How Working Together Matters

Adversity, Aspiration, Action

Foreword by Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister, Republic of Singapore)

This book is about the art and science of finding solutions to helping families in crisis, and making a real and lasting positive difference in their lives. It is about helping people in need, as well as lessons on adversity, aspiration and action when multiple different stakeholders work together in the helping process. The book is organised into two parts. Part 1 discusses the issues in an unprecedented real-life interim housing project in Singapore that helped families in crisis over several years. Part 2 contains chapters critically reflecting on the experiences and lessons learned from the helping process in this project. Collectively, the chapters in this book address salient questions on helping people in need and implications for building a strong Singapore society.

Contents:

• About the Editor

• About the Contributors

• Foreword by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

• Preface by Professor David Chan

• The Art and Science of Finding Solutions to Families in Crisis: A Journey of Project 4650:

  • Project 4650 and Strengthening Support for Rental Communities (Desmond Lee)
  • Housing & Development Board (HDB) and the Interim Rental Housing (John Lim)
  • Multi-Stress Families in a 'Homeless' Context: Journey towards Empowerment (Sudha Nair)
  • Lessons from Project 4650: Practice and Policy (John Lim, Sudha Nair & Stanley Fong)
  • Helping Matters: Getting the Science and Practice Right (Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, David Chan & Moliah Hashim)

• Critical Reflections on the Helping Process:

  • Societal Progress and Social Assistance: The Singapore Context (Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman)
  • From Differences to Determination: The Dynamics of Working Together in the Helping Process (Sudha Nair)
  • Working Together Matters (David Chan)

Readership: General public, civil servants, NGOs, academics, school teachers; researchers and students in social and behavioural sciences.
Key Features:

• This is the first book that examines the various policy, political, social, and behavioural issues concerning practical issues of multiple stakeholders working together to help families in crisis in Singapore, using a real-life multi-year project as an example to illustrate the urgent and complex issues. These issues have continuously received wide public and policy attention both in and outside Singapore
• The speakers and panelists are ministers, academics and practitioners who are leaders in their respective areas and they approach the topic by providing an informative review, presenting a state-of-the-art analysis, identifying critical unresolved issues and proposing innovative solutions to the problems identified
• The speakers and panelists are well-known locally and internationally, not only to academics, practitioners and public intellectuals but also to the general public audience. The wealth and diversity of experience, reputation and influence of this set of authors will provide a very wide reach and multiplier effect in the readership market
• The book, with Part 1 based on the presentations and panel discussions in the symposium held in July 2018, is written in an active style which will make it highly engaging for the reader