Empowering Parents, Children, Families
Single Parents’ Access to Housing
The S.H.E. Project
The Support, Housing and Enablement (S.H.E.) Project was a research-based service that provided stable and decent housing, alongside a transformational support programme, to low-income families headed by single mothers.
From 2018 to 2021, with the support of a generous donor and Daughters of Tomorrow, AWARE set up four apartments across Singapore to serve as housing for 18 low-income single mothers and 21 children. Through quarterly interviews with the mothers, our research aimed to test this hypothesis: If single-mother families have access to affordable temporary housing, they build the capacity and strength to tackle issues such as permanent housing, employment and personal growth.
Our research concluded in 2022 with the release of the report Why Stable Housing Matters: Outcomes of the S.H.E. Project for Single-Mother Families. Significantly, we found that having access to safe, secure housing for at least six months enabled single mothers and their children to secure permanent housing, keep gainfully employed and improve interpersonal relationships. By the end of their tenancy, eight families managed to secure and move out to public rental flats. The remaining residents moved out to rented rooms on the open market or moved in with family and friends. Two in three mothers saw improvements in their employment situations, and the residents’ median monthly income rose from $500 before entering S.H.E. to $1,150 when the Project ended. Residents also expressed feeling safer and happier, and enjoying better relationships with their families of origin.
However, further progress was hampered by challenges that the mothers faced in three key areas: housing, divorce and employment. To address them, we proposed a government programme that could, like the S.H.E. Project, provide housing and support services for unwed mothers and family violence victims for at least two years. We also recommended that the government create a Housing Development Board unit to coordinate services for families transitioning to single-parent households and allow divorced single parents to receive HDB loans and levy waivers.
Our research findings were covered by The Straits Times and Mothership; AWARE’s Shailey Hingorani and a former S.H.E. resident also appeared on an episode of The Straits Times’ In Your Opinion podcast to talk more about the Project. In June, we invited around 30 social workers and academics to The S.H.E. Project: Stories, Recommendations and Lessons, a closed-door event in which we shared our findings and gained insights from the ground. Many attendees were interested in the S.H.E. model and how it differed from existing housing-related social support.
Living in Limbo
In commemoration of the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we collaborated with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY SPP) to organise a panel discussion on housing, titled Living in Limbo: Gender and housing insecurity in Singapore.
The panel featured Jeyda Simren Sekhon Atac, research assistant in the Social Inclusion Project at LKYSPP; Liyana Dhamirah, author of Homeless: The Untold Story of a Mother’s Struggle in Crazy Rich Singapore; and AWARE Project Executive Lee Yoke Mun. Researcher Dr Stephanie Chok moderated the discussion. Presenting both research and personal accounts of homelessness, the panellists spoke about the continuum of housing insecurity and homelessness, the many ways in which people “hide” their homelessness and why stable housing matters to women.
The 60-strong audience was enthusiastic and inspired. Some expressed interest in participating in further research and advocacy towards policies that would better support communities facing housing instability.
Needs of Low-Income Families
Beyond the Bare Necessities
Following the release of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) study in 2021, we held a panel discussion around the question: What is the true cost of a life well lived in Singapore?
Titled Beyond the Bare Necessities: Gender & Minimum Income Standard in Singapore, the panel featured MIS researchers Teo You Yenn and Ng Kok Hoe, as well as AWARE’s Executive Director Corinna Lim and moderator Ng Bee Leng, a long-time social worker. More than 90 attendees tuned in to hear the panellists explain how MIS for various household types were calculated, the impact that gender has on one’s income and the challenges that single parents experience in the face of rising costs. Panellists expressed hopes for fairer allocation of government resources, enhancements in Singapore’s care infrastructure and education, as well as universal wages.
Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Birds & Bees and other workshops
Birds & Bees is a workshop that helps parents start non-judgmental conversations with their children about sex and relationships, through case studies, role-play and facilitated discussions. In 2022, we conducted two runs of our standard three-part workshop, as well as officially launching a new condensed version, titled Birds & Bees: The Essentials, in October. We envisioned that the shorter time commitment would appeal to busy parents. Feedback from participants proved this to be true, with praise for the “great energy”, “openness and honesty”, “brilliant instructors”, “superb information” and the usefulness of the case studies.
We also organised Closed Tabs, Open Conversations: Parenting in the age of online harms, an online workshop on cyber-parenting with Dr. Anuradha Rao from Cyber Cogninanz. Conducted over two sessions, the workshop highlighted major internet dangers for children and teenagers, and provided parents with useful cyber wellness tips.
All in all, around 100 parents were engaged in 2022 across these various sexuality education offerings.
To dive deeper into online harms and generate interest in the above workshop, we held a panel discussion titled Trolls in Your Backyard: Helping your children stay safe from cyberbullying. Moderated by AWARE Executive Director Corinna Lim, the panel featured speakers Dr. Anuradha Rao, Birds & Bees Project Director Tan Joo Hymn, parent Kevin Teo and Joanne Wong, Head of TOUCH Cyber Wellness. Speaking to about 40 audience members, the panellists shared several tips for helping kids process and unpack cyber-bullying and other dangerous online interactions.
Apart from Birds & Bees, the year saw more international schools and organisations approaching AWARE to run comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programmes. We ran workshops for three international schools, including one with neurodiverse children. We also delivered a workshop focusing on bystander support for a student-led programme in an international school, and one for school leavers at another school. Furthermore, we held a four-session workshop for a residential care home for disadvantaged teenagers. The programme was well-received, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from the home staff. With so many diverse workshops under our belt, we now have a rich archive of customised workshops for different audiences.
Finally, we held our very first Comprehensive Sexuality Education Train-the-Trainer (TTT) programme from October to December. Through this, four trainers were equipped with the skills and knowledge to deliver CSE workshops at international schools.
Sex Ed, Declassified
To further fill the gaps in Singapore’s sexuality education landscape, we launched Sex Ed, Declassified in July 2022: an online portal to sexuality education resources, both Singaporean and international, for users in their late teens and older. Developed by a team of staff and volunteers, Sex Ed, Declassified presents a curated list of resources—websites, YouTube channels, a podcast and more—that AWARE assessed to be trustworthy, inclusive and non-judgmental. These were divided into five sections: “Big Picture Stuff”, “Bodies & Health”, “Relationships & Sex”, “Gender & Orientation” and “Singapore Resources”.
Sex Ed, Declassified was met with excitement from the public, garnering coverage in local outlets such as Coconuts and parenting website Honeykids. The website racked up more than 3,000 views by the end of the year, and related social media posts received more than 30,000 impressions. Some weeks after the launch, we held an event called Declassify Sex Ed!, to address in a fun, accessible manner the sexuality education topics young people most wanted to discuss. Moderator Nicole Lim of Something Private podcast facilitated a no-holds-barred conversation between Aina, Elijah and Kamalini, three students and former AWARE interns, who described their own real-life experiences with sex ed. Afterwards, AWARE’s Tan Joo Hymn and Dr Angela Tan of Academy of Relationships and Sex answered audience-submitted questions about sex and relationships.
