A Union member called and enquired on free computer for his child, after hearing a neighbour getting it from a CDC. I scratched my head after hearing that since he was not residing in that district. Its also pretty interesting that he called up the Union. Nevertheless, after clarifying that the Union is not part of Government, I assured him I will find out where and how he should go about applying. Made a call to his CDC to enquire, put on hold after my query, and then asked by the staff to email my enquiry so that the relevant officer will get back to me. Pending stuff runs the risk of failing to follow up, so next call went to the CDC that the member mentioned. After navigating through the automated voice system, posed my query, got channelled to another staff who shared that this scheme is administered by ethnic self-help groups and gave me the number to call. Did a quick Google search and found that the scheme is from IDA. Called in, received a very professional and warm greeting made by Lennie. After sharing the rationale of my call, he understood very well and said that students on Financial Assistance Scheme would be able to apply for co-payment of computer (and 3 years free broadband internet) through the school, which would route it to self-help group, which then submits application to IDA. He went further to share about INSPIRE scheme that allows student beneficiary to volunteer in exchange of earning his/her portion of co-payment. Hurray, I finally got my answers. But it also dawned upon me the tricky gaps abound in a Multiple Helping Hands Approach in social assistance. Such approach requires strong hands, with each hand doing its part to cover gaps within the social safety net. And so he wasnt informed by the school, and would have to make multiple calls to get routed back to the school. Besides the IDA officer, no one asked about the family condition of the member, nor the needs of this member. I certainly hope this is because im calling in as a third party. Informal network with his neighbours and the community (social capital) helped in making him be aware of available schemes. U and I could do our part too by sharing such schemes with neighbours and friends. Never know someone down the road would benefit from it.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 12:53:20 +0000
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