Professional blog

Migrant Workers Centre:-

The Migrant Workers Centre is a non-government organization set up in 2009, by the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation. It is the only NGO in Singapore set up by the Government.

MWC’s purpose is to look after the welfare of migrant workers, particularly those in the construction, marine, and manufacturing industries. There are an estimated 1.3 million migrant workers in Singapore, of which more than 300,000 live in dormitories. Since COVID19 began in 2020, working and living conditions have become more restricted for these workers.

Status:

MWC is not registered as a charity. But a separate entity related to MWC, the Migrant Workers Assistance Fund is registered as a charity and conferred Institute of Public Character status. It manages funds that are used to help migrant workers who need accommodation, food, medical care, transportation, and in the case of death, repatriation of the bodies. The operating budget for MWC is provided for by this fund.

MWC faces several communications challenges:

• Needs more effective ways to engage with volunteers via web-based platforms, to aim for higher retention rates and more regular volunteerism rates. The hope is to automate messaging to volunteers as much as possible, generate loyalty messages & simplify processes.
• Seeks to raise the regular volunteerism rate. Among 200 listed volunteers, 15 are helping regularly to complement the work of MWC’s 14 full-time staff. The centre would like to have more volunteers help with events and handle cases for migrant workers.
• Seeks more ways to raise awareness for its services among the community of migrant workers, such as harnessing other web-based communications platforms.