Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 30 Jul 09;
SINGAPORE: The percentage of Singapore youths taking part in voluntary work is above the national average of 16.9 per cent, according to a recent survey conducted by the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The survey found that three out of 10 of its undergraduates were volunteering to help out the less fortunate. NUS undergraduates who have volunteered from May last year to May this year have been involved in the areas of social services, education, youth, community and grassroots.
The university's inaugural Undergraduate Volunteerism and Social Giving survey polled 3,143 respondents.
A third of the surveyed said they spend two hours a month volunteering, while 23.2 per cent spend between five and 10 hours a month.
The survey also revealed that 51 per cent will consider working in the non-profit sector after graduation, while 51.8 per cent said staff of non-profit organisations should be paid wages equivalent to the market rates.
The survey was conducted by the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy and the NUS Volunteer Network.
Survey results indicated that instead of the traditional multi-national corporation or smaller businesses, more students are choosing to work with social enterprises or non-profit organisations as part of their course work.
Albert Teo from the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy at NUS Business School said: "Our youths, really, they are looking at other modes of operations beyond the free market economy sort of traditional businesses.
"So to me, that is very exciting. It shows that people are thinking - because we are in the midst of an economic crisis - are there alternative models as to how the economy is run."
The survey, which included undergraduates aged between 17 and 28, also found that those who volunteer are more likely to donate money to charitable organisations, as compared to those who do not.
73 per cent of volunteers who have done volunteer work in the past 12 months ending May have made a monetary donations towards a social cause or project in the past year, compared to 67.8 per cent of non-volunteers making monetary donations.
- CNA/yb
Undergrads keen on non-profit sector jobs
Over half of NUS students polled give positive response
Melissa Sim, Straits Times 31 Jul 09;
MORE than half of the undergraduates in a recent survey said they were interested in making a career in the non-profit sector.
This response corresponds with the reasonably high rate of volunteerism here - about 30 per cent of the 3,143 respondents said they volunteered at least once in the last 12 months. The national rate is around 17 per cent.
The survey of National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduates, aged between 17 and 29, aimed to identify new trends in volunteering, assess undergraduate involvement and find out their attitudes towards issues in the non-profit and charity sector.
It was conducted in May by the NUS Volunteer Network, a student group made up of different clubs involved in community service, and the NUS Business School's Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy. Details were released yesterday.
Professor Albert Teo, director of the centre, said the interest in charity work follows moves by the business world to be more proactive in society: 'Businesses and business schools are going through a soul-searching phase.
'Corporate social responsibility is practised in many firms in Singapore and so more students are aware of it.'
Students and professors said the increased professionalism and higher profile of the charity sector were also reasons for the piqued interest.
President of the NUS Volunteer Network Timothy Lin added: 'It's the only sector where you can find more meaning in your job. Instead of just getting material things, you are helping people.'
There was also positivity about volunteering after graduation, with more than nine in 10 respondents saying they would do so.
But more could be done to improve the reputation of the non-profit sector, the survey found. More than half of those surveyed gave a lukewarm response, saying they had only a moderate level of confidence in charities here.
Mr Lin, an undergraduate, said this cautious view could be due to incidents such as the National Kidney Foundation scandal, which revealed the abuses at the old NKF, and the on-going Ren Ci trial, with allegedly questionable loans in the spotlight.
The survey also showed that friends were key to encouraging volunteerism as 73.9 per cent said they would volunteer if their friends engaged in such activities.
Said Prof Teo: 'This validates the importance of social networks.
'It's not easy to deal with suffering and pain, so it's important to have a network to support you, so you can share feelings and won't burn out.'
SP tops social enterprise award
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 31 Jul 09;
MAKING life better for families in a village in Batam is one of the ways by which students from Singapore Polytechnic (SP) are making a difference to the lives of the less fortunate.
Following their efforts, the village on the Indonesian island now has a fresh source of income - a fish farm converted from an abandoned sandpit.
Annual household income for each of the 11 families in Mata Ikan involved in the project is expected to go up by 57 per cent, from 10.9 million rupiah (S$1,580) to 17 million rupiah from September last year to September this year.
