-income families.
b. Social service agencies support our family coaches to understand and address the unique needs of each family, ensuring tailored support and intervention.
c. Corporates help sustain impact by donating and mobilising volunteers, enabling families to access additional resources and participate in meaningful activities.
d. Academics play a crucial role in evaluating the effectiveness of the programme, offering insights and evidence-based recommendations to enhance its impact.
e. Together, these stakeholders create a robust ecosystem of support for our ComLink+ families.
f. We will continue to establish and strengthen such collaborations with sector partners, to better serve our clients.
10. Third, and finally, Cooperation. We will seek international cooperation with like-minded nations, allowing for a robust exchange of ideas to find better ways to serve our citizens.
a. Around the world, many countries are facing similar challenges of aging societies and widening income inequality. Through cooperation, our professionals can exchange ideas and improve our policies and practices to better serve our clients.
i. We have set up partnerships with countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines, and will be cooperating with them in child development – specifically, a project targeted at the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.
b. In this spirit of fostering cooperation, we also organise regular international conferences – Asian Family Conference, International Conference on Societies of Opportunities, and Social Service Summit.
i. The learnings from these conferences, held over these few years, have already begun to be adopted within the sector. For instance, MSF has embarked on a 3-year research collaboration from 2025 to 2027 with ASEAN Member States on Understanding the State of ASEAN Families. This includes a cross-country survey that adopts the Walsh Family Resilience Framework, allowing for a standardised measurement of family resilience across the region.
ii. Many of you have found these conferences beneficial, and we look forward to your active participation in our next iteration of conferences.
CONCLUSION
11. As we round up our three-year campaign, I am encouraged by how our sector has embodied the ‘we-first’ spirit, with our ecosystem of partners working closely together to achieve the best results for our clients.
a. This same spirit will take us forward, as we continue to build a society where every individual and family can thrive at every life stage and on their own terms.
12. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your day ahead.