FOR Muhammad Sayfullah, a recent visit to the Enabling Village in Lengkok Bahru has helped him pick up financial concepts such as budgeting and money management.

The 20-year-old, who has cerebral palsy and uses an assistive technology tool to communicate, attended a pilot workshop on financial and digital literacy, part of a new partnership by DBS Foundation and SG Enable. The collaboration aims to enable persons with disabilities to live more independently by providing them with financial and digital skills training, and strengthening their support system.

The programme, held in November, was graced by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his wife, Jane Ittogi. 

Sayfullah was accompanied to the workshop by his mother, Madam Fadillah.

“He has learnt to count money and can recognise the different Singapore currency (denominations),” she said, adding that she is pleased with his progress and hopes he can learn to manage his own money independently.

The need to address knowledge gaps among persons with disabilities, especially amid an increasingly digital world, was echoed by caregiver Madam Lim, whose daughter Grace has autism and faces challenges in learning how to be independent and protect herself.

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She noted that although her daughter is very proficient in searching for information online, she still lacked awareness of network security.

Madam Lim expressed hope that her daughter could gain useful knowledge from such workshops. “I worry about how my daughter is going to take care of herself after I’m gone, or who can take my place as her caregiver,” she said.

The need for a more inclusive Singapore

While Singapore ranks highly in digital inclusiveness – it placed first on global consultancy Roland Berger’s Digital Inclusion Index 2020 – the concerns of caregivers such as Madam Fadillah and Madam Lim highlight how gaps still exist among different age and income groups, as well as persons with disabilities.

Digital and financial skills, in particular, are not readily accessible to persons with disabilities, despite being essential for living. In focus groups held by SG Enable – the focal agency for disability and inclusion in Singapore – 80 per cent of persons with disabilities said that such skills are not covered in existing training programmes.

The proliferation of digital technologies and changing national population trends have increased the urgency of addressing the digital divide, as well as the scale and complexity of the task.

The Enabling Masterplan 2030 set out by the government, in collaboration with representatives from the disability sector, noted that the number of students reported to have special education needs in Singapore rose by 5 per cent between 2021 and 2023.

Declining birth rates and shrinking household sizes also mean that the disability landscape will face more issues, including increased caregiving loads for smaller families and care-planning needs for persons with disabilities who may outlive their caregivers.

Working together to make a change

To foster a more digitally and financially inclusive society, and support persons with disabilities on a more strategic and comprehensive level, DBS Foundation in November signed a multi-year partnership with SG Enable.

Both organisations noted that this partnership is an unprecedented one, with DBS Foundation being “the first corporate organisation to partner the disability sector to upskill persons with disabilities on a national scale”. The foundation will contribute S$1 million to this flagship initiative, which aims to benefit some 6,500 persons with disabilities and their caregivers over three years from 2024.

DBS Foundation and SG Enable will leverage their respective areas of expertise to develop a customised learning road map to equip persons with disabilities with essential digital and financial skills. This enables them to live more independently with greater access to social and economic opportunities.

The road map will cater to different disability profiles, including those with autism, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities and sensory disabilities. It will cover a range of topics, including financial concepts from budgeting and money management to insurance, as well as guide participants on the application of these concepts in a digital world, through topics including digital banking, online security and scam awareness. 

Learning will be conducted via a variety of channels such as workshops and e-modules, and will incorporate aspects such as virtual reality and interactive games to make the process accessible and engaging for participants.

DBS Foundation board member Karen Ngui and SG Enable chief executive Ku Geok Boon said a central objective of the partnership is to tackle existing knowledge gaps, which would in turn empower persons with disabilities to face the future more confidently. 

“With the new customised learning road map, coupled with our employees’ volunteerism efforts, we hope to make an enduring impact on the lives of persons with disabilities and their caregivers,” Ngui added.

The partnership with SG Enable is not the bank’s first foray into supporting this segment. POSB, for instance, has continually supported community development and promoted financial literacy by conducting workshops and programmes for both the young and elderly.

Through DBS Foundation, which is committed to uplifting lives and livelihoods in the community, the bank is also able to scale its outreach efforts to underserved segments. Over the past two years, the bank has organised financial literacy workshops for some 4,000 children and adults with disabilities, in partnership with community partners, special education schools and social service agencies.

Building a stronger support ecosystem

DBS Foundation said it plans to cultivate a stronger support system for persons with disabilities. 

Since some caregivers may not be financially and digitally literate themselves, the bank hopes to encourage them to attend workshops alongside their wards.

The foundation and SG Enable will also develop resource guides, toolkits and course materials for caregivers, special education schools and others within the ecosystem, to equip them with the know-how to better support persons with disabilities on their learning journeys. 

In addition, their jointly developed road map includes learning topics such as scenario planning, so that the long-term financial security of persons with disabilities will be accounted for in the event of their caregiver’s passing.

These efforts were welcomed by Madam Lim, who stressed that the vital concepts of money and financial management can be overwhelming for people with special needs, and courses and workshops could improve their understanding of such topics.

“For my daughter, it may take five or 10 years for her to really understand (such concepts), but it is still an important step forward,” she said. “Apart from going out to buy food, my daughter has no contact with other money and finance-related skills, so I hope she will learn to save and manage her own budget through the new initiative.”

She added: “If she can be more independent, she can be less dependent on one other person.”

Providing financial and digital literacy for differently-abled children is most important in today’s evolving world, said Kavitha Sivadoss, vice-president at DBS’ investment and trading technology division, who volunteered at the pilot workshop. There, she engaged and guided participants on the financial literacy concepts taught during the session.

She is herself a mother to a special-needs child, and started volunteering with DBS shortly after joining the bank in 2022.

“I think this is very important, because for parents there is always this question of ‘what happens after us?’,” she said.

“By teaching them these concepts, at least (the children) understand what is a need, what is a want, how to save money, and more.”