Social service agency leaders highlight key ways to retrain volunteers

SINGAPORE - Skills training and clear communication of their roles and impact are some key ways to retain volunteers, said social service agency (SSA) leaders at an inaugural volunteer management conference on Tuesday.

At the conference held at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong

spoke on the importance of improving the volunteer experience.

A 2022 survey conducted by the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) found that social service agencies which focus on strengthening their volunteer management practices will see a significant increase in regular volunteers.

Indeed, investing in volunteer management has allowed them to mobilise volunteers and punch above their weight, said SSAs that The Straits Times spoke to.

For instance, Filos Community Services, which operates on a team of 27 staff, hired four volunteer managers to manage nearly 3,000 volunteers. They, in turn, have helped the organisation serve more than 23,000 beneficiaries.

Filos executive director Foo Fung Fong said the organisation launched a programme to match new befrienders with experienced befrienders.

For regular volunteer roles, it provides volunteering commitments in blocks of six months, instead of requiring new volunteers to commit to a year or more from the start. For roles like senior befrienders, volunteers also have the flexibility to arrange when they wish to call and visit the seniors.

Filos also conducts Learning Support Circles for volunteers at its Active Ageing Centre, to provide a safe space where they can share their challenges and support one another.

“We maintain open communication with our volunteers so they know that they can reach out to their programme coordinators and volunteer managers whenever they face any issues or need advice,” said Dr Foo.

As for the suicide prevention charity Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), its chief executive Gasper Tan said that volunteers are put through six to nine months of training and a careful selection process to handle crisis calls.

The organisation supervises new trainees on calls, and staff can step in if volunteers are unable to handle calls, he said.

Due to the emotional toll of the work, the Samaritans takes care of volunteers through debriefs after each call, as well as counselling.

The Samaritans has managed to double its volunteer pool from 200 to more than 400 over the past three years.

It also increased the volunteer pool for its 24-hour CareText WhatsApp service by almost 150 per cent from 2020 to 2021. This has allowed the organisation to achieve a 100 per cent pickup rate for the service.

Others are involving volunteers in developing their programmes.

Several years ago, self-help group Singapore Indian Development Association (Sinda) began to involve volunteers in programme design, delivery and evaluation, instead of only event-based volunteering, said Mr Mohd Irshad, vice-chairman of Sinda’s volunteer management sub-committee.

For instance, Sinda volunteers who were trained in early childhood development and curriculum development started a community-based reading programme for children. The volunteer-driven programme has supported the literacy development of more than 86 children with over 50 volunteers since 2020.

Tackling fragmentation

At the conference on Tuesday, social work practitioners discussed issues facing the sector, such as fragmentation.

Dr Ang Hak Seng, director of the Centre of Excellence for Social Good at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, recounted how he gave mixed rice to a beneficiary who turned it down. When he asked why, the beneficiary replied that another agency would be delivering chicken rice in half an hour.

Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin said in a fireside chat that many organisations often want to help needy residents in certain neighbourhoods, and corporates tend to carry out gifting during festive occasions such as Chinese New Year. He suggested that agencies can propose other dates and services which may be more useful in meeting their organisational needs.

Stakeholders observed that this inefficiency and duplication of work can be prevented by collaboration between agencies, which initiatives such as SG Cares Volunteer Centres attempt to facilitate. The centres, which are set up in each town, mobilise volunteers to meet needs in the community.

For example, Filos was appointed to operate the SG Cares Volunteer Centre @ Bedok, while Care Corner operates the centres at Tampines, Toa Payoh and Woodlands.

The Samaritans was appointed a partner for a programme by the NCSS Social Service Institute, where it provides training to agencies on implementing volunteer programmes.

DPM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, said on Tuesday that the Government will do more to support organisations in adopting good volunteer management practices.

For example, through a new Volunteer Resource Hub, NCSS will provide toolkits to help identify strengths and gaps in volunteer management, and recommendations for organisations to level up.

The SG Cares Volunteer Centres will also provide training on how to recruit, engage and retain volunteers more effectively, and link organisations with partners that can enhance their capabilities.