UNCOMMON DIALOGUE: FROM INTERGENERATIONAL POVERTY TO MOBILITY
On the streets of Singapore, the most expensive city in the world, we rarely see beggars or the homeless sleeping or scavenging garbage bins for food. Many may think that poverty is not a big problem and only affects a small minority. Diving in a little deeper, is poverty only about a lack of money?
What is poverty or more specifically, intergenerational poverty? Are people in poverty because they are lazy or constantly make the wrong decisions? What is the impact of growing up poor and why are they unable to break out of the cycle of poverty?
Join us for the first MWS Uncommon Dialogue about poverty where invited panellists discuss all this and more. This will be followed by a presentation on A Different Stewardship.
Programme
Performance by MWS Beneficiaries
Opening Address
Panel Discussion – From Intergenerational Poverty to Mobility
A Different Stewardship by Christopher Tan, CEO of Providend Ltd
Closing Words
UNCOMMON DIALOGUE MODERATOR Mr Steven Chia
Senior Editor/ Presenter, CNA,
Mediacorp
Steven is an award-winning journalist with over two decades of experience behind him. A familiar face at CNA he currently helms the show Talking Point and podcast Heart of the Matter. Prior to that, he hosted the early morning show – AM Live! as well as evening bulletins such as Singapore Tonight.
UNCOMMON DIALOGUE PANELLIST Dr Irene Y.H. Ng
Associate Professor, Department of Social Work
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore
Irene is an Associate Professor of Social Work and Steering Committee Chair of the Social Service Research Centre in the National University of Singapore. She holds a joint Ph.D. in Social Work and Economics from the University of Michigan. Her research areas include poverty and inequality, intergenerational mobility, and social welfare policy.
UNCOMMON DIALOGUE PANELLIST Dr Mathew Mathews
Principal Research Fellow
Head, Social Lab, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Dr Mathews is Head of IPS Social Lab, a centre for social indicator research and a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore. To date, Mathews has been involved in over seventy research projects, most of them addressing social policy issues.
Current projects he leads include two longitudinal panel studies examining the realities of low-income families and a three-year qualitative study on work and savings behaviour among different family types. He recently completed a study on Intergenerational Poverty.
UNCOMMON DIALOGUE PANELLIST Dr Dennis Chia
Acting Cluster Director, Community ElderCare Services
Methodist Welfare Services
Dennis is currently the Acting Cluster Director, Community Eldercare Services, in Methodist Welfare Services. He is an accredited Public Health Specialist since 2017, and a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, since 2018. He is also an adjunct lecturer in NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and holds multiple appointments in committees in the public healthcare sector. His key areas of interest are in health and social care integration, chronic and long-term community care.
A DIFFERENT STEWARDSHIP PRESENTER Mr Christopher Tan
Chief Executive Officer
Providend Ltd
Christopher has more than two decades of experience in the wealth management and financial planning industry.
Professionally, Christopher is a Certified Financial Planner and a member of the Financial Planning Association of Singapore. He sat on the Management Committee of Securities Investors Association (Singapore) (SIAS) from 2009 to 2017 and was reappointed in September 2022. In 2014, Christopher was appointed by the Singapore Government to be part of the CPF Advisory Panel.