Mendaki Report - Empowering low-income families: Documenting the contributions of Family Excellence Circles

I recently chanced upon this research report by Mendaki and will like to share some of the key information in it.

Introduction to Family Excellence Circles -

• In 2005, MENDAKI commenced a new programme, Family Excellence Circles (FEC), better known in Malay as Keluarga AKRAB. These groups brought together low-income Malay/Muslim parents “to interact, exchange ideas, share best practices on how to cope with daily challenges and embrace life-long learning”.
• The rationale for such an initiative was based on the idea that “interactions would help to facilitate the exchange of ideas and the sharing of best practices in coping with the everyday challenges of parenthood”.
• By providing such a platform, it was believed that family resilience would be built, with parents receiving much needed information to deal with family problems. The number of FEC and their overall membership has increased substantially over the last decade.
• As of 2015, there are 45 FEC4 with 630 members in total. Seven groups are Yayasan MENDAKI’s own FEC recruited from programmes such as Tiga M. The rest of the groups are managed by partner organisations such as mosques, Malay/Muslim Organisations (MMOs) and Malay Activity Executive Committees (MAEC) within Community Clubs. The number of partners starting FEC has increased steadily from only one in 2005 to 16 currently.
• Organisations which want to form FEC find their own families using their database of members or beneficiaries. They target Muslim families with school-going children whose total gross household income does not exceed $1800 or have a per capita income not exceeding $450. Members of a group usually reside within a district or locality which makes it much easier for them to attend meetings. However some Muslim organisations have formed FEC to cater to their beneficiaries and families who are battling with illness. In these cases, FEC members live in different parts of the island and receive transport assistance to join in FEC activities.

Programme structure -

• The programmes that FEC adopt are as follows: Each group is made up of about 12 to 15 families. Various family forms constitute the groups - nuclear, single parent and blended families. The groups meet regularly. While most attempt to have monthly meetings, there is some flexibility based on member’s schedules. 
• There are three types of group activities: 
• Bonding Sessions These sessions which are supposed to happen twice a year normally entail families engaged in leisure type activities such as visits to places of attraction, picnics, fishing trips and even short trips to nearby overseas destinations. The purpose of these sessions is to instil a sense of camaraderie among the families which are part of the FEC. 
• Group Support Sessions Groups have about six such sessions annually where they discuss and support each other. They are facilitated group meetings where group members discuss some of the challenges they face as well as what they have gained through their attendance at various workshops. 
• Learning Journeys Learning journeys comprise an important part of the activities undertaken by FEC. During this time, members attend a number of workshops on parenting and financial literacy. They also attend career fairs organised by MENDAKI SENSE and participate in religious talks organized by mosques. When national events such as National Family Week are held, FEC members attend these programmes as a group. 
• Each group is required to conduct six Group Support Sessions, four Learning Journeys and two Bonding Sessions every year

