COMPANY OF GOOD

NVPC brings community together to build City of Good

Singapore

"IMAGINING and building a City of Good (a caring and inclusive society) is not something that can be achieved by one individual or organisation," said National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) chief executive officer Melissa Kwee.

For NVPC, working towards improving societal conditions for the underprivileged in Singapore is best accomplished through the efforts of various segments of the community.

With that in mind, the NVPC brought together various stakeholders for its most recent initiative, the Giving Matters Forum. The forum was also attended by guest-of-honour, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu.

Held at Singapore Management University's Mochtar Riady Auditorium on Tuesday, the forum was attended by corporates, non-profits, social enterprises and educational institutions alike.

"Our shared future is created when we choose to face the unknown, believing that we are stronger together and that we are not alone in our efforts," said Ms Kwee.

"The forum was created for the purpose of building a community of givers to take collaborative action," said Jeffrey Tan, NPVC's director of knowledge and advocacy.

The forum allowed various stakeholders to share their thoughts on giving and the development of future social initiative partnerships.

These entities, though varied, share a common goal of wanting to create a more inclusive society through SG Cares, a movement co-led by the NVPC and the National Council of Social Services.

The event's keynote speaker was Dylan Wilk, chairman of social enterprise Human Nature (Gandang Kalikasan). He shared his experience of giving up a fledging career to work on poverty-alleviation and nation-building programmes in the Philippines.

His address was followed by a panel discussion on the different modes of tri-sector collaboration.

Participants also took part in discussion groups headed by 29 thought leaders which included Singtel's vice-president of group sustainability Andrew Buay and former President's Volunteerism & Philanthropy Awards recipient Siti Noor Mastura.

The topics discussed included improving support for people with disabilities, building resistance among the youth and the question of whether the appropriate support has been given to the elderly.

"I hope that through the knowledge shared, they will be inspired to galvanise givers and potential givers to achieve a greater collective impact in building the City of Good together," said Mr Tan.

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