Success of Foreign Worker Ambassador Programme in Increasing Well-being of Foreign Workers

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Manpower how successful has the Foreign Workers Ambassador programme been in increasing the well-being of foreign workers.

Mr Speaker, the Foreign Worker Ambassador programme is a volunteer scheme introduced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in November 2014 for foreign workers to provide peer support to one another.

To date, in partnership with the Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC), MOM has grown this pool of Foreign Worker Ambassadors from about 300 in November 2014 to 2,600 in September 2018. We are encouraged that more foreign workers have come forward to volunteer to be trained as Ambassadors.

Many of our Foreign Worker Ambassadors have said that they wish to "pay it forward", having received help from MOM and other Ambassadors previously. Many of them have also expressed an interest to help their fellow countrymen after settling in Singapore. Having been briefed by MOM on employment rights and regulations, work safety practices and social norms, the Ambassadors act on their own initiative to reach out to fellow foreign workers. Here are some examples.

(a) Mr Molla Mohammad Saifullah, or Saiful, conducts briefing sessions on employment rights and regulations for construction workers like himself. We understand that more than 1,000 foreign workers have benefited from his efforts so far.

(b) Mr Sulthan Kabeer Sahib Bava Bahrudeen, or Bava, together with fellow Ambassadors from the same dormitory, has been going around from one dormitory room to another on weekends to raise awareness amongst foreign workers on a variety of issues. These range from employment-related matters to the prevention of dengue, adherence to traffic rules and how to save water.

(c) Mr Veluchamy Muniapparaj, or Raj, voluntarily provides advice on salary issues to fellow foreign workers, having gone through a wage dispute before. He has helped at least two of them seek assistance from MOM and recover their salaries successfully. We were heartened to know that these two individuals signed up as Foreign Worker Ambassadors thereafter. To further his outreach, Raj started taking Mandarin classes in 2017 to connect with Chinese workers, too.

MOM will continue to work with MWC to grow this pool of Foreign Worker Ambassadors to strengthen peer support networks amongst our foreign workers.