Singaporean doctors lend medical assistance in rural areas.

Courtesy Singapore International Foundation

Singapore Volunteers Overseas help disadvantaged communities.

Courtesy Singapore International Foundation

Singaporean youth experience foreign cultures while helping those in need.

Courtesy Singapore International Foundation

“We want to encourage Singaporeans to be citizens of the world,” says Haris Manaf, Director of Corporate Affairs at the Singaporean International Foundation (SIF), summing up the mission of his non-profit organization.

With 80 percent of its funding from the Government of Singapore and the remainder from private sources, SIF has established an impressive menu of programs at home and abroad aimed at enabling Singaporeans everywhere to be more responsible world citizens and encouraging friendships to form with people in other countries. A second important goal of the foundation is to help Singaporean citizens living abroad to stay in touch with their homeland.

SIF seeks to connect Singaporeans through voluntarism, business development, arts, culture or academia. The organization uses a wide variety of platforms to help Singaporeans become more international in outlook while staying Singaporean at heart.

Singapore Volunteers Overseas (SVO)
SVO takes the approach that people of different communities and cultures can learn from one another. Similar to America’s Peace Corps volunteers, SVOs are sent to provide help where it is most needed in communities in developing countries. Simultaneously they also learn more about themselves and the world they live in. Through work - either as individual volunteers or members of Specialist Teams - they empower their local counterparts with skills and expertise that enable them to be catalysts for growth and change.

So far there are about 1,000 volunteers working in less developed countries, particularly in ASEAN countries. SIF’s Haris Manaf says the program’s target is to recruit 8,000volunteers. One positive effect for the participants, he says, is that their experiences working in less fortunate economies give them important perspectives on their own situations back home.

The first SVOs were a team of dentists and nurses who went to the Philippines in late 1991. Since then, the other countries served have been Bhutan, Botswana, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Friends of Singapore (FOS)
This program builds a network of international friends and contacts for Singapore. Through FOS Singapore hosts visitors from all over the world, ranging from eminent world and leaders, and legislators to civil servants, journalists and academics. The program strives to develop strong people-to-people links in many areas of endeavor through visits, exchanges, fellowships, scholarships and grants. FOS helps build cross border relationships that keep Singapore engaged in a global economy.

Every year, SIF hosts about 50 students from ASEAN universities to study at Singapore’s tertiary institutions and technical schools for one semester. The ASEAN fellows have a chance to live and study with Singaporeans and get to know their way of life. SIF also invites eminent statesmen and senior government officials from the region and around the world to share their experiences with their counterparts in Singapore. Since 1995, SIF has hosted distinguished leaders from Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, France, Germany, Great Britain and the U.S.

Overseas Singaporeans (OS)
This program maintains relationships with Singaporeans abroad by keeping in touch with them and offering support for activities that strengthen their Singaporean identity. SIF creates platforms for Singaporeans everywhere to exchange information, engage in dialogue and participate in joint projects.

Youth Expedition Project (YEP)
The YEP aims to prepare Singapore’s youth to be world-ready – enabling them to initiate, plan, lead and participate in overseas expeditions to implement community service projects. A unique feature of this program is its facilitated learning process designed by instructors who are well trained in the field. Pre-expedition training, the three-week field expedition and a follow-up program assist youth in finding wider application for their talents and experience.

Humanitarian Relief Program
This is a voluntary program that supports Singaporeans who want to lend a hand in providing relief and assistance to communities affected by natural disasters. HRP maintains a database of volunteers who are trained and ready to embark on relief missions. Frequently working in concert with other disaster relief agencies, HRP has sent its volunteers to many disaster areas, including a team of doctors and nurses to Orissa, India to help over 3,500 flood victims in 2001, a team of engineers to Baray, Cambodia to inspect and disinfect 130 polluted wells in the aftermath of a flood in 2000, and a team of doctors to Uvs, Mongloia following an appeal for help for burn victims of a helicopter crash in 2001. The program provides follow-up support for teams returning from disaster areas and financial support and logistical assistance for volunteer teams.

For further information, see www.sif.org.sg.