“I don’t usually apply makeup… I did so only on my wedding day, when I was a bride,” chuckled the older lady gleefully.
This remark was from an elderly resident in the Dakota Crescent area in Singapore, where my friend Jo had organised a makeover photography session for seniors over the age of 60 from low-income households.
The event was a success. The seniors were delighted with the attention, and the volunteers, comprising professional makeup artists, hairstylists and photographers, were moved by the impact of their contribution.
As Singapore’s population ages rapidly, there is a need to raise awareness of this vulnerable section of silvering society. According to the Ministry of Social and Family Development, 10.5 per cent of Singapore’s resident population was aged 65 and above in 2013 and this proportion is expected to increase rapidly in future. Without some means of monitoring the welfare of elderly, particularly those staying alone, seniors falling or fainting at home may go unnoticed.
During the Committee of Supply debate in 2012, then-Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob said there were currently 35,000 elderly people living alone in Singapore. She said this number was expected to increase to 83,000 by 2030.
Currently, lower-income seniors can tap into government-initiated financial assistance schemes and social assistance schemes provided by voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). With the burgeoning need and limited resources, more needs to be done to build up and retain a regular pool of volunteers to reach out to vulnerable seniors.
Meanwhile, the volunteer rate among Singapore residents and non-residents has fallen. The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center’s (NVPC) Individual Giving Survey 2014 showed a drastic fall in volunteerism from 32.3 per cent in 2012 to 17.8 per cent in 2014. This decline can be attributed to people having “no time”, the top reason cited by the NVPC survey respondents.
While the pool of volunteers is shrinking, what is interesting is that those who volunteer are spending more time on this cause. The NVPC reported that the average number of hours each volunteer puts in a year grew from 72 hours in 2012, to 93 hours in 2014. This works out to 8 hours per month, equivalent to a full working day. More volunteers also reported volunteering on a regular basis, with those helping out at least once a month rising from 11 per cent in 2012 to 18 per cent in 2014.
These trends raise two questions. First, what can be done to boost volunteer rates, particularly in the eldercare sector? Second, how can we promote regular volunteering and greater volunteer engagement with seniors?
Engaging non-volunteers
Falling volunteer rates suggest the need for VWOs to revamp their outreach programmes, to reach out to a wider network of potential volunteers. Admittedly, volunteering with the elderly may be daunting to some. There is the language barrier, as many seniors do not speak English. Moreover, seniors may be frail and require home nursing care, which volunteers would not be equipped to provide unless they have received prior training.
Compared to, say, socially-disadvantaged youth and abandoned pets, the eldercare sector may be a less appealing option for occasional volunteers looking to devote their spare time to a good cause. Ground-up initiatives, like the one led by my friend Jo, are good starting points. Such ad-hoc programmes tap on a diverse range of talents and have a specific niche.
The benefits of regular volunteering are, however, significant. Regular volunteering builds trust between volunteers and beneficiaries. Over time, seniors become more willing to reveal personal difficulties and seek help from their volunteers.
Regular volunteering also benefits volunteers. The NVPC Individual Giving and Subjective Well-Being (2013) survey found that regular volunteers showed higher levels of subjective wellbeing – which refers to a person’s own assessment of their happiness and satisfaction with life – than occasional volunteers.
Given the busy lifestyles of many Singaporeans, VWOs that allow flexibility in volunteer schedules are likely to attract more recruits. To retain volunteers, VWOs should focus on providing meaningful volunteering experience and structured programmes to develop volunteers’ knowledge and skills.
Policies to improve volunteer management systems would help. Many VWOs run their own outreach programmes, which may result in duplication of effort. A more coordinated approach to harness the drive of individual initiatives and provide financial and organisational support would be an ideal situation.
Professionals like Jo rely on their own social network and resourcefulness to initiate community projects. A one-stop integrated volunteerism portal that can identify areas where needs are greatest and provide information about these volunteering opportunities would be useful.
It is good news that plans to launch a similar resource centre for budding social enterprises were recently announced by Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing. It is high time for the VWOs to get their act together. There are currently several portals – such as SG Cares, which list volunteering opportunities segmented by area of interest or name of welfare group.
One suggestion is to broaden the platform to include a wider network of VWOs and interest groups, to cater to those who lack the support and resources to operate on their own. By pooling resources and expertise, niche self-help groups can also benefit. Similarly, potential beneficiaries can also browse the portal to learn what services each welfare group provides.
In the case of the eldercare sector, the portal could connect like-minded professionals and volunteers, like doctors, nurses, social workers, befriender volunteers and end-users. Such multidisciplinary care teams are best equipped to address the physical, psychological and social needs of seniors living alone.
From a policy standpoint, such a volunteerism portal would enable tracking of volunteer rates and types of volunteer work. The portal could collect data to help project welfare needs for the medium to long term, and enable policymakers and VWOs to respond to the needs of an ageing population on a timely basis.
Paveena Seah is a Research Analyst at the IPS Social Lab, a centre for social indicators research. This piece first appeared in TODAY on 16 January, 2015.
All photos by Ian Mun