Empowering Singapore’s lower-income families to flourish
Trust + Autonomy + Accountability = Growth
Our Breakthrough Approach
The Empowered Families Initiative (EFI) is a developmental initiative that aims to invest in the plans of lower-income families in Singapore to improve their life circumstances and their socio-economic position.
We don’t focus on needs but on potential. We invest in families and their aspirations.
Resources and Support
Our Three-prong Approach
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Access Grants
Families receive grants to unlock their potential. They have autonomy to utilise these funds to help them achieve their goals, including education, home-based businesses etc.
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Savings Matching
Families are able to build their assets and tap into additional funds through Savings Matching. Savings are matched 1:2 over a period of 6 months with a cap at $1,200.
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Peer Support Networks
Families meet regularly to share their progress and achievements. Through this platform, they learn from one another, encourage and support each other.
We see families as capable and enterprising change agents. We work with them to achieve their goals.
What makes EFI different?
EFI is based on our new Social Contract of Trust, Autonomy and Accountability. It is very different from typical social assistance programs, which largely focus on meeting basic needs.
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We believe families are experts on their own lived experience. We see them as collaborators that are able to contribute to their family’s wellbeing.
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As families are collaborators, we give them the autonomy to decide how to best use resources towards their own aspirations but they are accountable for their own goals through group sharing meetings and monthly progress reports.
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EFI families are ultimately responsible to their success. They are motivated to drive change and make progress towards their own goals. We work WITH them as facilitators.
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We provide grants and opportunities based on families’ goals and aspirations to improve their quality of life, focusing on the longer-term outlook.
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By investing in families and their aspirations, we generate a cycle of possibilities and potential growth.
As part of the EFI program, participants provide us with reports on a regular basis to keep them accountable and measure their progress. We use these reports to diligently track results and measure the effectiveness of EFI. We’re proud to share that a $3300 investment per family leads to the following outcomes:
Results
21%
increase in average income of families
100%
debts and arrears cleared
141%
increase in savings collectively
Meet some of our EFI Families
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Hi, my name is Anna. I'm a single mum of 4. I live with my three daughters. Soon I will be a grandmother too. I have a full-time job as an admin assistant. I am the sole breadwinner. My goals with EFI were to be able to set aside some emergency funds for my family and pursue my interest of making handmade accessories into a home based business.
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Hi, my name is Arifah. I am a mother with 4 children, 2 teenage boys and 2 girls who are in Primary school. I am working full time at a social service agency. What we appreciate about EFI is the program flow. It is very clear. The staff also provides support and most importantly trusts participants to determine their goals.
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Hi, my name is Faridah. I am a single parent living in a 1 room rental flat with my only son. I work part-time as a community connector and I also volunteer in my neighborhood. I have a home based business catering local dishes. I learnt to be more disciplined through EFI and that nothing is impossible.
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Hello, my name is Lyana, I come from a family of nine, including myself. For many years, we lived in a rental flat, but we are excited to be moving into our own purchased flat by the end of this year. Currently, I am pursuing a home based business in the cooking industry. I hope to use my skills and experience to bring my family together and build a family business.
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Hi, my name is Lydia. I am juggling 4 jobs. I live with 5 awesome kids and a super wonderful husband. What I appreciate most about EFI is the opportunity to learn from other families and that EFI trusts families to determine their priorities and that we need flexibility. The Savings Matching is also great. Saving has now become a routine for us.
About Us
We are a group of social service practitioners that have come together to co-create this initiative. Based on our personal experiences and years of working with lower-income families, we are driven by our purpose to create a dignified developmental model of supporting lower-income families. We believe that EFI represents a Breakthrough because we are reimagining and redefining the values of the prevailing social service model towards more meaningful change for lower-income families. We’re proud to have been featured in the OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation 2023 Trends Report as an in-depth case study, launched and shared at the World Government Summit in Dubai, and to have been selected to present our work at the Creative Bureaucracy Festival in March 2023.
Thank you for featuring us!
