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Befriending Prerequisites

• Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident of Singapore

• Have a good mind and a good heart to support lower-income families/individuals

• Able to speak basic Malay, Tamil, Mandarin or Chinese dialects, or a Southeast Asian language

Commitment

60‒80 h of service work spread over one year. You will provide companionship, support and care for your befriendee(s) through regular contact. Together with your befriending partner, you should conduct home visits once a month, except when you are overseas, and engage in period case discussions with your Ministry of Social and Family Development-Social Service Office (MSF-SSO) field supervisor. In most cases, you are also encouraged to maintain regular contact through ad hoc electronic communications whenever families require.

Training will be provided by MSF and NUS to equip you with befriending microskills and knowledge on volunteerism, ethics and the social landscape. You are free to arrange your befriending schedule in coordination with your befriendee(s), befriending partner, and your field supervisor.

Your tutor will specify a target direct service hours to your befriendee(s) typically of 40‒60 h. This forms your minimum service obligation. To meet this obligation, you have to log your direct contact hours on the Fieldwork Management System (FMS). In most cases, your total service hours will likely be less than 80 h.

You should not worry if you cannot meet the minimum service obligation if the contributing factors are outside your control, e.g. you have not been assigned enough befriendee(s), or your befriendee(s) withdraws from the programme or is unable to meet. You will not be penalized for such extenuating circumstances, provided you have documented them in FMS, and made effort to engage.

Roles and Responsibilities

As befrienders, students will journey together with assigned families to help keep them in good spirits, and help propel them towards stability, self-reliance, and social mobility, by:

• Building rapport

• Sensing families’ level of motivation, challenges and aspirations

• Assessing families’ needs, and following-up with community resources and/or ComLink programmes

• Doing activities with families, such as games, arts and craft etc.

• Nudging families towards achieving their own aspirations, together with SSO officer, by working on an action plan based on their concerns and motivations

Service Work Locations (To be updated The list of locations available for AY24/25 Semester Sem 2 can be found here)

Students may book their preferred service work location from the following service areas. Booking will be granted on a first come, first serve basis.

When students book their preferred cluster, they will be assigned to befriend families within that cluster.
ie. if a student volunteers at the "Bedok / Geylang Serai" cluster, student may be assigned to families at Bedok, Geylang Serai, or both locations.

First Semester

Second Semester