Coordinated Donations to Support Our Migrant Workers More Effectively

1. The Inter-agency Taskforce has received many offers from Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), businesses and individuals, to support migrant workers with donations of food and non-food items. We are grateful for their generosity. 
   
2. The coordination of donation efforts with NGOs and community partners are spearheaded by a team led by Minister of State for Manpower Mr Zaqy Mohamad. Weekly engagements with NGOs and community partners are held to continually assess and coordinate efforts to address the needs of our migrant workers.
   
3. The Taskforce has been working with NGOs such as the Alliance of Guest Workers Outreach, COVID-19 Migrant Support Coalition, Crisis Relief Alliance and Migrant Workers’ Centre, amongst others, to ensure that these donations reach our migrant workers. 
   
   • They reach out to over 20,000 migrant workers daily to deliver a range of care packs, masks as well as food for workers whose meals are not provided for¹. 
   • In addition, close to 70,000 migrant workers have received care packs and other forms of aid provided by volunteers from more than 10 different community groups and NGOs.
   
   
4. The efforts by the NGOs and community complements the Taskforce’s ongoing work to ensure the well-being of our migrant workers. This is enabled through the Taskforce’s partnership with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), to effectively coordinate and match donations to the needs of migrant workers. This has allowed us to expand our reach to support even more workers and channel donations to where they are most needed. 
   
   EFFECTIVE CHANNELLING OF COMMUNITY SUPPORT
   
   
5. Each donation of food or non-food items requires additional manpower and logistical planning to deliver, store and distribute the items to the workers. The Taskforce has been working with NGOs and community partners to plan these efforts in advance so that the necessary arrangements can be made. This will allow the donations to be more targeted to address the workers’ needs. For example, food donations would be less needed in dormitories which are already receiving catered meals.
6. We urge the public who are keen to support migrant workers affected by COVID-19 to visit the SG United portal at www.sgunited.gov.sg/donate. This is driven by the NVPC via its City of Good and Giving.sg platforms. This will allow the Taskforce to continue channelling community support and donations more effectively to those who may benefit most from it. The Taskforce will work together with NGOs and community partners to better meet the needs of our migrant workers.