Singapore needs 3,000 more volunteers by 2030 as roles expand

Recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award, Mrs Mildred Tan, chair of Singapore University of Social Science (SUSS) Board of Trustees and Chair of Singapore Totalisator Board (Tote Board), on Oct 5.

ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI

Published Oct 23, 2026, 08:00 PM

Updated Oct 23, 2026, 08:00 PM

Singapore needs 3,000 more regular volunteers by 2030 as MSF expands roles in befriending, mentoring and family support.

New schemes include Project Care, Transition Support Companions and Youth Home Mentors, with plans to grow the first two to 300 volunteers by 2027.

Volunteer veteran Mildred Tan said service starts with “I want to help”, and MSF gave 266 awards to recognise volunteers, groups and partners.

SINGAPORE – Singapore needs 3,000 more people by 2030 to volunteer their time and contribute to areas like befriending, mentoring and family support.

The need for more regular volunteers comes as the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) expands the role they play in helping individuals and families.

Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said on Oct 23 that volunteer work is evolving, with volunteers increasingly taking on roles that involve helping individuals and families work towards specific goals, building longer-term relationships with them, and eventually leading other volunteers or programmes.

For instance, volunteers at youth homes who previously served mainly as befrienders can now take on mentoring roles, working with staff to understand each young person’s goals and provide structured guidance through their rehabilitation and eventual return to the community.

Experienced volunteers will also have more opportunities to lead programmes, mentor newer volunteers and help shape initiatives, he said at the MSF Volunteer and Partner Awards 2026, held at Paradox Singapore.

Masagos noted that some organisations have mobilised volunteers on a larger scale. More than 1,100 NUS students have volunteered with ComLink+ families through a course co-created by the university and MSF, contributing more than 20,000 volunteer hours.

Volunteer Mildred Tan, 68, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony, has served MSF for more than 25 years in areas including women’s development, strengthening families and protecting vulnerable individuals.

Her introduction to volunteering came through her mother, who would take her children along to help from the time Tan was about 10.

Her experience reflects the value of sustained involvement that Masagos highlighted. He said such efforts reflected a broader move towards volunteers staying involved for longer and taking greater ownership of the people and causes they support.

“Meaningful change takes time and is rarely linear,” he said, adding that trusted relationships could give children and families the encouragement and stability they need to navigate setbacks.

Among the new volunteering initiatives being piloted is Project Care, under which students pursuing or having completed master’s-level counselling programmes provide counselling-informed support to families.

The students will help families process their emotions, better understand their children’s needs and behaviour, and build confidence in parenting and care.

Another new initiative, Transition Support Companions, will pair volunteers with children and young people in out-of-home care to provide them a stable, trusted adult presence as they move between care settings.

The volunteers will provide continuity and emotional support during such transitions, with the aim of helping children adapt to new environments and relationships, and supporting placement stability and reunification efforts.

The MSFCare Network has begun piloting both initiatives and plans to expand them to 300 volunteers by 2027.

MSF said the shift in volunteerism reflects an effort to make volunteers a more consistent part of the support network surrounding individuals and families, while complementing the work of professional teams.

Even as volunteering takes on more structured and specialised forms, Tan, who is chair of Singapore University of Social Sciences Board of Trustees, said its motivation remained simple: a desire to make a difference.

Looking back at how volunteering has changed, Tan said efforts had become increasingly structured over the years, including through companies and organisations that could mobilise large groups of volunteers rather than recruiting them one by one.

But she said volunteering should remain accessible even to people who could give only a small amount of time.

“Volunteerism must be something like ‘I want to help’, and it starts with a simple act,” she said.

She gave the example of a woman she knows who cooked soup for a neighbour who had undergone an operation. The gesture eventually developed into a friendship, with the woman later offering to help her neighbour buy groceries when she went to the supermarket.

“If I can give one hour of my time on a weekend, great. If I can give only one hour in a month, that’s also great,” Tan said.

“It should be something that you’re happy to do, and you want to do.”

She hopes volunteering can also become something passed down between generations.

Tan recalled helping her mother run a drinks stall at fund-raising fairs for a children’s charity, which exposed her to volunteering from a young age.

She later joined the Girls’ Brigade in school and volunteered as a tuition teacher for children at a home on Saturdays.

Tan said she has since tried to pass the same values on to her son.

“Hopefully, my son will pass these values on to his children,” she said.

She added that volunteering did not have to stop when people entered different stages of life.

“Being a volunteer, you can keep contributing year after year, even when you’re married. Even when you are a mother or grandmother, you can still continue contributing.”

