Community Partner Appreciation & Dialogue Session

The Community Partner Appreciation & Dialogue saw over 75 Community Partners join us at the session which focused on the theme of "Reciprocity".

Read more about the event here.

Community Engagement Fair

Community Engagement Fair

Community Insight Series

In view of the COVID-19 situation, the Community Insight Series sessions were conducted online in the form of webinars.

• Community Engagement During COVID-19 – Insights from Volunteers in the Children & Youth Sector 

2 CE student leaders (Ahmad Bin Idris Omar and Noor Syazwina Bte Jamal) shared the impact of COVID-19 on their academic mentoring programme and the various strategies used to engage and help the mentees to adapt to the new normal.

Related news article: Providing An Academic Pillar of Support For Children Amidst the Pandemic

• Connecting with Nature: Insights into Conservation Volunteering (*Curated by SUSS students from the service-learning initiative WILDSMarines)

2 veteran volunteers from National Parks Board (Azmi Bin Mohamed and Bernard Seah) shared their experience and involvement in the field of nature conservation as well as the different roles volunteers can play in contributing to nature projects.
 

Community Engagement Fair

Deepening Our ‘Head, Heart and Habit’ for the Greater Good was the theme of this year’s CE Fair. The week-long virtual event in September saw 1025 students participating in a series of talks, workshops and panel webinars with 63 speakers representing 35 community organisations.

Conference

SUSS hosted the 7th Asia-Pacific and Regional Conference on Service-Learning over 3 days in June. Themed Service-Learning: A Lifelong Journey of Social Responsibility, the conference aimed to address the need to influence and empower youths to actively develop and act on their sense of responsibility. From sharing best practices in service-learning to visiting curated community sites focused on specific social issues, a total of 365 participants, consisting of academics, educators, community practitioners and students, from close to 20 countries participated in the conference.
 

Community Engagement Fair

Held on 25 September, students from the 2018 and 2019 cohort explored the CE opportunities through attending information sessions or community partner booths exhibited at the Fair.

Community Insight Series

• Disabling the Disability and Embracing Inclusion (*Curated by SUSS students from the service-learning initiative Breaking Boundaries)

Apart from providing insight into disability-related issues and acceptance of differently-abled members in society, staff and Inclusion Ambassadors from DPA taught strategies for creating a more supportive and inclusive environment for all.  
 

Conference

The Singapore Service-Learning Symposium held on 12 July was jointly organised by SUSS and Youth Corps Singapore. Themed An Ecosystem for Collective Good, the symposium focused on building a collaborative ecosystem for collective impact. A total of 288 participants from across the education, social service and youth sectors attended the symposium and participated in different breakout sessions.
 

Community Engagement Fair

Held on 15 August, students from the 2017 and 2018 cohort explored the CE opportunities through attending information sessions or community partner booths exhibited at the Fair.

Community Insight Series

• Politics of Menstruation
  Beyond addressing the intersections of women’s rights and environmental sustainability, The Reyna Movement and Live Love Luna debunked myths surrounding menstruation and provided information on alternative feminine hygiene products that are available for menstruating individuals.   
   
• Impactful Applications of Service-Learning: Active Ageing and Art Facilitation
  Associate Professor Thera Chiu (Taipei Medical University) and Associate Professor Sophia Law (Lingnan University) shared how the intertwining of academic knowledge and community-needs based application in service-learning projects can result in a positive impact on the community. 
   
• ImagineAction Act 2: Environment and Sustainability
  2 speakers (Benjamin Tay and Lim Cheng Puay) were invited to share their stories and work in the environment and sustainability field, as well as share their personal journey as environmental sustainability influencers. Participants also explored the role and value of individual and collective action in creating environmental change. 
   
• The Power of Partnerships: Capacity Building through Service-Learning
  Assistant Professor Judy Yeh (National Sun Yat-Sen University) facilitated a two-day workshop to strengthen both partnerships between the community and student, as well as civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education.
   

Service-Learning Fair

Held on 2 August, students from the 2016 and 2017 cohort explored the service-learning opportunities through attending information sessions and visiting the community partner booths exhibited at the Fair. Students also had the opportunity to go on learning journeys to community sites and explore existing social issues.

Community Insight Series

• Saving Tigers Together
  Dr Kae Kawanishi (Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers) shared her experience as a tiger biologist and the role Singaporeans can play in wildlife conservation efforts. 
   
• Inclusive Education and Inclusive Community
  Professor Roger Slee (University of South Australia) addressed the issue of inclusion and advocated for a re-visioning of
   
• Research on Service-Learning in The Asian Context
  Dr Carol Ma (Lingnan University) highlighted the importance of big data in service-learning and how smoother integration among students, community partners, and faculty is the way forward for service-learning.
   
• Professional Development and Certification in Service-Learning
  Through a dialogue session with Professor Timothy K Stanton (Stanford University), service-learning practitioners in Singapore reflected on the pedagogical challenges to high quality service-learning from conceptualising to evaluation. 
   
• Evaluating Service-Learning Collaborations: How do we know if Service-Learning is effective?
  The theoretical and conceptual underpinnings shared by Dr Robert Shumer (University of Minnesota) on developing and measuring impact of Service-Learning efforts encouraged participants to think deeper into issues pertaining to Service-Learning in the local context. 
   

Conference

The National Service-Learning Conference held on 3 March was jointly organised by SUSS and Youth Corps Singapore. Themed Learning to Serve: From Self to Community, the conference brought together individuals from the education and youth sector. The 300 educators, youth leaders, and youth sector professionals took away in-depth service-learning knowledge focused on youth development.
 

Service-Learning Fair

Held on 4 October, students from the 2015 and 2016 cohort explored the service-learning opportunities through attending information sessions and visiting the community partner booths exhibited at the Fair.

Community Insight Series

• Planting Seeds of Hope: Values in Action through Roots & Shoots
  Dr Jane Goodall (World renowned primatologist, ethologist and conservationist) shared the origins of the Roots & Shoots programme as well as efforts that can be done at the individual for youths to take ownership and make a difference in the community.
   
• The Role of Service-Learning in Higher Education and Beyond
  Professor Timothy K Stanton (Stanford University) shared the history of the development of service-learning in higher education, theoretical frameworks for related curricula and principles, as well as examples of practice. He highlighted how learning-service is equally important as service-learning in order to build a positive culture of service, and that learning about real community needs ensures that the community benefits from the service.
   
• Rethinking Service: Who’s Really Helping Whom
  Other than sharing their experience serving and assisting marginalised indigenous communities in remote areas throughout Indonesia, Butet Manurung and Aditya Dipta Anindita (co-founders of SOKOLA) also discussed the ethical considerations of reciprocal and respectful engagement with communities. 
   

Service-Learning Fair

Held on 23 September, students from the 2014 and 2015 cohort explored the service-learning opportunities through attending information sessions and visiting the community partner booths exhibited at the Fair.