Calling for ideas, initiatives to encourage marriage and parenthood
The National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) in the Strategy Group, Prime Minister’s Office, together with its community partners, will be running a series of engagements to listen to the needs and concerns of Singaporeans surrounding marriage and parenthood, and seek their suggestions for strengthening support. We would also like to partner more Singaporeans and the community in co-creating initiatives to make Singapore a great place for families.
There are several areas and ways in which Singaporeans and community groups can get involved. They can, for instance, suggest ways to foster a more profamily workplace culture, encourage greater sharing of parenting responsibilities between spouses, and create more opportunities for youths to widen their social circles. This initiative to embark on more concerted consultation efforts and partnerships with Singaporeans and community partners was first shared by Minister Josephine Teo (Minister for Manpower & Second Minister for Home Affairs, who also oversees Population matters) at the Committee of Supply Debate in February 2019.
Four Key Channels
A pipeline of engagements is being lined up monthly. Together with community partners, NPTD will be engaging Singaporeans through the following channels in the upcoming months:
1. Hey Baby SG Website
A dedicated section in the Heybaby.sg website has been created for Singaporeans to share their views on marriage and parenthood matters. At this site, they can submit suggestions, as well as get information on upcoming events, consultations and ground-up initiatives by community partners, which they can participate in.
2. Community Events
Such initiatives include the monthly Embracing PArenthood celebrations held at every constituency, Dads’ Day Out event on Father’s Day in June 2019, My Family Weekend and the Family Fiesta @ SAFRA Punggol in September 2019.
3. Workshops and Dialogues
NPTD will be working closely with community partners, as well as different groups in the society, such as youths, employers and parents, to gather ideas and codevelop solutions for marriage and parenthood issues. These engagements will be conducted through a series of workshops and dialogues.
4. Surveys
To gain further insights, we will also be rolling out a series of thematic polls on marriage- and parenthood-related topics, starting from 20 April 2019. Each survey will run for about a month on the Hey Baby SG website. The survey results will also be published on that website.
Singaporeans can also directly give their views and suggestions on these topics at REACH Listening Points. Dates and location of the Listening Points will be published on the Hey Baby SG website closer to date.
Contact Persons
For media enquiries, please contact:
Goh Jing Xian
Email: Goh_Jing_Xian@pmo.gov.sg
Tel: 9648 6226
Toh Bee Hui
Email: Toh_Bee_Hui@pmo.gov.sg
Tel: 9661 0216