MSF presented 266 awards at the ceremony to recognise volunteers, organisations and partners in the social service sector. Tan was the sole recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ministry of Social and Family Development

10月5日，新加坡社会科学大学（SUSS）董事会主席兼新加坡博彩管理局（Tote Board）主席陈美玲女士荣获终身成就奖。

ST 摄影：AZMI ATHNI

发布于2026年10月23日晚上8点

更新于2026年10月23日晚上8点

到 2030 年，新加坡需要增加 3000 名定期志愿者，因为无国界医生组织正在扩大其在陪伴、指导和家庭支持方面的作用。

新计划包括“项目关怀”、“过渡支持伙伴”和“青年之家导师”，并计划到 2027 年将前两项计划的志愿者人数增加到 300 人。

资深志愿者 Mildred Tan 表示，服务始于“我想帮助别人”，无国界医生组织颁发了 266 个奖项，以表彰志愿者、团体和合作伙伴。

新加坡——到 2030 年，新加坡需要 3000 名志愿者贡献时间，为诸如结伴、指导和家庭支持等领域做出贡献。

随着社会及家庭发展部 (MSF) 扩大其在帮助个人和家庭方面所发挥的作用，对更多常规志愿者的需求也随之增加。

社会及家庭发展部长马善高于10月23日表示，志愿工作正在不断发展，志愿者越来越多地承担起帮助个人和家庭实现特定目标、与他们建立长期关系，并最终领导其他志愿者或项目的角色。

例如，以前主要担任陪伴者的青年之家志愿者现在可以承担导师的角色，与工作人员一起了解每个年轻人的目标，并在他们的康复和最终回归社区的过程中提供结构化的指导。

他在新加坡 Paradox 举行的 2026 年无国界医生组织志愿者和合作伙伴奖颁奖典礼上表示，经验丰富的志愿者也将有更多机会领导项目、指导新志愿者并帮助制定计划。

马萨戈斯指出，一些机构已经更大规模地动员了志愿者。超过1100名新加坡国立大学的学生通过该大学与无国界医生组织联合开设的课程，在ComLink+项目中为家庭提供志愿服务，累计志愿服务时间超过2万小时。

68岁的志愿者米尔德里德·谭在今年的颁奖典礼上获得了终身成就奖，她已在无国界医生组织服务超过25年，服务领域包括妇女发展、加强家庭建设和保护弱势群体。

谭从小就接触志愿服务，这要归功于她的母亲。从谭10岁左右起，她的母亲就会带着孩子们一起去帮忙。

她的经历体现了马萨戈斯所强调的持续参与的价值。他表示，这些努力反映了一种更广泛的趋势，即志愿者们将更长时间地参与其中，并对他们所支持的人员和事业承担更大的责任。

“有意义的改变需要时间，而且很少是线性的，”他说，并补充说，信任的关系可以给儿童和家庭带来他们应对挫折所需的鼓励和稳定性。

正在试点的新志愿服务计划之一是“关爱项目”，该项目让正在攻读或已完成硕士级别咨询课程的学生为家庭提供咨询方面的支持。

学生们将帮助家庭处理情绪，更好地了解孩子的需求和行为，并建立育儿和照顾孩子的信心。

另一项新举措“过渡支持伙伴”将为寄养儿童和青少年安排志愿者，在他们转换照护机构时，为他们提供稳定、值得信赖的成年人陪伴。

志愿者将在这样的过渡时期提供持续的关怀和情感支持，旨在帮助儿童适应新的环境和人际关系，并支持安置稳定性和家庭团聚工作。

MSFCare Network 已开始试行这两项举措，并计划到 2027 年将其扩大到 300 名志愿者。

无国界医生组织表示，志愿者工作的转变体现了让志愿者成为围绕个人和家庭的支持网络中更稳定的一部分的努力，同时补充了专业团队的工作。

尽管志愿服务的形式越来越规范化和专业化，但新加坡社会科学大学董事会主席陈先生表示，志愿服务的动机仍然很简单：渴望有所作为。

回顾志愿服务的发展历程，谭表示，这些年来，志愿服务变得越来越有组织性，包括通过公司和组织动员大量志愿者，而不是逐个招募。

但她表示，即使是那些只能贡献少量时间的人，也应该有机会参与志愿服务。

“志愿精神应该源于‘我想帮助别人’的想法，而它始于一个简单的行动，”她说。

她举例说，她认识的一位女士曾为一位刚做完手术的邻居煮汤。这一善举最终发展成了友谊，后来这位女士还主动提出在邻居去超市时帮她买菜。

“如果我周末能抽出一个小时，那就太好了。如果我一个月只能抽出一个小时，那也很好，”谭说道。

“这应该是你乐意去做，并且你想去做的事情。”

她希望志愿服务也能成为代代相传的传统。

谭回忆说，她小时候经常帮母亲在儿童慈善机构的筹款集市上经营饮料摊位，这让她从小就接触到了志愿服务。

后来，她在学校加入了女童军，并在星期六到寄宿家庭做儿童辅导老师的志愿者。

谭女士表示，她此后一直努力将这些价值观传递给她的儿子。

“希望我的儿子能把这些价值观传承给他的孩子们，”她说。

她补充说，即使人们进入人生的不同阶段，志愿服务也不必停止。

“作为一名志愿者，即使结婚后，你也可以年复一年地贡献力量。即使当了母亲或祖母，你仍然可以继续贡献力量。”

无国界医生组织在颁奖典礼上颁发了266个奖项，以表彰社会服务领域的志愿者、组织和合作伙伴。谭女士是终身成就奖的唯一获得者。

社会及家庭发展部