Communities of Care

Our research piece sought to interrogate the processes of community development in Singapore, organised by community partners Beyond Social Services and Yishun Health. Analysing the use of the systematic participatory action-learning Community Life Competence Process (CLCP) in practice, we explored how communities could be empowered to take ownership and solve their own community problems.

Photo: Project team in a Zoom meeting

This project was a unique one. Contrasted with other CTPCLC projects which commonly focused on areas such as programme evaluation or needs assessment, this was a methodological study. Focusing less on the content generated and more on the process of building ownership within the community, participant observations were adopted. Across the span of two months, researchers observed up to thirty community members from two rental blocks in Yishun and its facilitators, over six community health conversations using CLCP.

What were the motivations behind this project?

While community development approaches are increasingly implemented locally, the process of facilitation is not well documented. This motivated the study’s objectives – to document and assess the implementation of community development practices by our community partners. Community development seeks to facilitate solidarity and agency in communities, with the former referring to their shared dreams and identity, and later, their ability to act for themselves.

As an aspiring social worker, I was immediately drawn to the project, given that community work is one of the three key modalities in social work practice. Upon undertaking this project, multiple meetings with the project team and community partners were organised. This enabled us to find alignment between our objectives, and to collectively agree on the study approaches. Thereafter, the project was cleared by the NUS Department Ethics Review Committee, followed by data collection, analysis and reporting by the CTPCLC research team.

Were you able to achieve your initial goals?

Yes, we were. Our project aimed to contribute to a method insight on community development for better praxis among local organisations. After six months of in-depth documentation and analysis, our research provides valuable insights for community builders into the community development methodology and suggests ways for these approaches to be practically implemented in Singapore. This is also especially helpful for me as a budding social worker, deepening my understanding of community development in practice.

On a personal level, this experience enabled me to learn from like-minded peers, and it was invigorating to be a part of a multi-disciplinary and dynamic team. CTPCLC brands itself as a centre that raises Singapore’s next generation of community leaders, which were qualities I saw exhibited among all of my team members. These sentiments extend beyond my project team, and onto the larger CTPCLC community as well. It has been a privilege to grow alongside the talented fellows, professors, and staff, and these opportunities at CTPCLC have enabled me to develop as a community organiser and social worker to be.

What issues did you face as you were working on your project? How did you overcome them?

As our project involves many stakeholders, there were different expectations and interests to consider. Moreover, the process was made more complicated as we offered anonymity to our student contributors in order to protect their identities. Thus, it was crucial for us to ensure that we represent the voices of our contributors accurately when we were serving as the middlemen for different stakeholders. Nevertheless, these were challenges that we expected. After all, one of the objectives of our project is to use the process of curating these publications to work towards a collective vision of inclusivity. While it wasn't easy, working through these challenges taught us how to be better communicators and facilitators.

Community building activity carried out to identify assets (photo taken by Jingxin)

Project Supervisor:
Dr. Satveer Kaur

Note: This project was done as part of the CTPCLC module, CLC2201 Community Development Practicum I.

CTPCLC NUS

Communities of Care