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Project SPHERE
Housing and Development Board
Singapore

The Problem

Between now and 2030, the number of elderly aged 65 years or older will increase dramatically, from 300,000 to 900,000. 1 in 5 Singaporeans will be aged 65 and above by 2030. As Singapore becomes a greying society, one of the challenges would be to enable our senior citizens live meaningfully and those who are financially well off and socially mobile may prefer to live within their means and expectations. However, there is a group of elderly who are less well off and require extra care and attention from society. This group of elderly poor are found living in HDB rental flats.

Since Aug 1993, HDB has been carrying out the “Project to Improve Living Conditions of the Elderly” jointly with MCYS at selected one-room rental blocks where there are relatively high concentration of elderly households. HDB undertakes the hardware aspect of improving the physical living conditions such as re-tiling the toilets with non-slip tiles, replacement of existing squat pans with pedestal WC and installing flats with alert alarm systems. MCYS appoints Voluntary Welfare Organisations to run activities for the elderly in these blocks and provide a support network within the neighbourhood. The partnership was extremely successful.

As it was recognized that these elderly tenants are largely living alone, HDB introduced another initiative to further enhance the welfare for the elderly living in HDB rental flats and even Studio Apartments (sold flats especially for senior citizens) through Project Sphere.

Project Sphere aims to encourage students to be involved in community-based activites and care for the elderly in a programme that is mutually beneficial, with support from Singapore Pools and Ministry of Education.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The project aims to enrich the lives of the elderly living in HDB rental blocks upgraded under the “Project to improve the Living Conditions of the Elderly” and studio apartments by encouraging students to organize community activities for them. Hence, the key beneficiaries of the project are the students and the elderly themselves. In this project, school students volunteer to enrich the lives of the elderly living in 1 or 2-room rental blocks and studio apartments. These students develop leadership, organizational skills, a high level of commitment and sense of belonging to serve the community, society and the nation during the process of organizing the activities for the elderly. It also instills in the students, a sense of responsibility to the community, inculcate care, compassion and better appreciation of the problems faced by the elderly. The enthusiasm and experience gained from the interaction would bring about more cohesive community living and build up the character of our future leaders.

For the elderly, the various indoor and outdoor activities organized by the students is a platform for them to interact with the young people and learn new skills. For example, students can share with the elderly new trends, devices and information and help them feel connected to the events taking place in their community. The elderly generally enjoy the companionship from the students and feel emotionally uplifted during festive celebrations.

Till date, Project SPHERE has successfully engaged 66 schools to join in this elderly outreach programme to care for the aged living in 54 one and two-room rental blocks and Studio Apartments. 9,913 elderly have benefited from 261 community activities organized in 2006.Some feedback from the elderly and students:

Mr. Tan Ah Kow, 63 YEARS OLD It’s always been my dreams to be able to go on a cruise and now the Senior Activity Corner (SAC) and the school helped me to fulfill it. Ever since I lost both my eye-sights for more than 20 over years, I have been staying at home most of the time. Besides going to the nearby coffee shop and downstairs SAC, my elder sister and I would just stay at home and “watch” TV program. Thank you SAC staff, teachers and students for inviting a blind man like me to join all of you at the Cheng Ho High Tea cruise. I really enjoyed myself very very much.

Kai Huat / Jimmy Hermunto/ Nicholas Ooi , students from ITE College West (Balestier Campus)“I think organizing such activity is indeed very beneficial to us with the senior citizens, we get to interact with them and exchange some very interesting story, opinion and experience, which are never can get it from the books. I also like to thanks the teachers for leading and guidance us during the outing.”

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Project SPHERE – Students, Singapore Pools and HDB Enriching and Reaching out to the Elderly is a community project jointly initiated by HDB and Singapore Pools with support from the Ministry of Education to promote the importance of building a cohesive community.

Other parties in this project include various VWOs that provide the support network at the rental blocks as well as principals, teachers and students of the schools who are involved in Project Sphere.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Through SPHERE, the main objectives are :
a) promote the spirit of volunteerism among the younger generation to care for the elderly;

b) create more opportunities for students and young Singaporeans to develop a sense of belonging and commitment to serve the community, society and nation;

c) encourage community bonding through HDB's physical planning of towns/estates and facilitate interaction among young and old Singaporeans

d) improve the quality of life of lonely elderly residents; and

e) bridge the gap between young and old Singaporeans through social activities to promote better understanding and sharing of experience among them.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Project Sphere was launched on 29 June 2002 by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Defence as a pilot project involving five schools. The schools were Raffles Institution, CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh), ITE East (Bishan), Braddell- Westlake Secondary School (now defunct) and Whitley Secondary School.

On 26 July 2003, then Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development and Defence, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee officially launched the project to go full swing. HDB representatives spent time and effort to link up with more schools to promote the initiative and persuade them onboard.

To date, the 5 pilot schools have grown to 66 schools that are involved in this inspiring elderly outreach programme.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles encountered during this project are building up the awareness of the project and getting the schools to adopt the rental blocks. It was the constant efforts to engage the schools by contacting the teachers in charge, persuading them to take up this project and holding sessions with the schools to clarify any queries that helped to establish Project Sphere.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Singapore Pools has committed $1 million to the SPHERE project. The funds are distributed to the schools to fund various activities such as get-togethers during festive periods, cooking meals for the elderly, house-keeping and cleaning, letter-writing, organising sales of handicrafts made by the elderly, social recreational activities, health-screening sessions, etc.

Each participating school receives $10,000 to fund their Project SPHERE activities at each block adopted under the programme. Participating schools are extended only to Secondary Schools, Junior Colleges and Institute of Technical Education as their students would be more independent and be able to plan and conduct activities for the elderly.

The schools will usually engage the students to come up with a proposal for activities in the whole year. Some of the proposed activities are:
- Festive celebrations eg birthday, Christmas etc;
- Interactive activities eg block parties, chit-chat sessions, games;
- Housekeeping eg repair and replacement of household items;
- Personal grooming eg hair cuts for the elderly;
- Outings to Sentosa, Chinatown and other places of interests; and
- Crafts and hobbies activities.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Singapore Pools has committed $1 million to the SPHERE project. To date, the schools have utilized about 71% of the funds available. We are now in discussion with Singapore Pools on the continuation of sponsorship.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
There are many stakeholders in this project that made this a success. We have received much positive feedback from both the students and the elderly. Clearly, the support from Ministry of Education, HDB management and staff at HDB Branch Offices and participation of the VWOs and schools are essential in making Project Sphere thrive. The schools have organized various activities and brought joy to the lonely old people staying at these rental units.

In addition, the strong support and generous sponsorship by Singapore Pools is also an important element as schools are able to fully dedicate their resources in caring for the elderly instead of having to spend time and effort to raise monies to fund their activities.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Housing and Development Board
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Teo Chye Hwa
Title:   Deputy Director (Estates Services)  
Telephone/ Fax:  
Institution's / Project's Website:  
E-mail:   tch6@hdb.gov.sg  
Address:   HDB Hub 480 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh Singapore
Postal Code:   310480
City:  
State/Province:  
Country:   Singapore

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