How Family Excellence Circles helped -

1. Social Capital Gains 
• Parenting is emotionally and resource demanding. The FEC structure allowed parents to obtain social, emotional, informational and resource support through social network ties.
• Social Isolation 
• The social ties that FEC provided were particularly important for housewives who felt that they had very little interaction outside their home because of household duties. The FEC thus allowed them to find a group outside their immediate family network to share their problems and find support.
• The FEC provided a legitimate space for these housewives who otherwise were relegated to domestic duties to share their concerns, including those which dealt with their private family lives. They no longer were confined to interactions solely with their husbands and children but were able to greatly expand their social networks. Group membership and involvement in various activities also provided a new status for these women. As previously mentioned by one of the women, she now felt more like a “businesswoman”. 
• Social Support 
• Parenting can be particularly stressful for single mothers, and those who are disabled/chronically ill or have children in this condition. The FEC provided an important source of positive social support, allowing for both friendship formation and advice sharing. 
• The FEC structure with its regular meetings and close interactions allowed participants to build friendships. This setting then made it a conducive platform to seek out those who could best offer advice. 
• Informational Support 
• Previous international research highlights that low-income families are disadvantaged by information asymmetry. They do not have access to information which is often taken for granted by middle class families. The FEC structure was one platform where low-income Malay families could obtain relevant information to navigate the complexities of the Singaporean educational systems. FGD participants often acknowledged that FEC members were helpful in providing them the needed knowhow to manage both their children’s education and their livelihood. 
• FEC members were often alerted to the many resources that were available through government and community sources in the course of their interaction at the FEC meetings. Participants shared in FGDs that while there were many useful resources available, awareness of these resources were limited.
• Sharing Resources 
• The social networks established through FEC also provided members the ability to negotiate various problems through the know-how and skills which were in the repository of different families represented in the group. 
2. Parenting Gains 
• The participants in the FGDs discussed how they had become better parents as a result of their involvement in FEC. Participants shared about the courses that FEC encouraged their members to attend. These workshops were often sponsored by MENDAKI. Special arrangements were made to ensure that their children would be engaged while parents were learning. Subsequent FEC meetings often unpacked the learning points from these workshops and provided members an opportunity to apply learning points to specific contexts. The feedback that FEC members obtained from one another helped to normalise some of the problems they faced and provided them insights into how to better deal with these issues. 
• Some workshops also incorporated the children of FEC members. These sessions were viewed positively as it provided an opportunity for both parents and children to develop empathy. The young gained an understanding of the difficulties that parenting entailed while parents sought to see things from their children’s perspectives. FEC activities which brought families together were helpful avenues for building family harmony.
3. Child Development and Empowerment 
• Many parents were enthusiastic about the FEC because of its impact on their children. They appreciated that there were programmes catered for their children while they were attending FEC meetings. Some FEC arranged for structured, enrichment-type programmes for their children while others offered youth group meetings for the young.
• Participants highlighted that their children received positive social support when they were part of the FEC and enjoyed the social bonds the group offered. They recognised that it was sometimes difficult for their children to share details of their lives, such as the relationships they were involved in, to their parents. However, they were much more likely to share such details with their older peers in the FEC. The older children were then able to provide advice to those who were younger. Parents believed that it was good that their children were getting advice from peers in the FEC context rather than other friends whom they were not familiar with. The FEC structure provided accountability and since the children’s parents were also involved in the FEC, this greatly helped in the communication of different concerns.
• The FEC structure where the youth had their own meetings provided ample opportunities for them to develop their leadership potential. Group meetings allowed for the acquisition of practical skills such as group facilitation, goal setting, and instituting systems and structures for meetings. Some participants mentioned that it was heartening that their youth were able to develop these skills and hoped that they would carry on the tradition of meeting one another.
4. Motivation and Self Development 
• While some FECs focused on providing support for parenting and helping with child development, other FECs were holistic in their approach and also wanted to motivate fellow members to pursue greater personal development. Members shared about the courses they were pursuing and how they encouraged others in their group to embrace these personal-upgrading possibilities. The close knit relationships in these FEC allowed such peer motivation. As a result, a number of participants had achieved better qualifications and therefore new job opportunities.
• Some of these members also explained that the measures they took to upgrade themselves sent a positive message to their children about the importance of lifelong learning and upgrading. Participants also benefitted from budgeting, financial planning and computer related courses, all of which would allow them to realise a better life and avoid future financial mishaps.
5. Overall Impressions 
• FEC excelled in providing much needed support to the mostly female participants of these groups. It allowed them to overcome social isolation and was a useful platform for them to express their frustrations of child rearing. 
• But beyond catering to the social and emotional needs of participants, there was evidence of how the groups were effective platforms to achieve resource mobilisation – there was a pooling of resources and strengths of different family members. 
• The free flow of information allowed members to tap into the different possibilities for themselves and their children – whether it was through tapping onto funds to attend courses for self-development or finding ways to navigate through the educational system. 
• The information sharing also allowed participants to involve themselves in the larger programmes available to all Singaporeans.
• There was also some evidence that the FECs tried to initiate programmes to effect betterment of their current conditions. One group, for instance, was organising a tailored tuition programme for its members. 
• The FEC structure was helpful in the development of children through their youth programmes. Such development has definite long term dividends for the Malay/Muslim community in building leadership capacity among the young. It also provided them a model for community self-empowerment.

Thoughts:

1. I think this is a very useful initiative by a self help organization and allowing the organic group to 'self help' its members. However, I do feel that if there is a professional (such as a volunteer social worker) that can help to look after the group, he or she can provide more inputs especially on the professional development and resources available to help the members.
2. Curious if there are other such types of support by other self help groups! Feel free to share them!

Thoughts anyone?

Yours,

Something Small Thinking Big