Finding a new use for the pit has also stopped it from being a breeding ground for mosquitoes and reduced the risk of villagers getting dengue fever or malaria.
This was one of SP's community projects which helped it clinch the top spot in the Students in Free Enterprise (Sife) national competition last month.
At the annual competition, teams from tertiary institutions here outline community projects they have initiated and are judged by the impact of their work.
There are Sife groups at three universities and four polytechnics in Singapore. SP's group has 437 students from different disciplines involved in a total of 14 local and overseas projects.
Final-year environmental management and water technology student Lim Renhui, 18, is among those involved in the Batam project.
He said that a few members of his group had done a site visit earlier and brought back photos but it was hard for the rest to visualise the actual situation.
'The sandpit was quite big - about the size of two to three football fields - and deep, which we couldn't tell from the photos. The ground was also not as strong as we thought,' he said.
This meant they had to tweak plans by building a floating bridge across the sandpit instead of an anchored bridge.
At this year's competition, the polytechnic also presented two other community projects.
At one project in the town of Concepcion in the Philippines, 25 Sife team members taught 28 women the art of making kaya, or coconut jam. These women will in turn pass on the recipe to 400 others in the area.
Since 2004, more than 200 students have also helped in the replanting of mangrove saplings along the coastline to increase the catch for about 7,000 fishermen.
SP's third Sife initiative was a competition for secondary school students to come up with innovative business ideas which they then had to present to a panel of judges. About 4,300 students have participated in this project since its launch in 2004.
The SP team will represent Singapore in the international leg of the competition in Berlin in October and compete with 40 other teams.
The pressure is on after SP's seniors came fourth at last year's Sife World Cup - the highest ranking attained by a Singapore team.
But Mohamed Abbas Sheyed Ebramsa, 18, a final-year banking & finance and applied business psychology student who will go to Germany to co-present the projects, said the real success is helping others: 'It's not just about winning. It's about impacting lives. Even if we lose, we will still continue with the projects.'
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
'It's not just about winning. It's about impacting lives. Even if we lose, we will still continue with the projects.'
Mohamed Abbas Sheyed Ebramsa, 18, final-year banking & finance and applied business psychology student
Meltdown sparks social awakening ... among undergrads
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 31 Jul 09;
IN THE past year, over half of business students in their Honours year have been approaching Associate Professor Albert Teo to scout for social enterprises or non-profit organisations to do a practical school module with. Previously, they were more likely to partner a multinational corporation.
And Dr Teo, of the National University of Singapore (NUS), is also advising four youth expedition groups heading to Vietnam and China for community service projects.
His goal: To get them to think beyond building wells or teaching English, and instead, to understand local culture and politics, eventually developing a social enterprise in partnership with the locals.
Could these be signs that volunteerism and social giving in Singapore are slowly maturing? Perhaps so. "It shows our youths are looking at other models of operation beyond just free market economy sort of traditional businesses," said Dr Teo, director of NUS' Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy (CSEP), of the Honours students.
An important factor could be the economic meltdown triggered by the Lehman Brothers' collapse, said Dr Teo. "I think that got them thinking of ... alternative career paths - perhaps looking at social entrepreneurships, perhaps companies with strong corporate social responsibility programmes. To me, that's a wonderful start."
Backing him up are findings of a May NUS undergraduate survey, where half of the 3,143 respondents said they would consider working in the non-profit sector after graduation. Nine in 10 also said they might do volunteer work after graduation.
Explaining the students' willingness to consider non-profit sector careers, NUS' vice-dean for student affairs Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser said it could be due to the sector becoming more high-profile and professional.
This year, NUS' Career Centre invited the National Council of Social Service to give a career talk for the first time.
The survey also found that youths were more likely to volunteer if their friends were also doing it. But this is similar with any other activity, said NUS Rotaract Club president Karthi Poonsolai, 21, a third-year chemistry student. "The problem is, when you don't have kakis (friends) to go with, people are reluctant," she said.
NUS' CSEP will officially launch on Aug 28, and Dr Teo said findings on the link between religiosity and volunteerism would be revealed then.
