Nurturing Villages and Safeguarding Community: A Case Study of Beyond Social Services

Abstract

Beyond Social Services is one of the few organisations in Singapore that utilises an assetbased community development approach to equip disadvantaged families to solve their own problems. This approach recognises the strengths inherent in communities, and that people are the experts of their own lives — in contrast to a deficiency approach where an expert provides a service to solve problems for clients. To do this work well, community workers have to build trust through long-term relationships. Only when you are embedded and become part of the community can you begin the task of safeguarding the interests of the community — sometimes against formal social services, organisational self-interests, and even the community’s own instincts. This requires constant self-reflection and being comfortable with uncertainty, because communities constantly evolve, as do the partners who want to help. This case study shows that community work cannot be scaled via replication the same way services can, because of the need to adapt to local relationships and circumstances. Instead, community development work should be anchored by a vision of what a good community is, and an ethos that demands embracing doubt and constant self-reflection. What is relevant and meaningful will ultimately depend on the community itself.