Sustainability - this is a term that has been repeated ad nauseam especially in the social and environmental sector. Personally, the phrase “to sustain” evokes mixed feelings in me. Though one may argue that it comes with positive connotations, the phrase makes me think of the endless effort that a person, or a community, would put in just to maintain the status quo.
Now the question is - is the status quo good enough?
This season, we at Skillseed started reflecting more on going beyond sustainability. We’re thinking about growth. We’re thinking about restoration and renewal. We’re taking this season to consider this facet on a deeper level - specifically, how we can add more value to all areas of our work, be it nurturing our junior team members to grow in leadership and management (so that we can put Huijia out to pasture, who is growing increasingly more cantankerous with age, and yes I speak in third person sometimes)
The Skillseed team (left pic) led a recent Learning Journey (LJ) around Singapore for the Year 3 students of APSN Delta Senior School (right pic). The team has increasingly been handling everything from end to end, making our LJs even more inclusive and engaging for all community members with different abilities, and far better than what I was able to execute some 8 years ago.
continually improving or developing new capacity building programmes as we learn more from our communities,
We recently launched a new module, Thriving Teams in our Human-Centred Leadership and Community Engagement training suite! While we aspire to be successful leaders in our personal and professional lives, we sometimes forget that it’s the team that makes the dream work. By letting go of a self-focused approach, leveraging the strengths of our team members and adopting practical approaches based on social permaculture principles, we can create thriving efficient teams in the communities we work with.
or growing our partnerships across all sectors so that we can make more impact, together.
Students from ITE College East
Students from ITE College West
Students from ITE College Central
As part of the GIC Sparks & Smiles programme, we collaborated with youths in ITE to equip them with human-centered leadership and community engagement skills to empower them to grow in confidence and leadership, and to be relational and effective volunteers when working with youths with special needs and disabilities at Very Special Arts (Singapore) and Engineering Good.
Did you know that the average Singaporean household throws away 5kg of food waste every week? That amounts to more than 26,000 tonnes of unconsumed food that is worth $342 million being discarded every year!
The Kitchen Collective, an initiative by a group of future leaders from GSK has launched their website which features the coolest recipes using unconsumed food we have in our kitchens. Head to the website at http://bit.ly/thekitchencollective to find out how you can take concrete steps to contribute in saving our Earth by reducing our household food waste.
We are also heartened to increasingly realise that the lessons that we learned from collaborating with communities the past 8 years have lent themselves to not just improving volunteerism, community engagement or even the professional and personal development of employees in an organization (see Kitchen Collective example above, with GSK’s young talents), but also to facilitating and building intentional dialogues and relationships with everyday citizens.
Sincere thanks to all our wonderful ex-participants who have been sharing our work and recommending us to your network - we couldn’t have touched so many lives without you.
Upcoming events that you might be interested in
Sneak preview session of our Virtual Learning Journeys
Though we had to halt our in-person activities temporarily due to the pandemic, we continued innovating and in fact have virtualised our learning journeys! Not limited by the number of participants (given safe distancing regulations), you can still enjoy the same immersive and enriching Skillseed experience as we explore Singapore's urban landscape through an asset-based perspective.
Join us to identify and leverage the inherent gifts of communities, search for botanical treasures, connect with fellow changemakers, and more. If you’re keen to find out more about Asset-Based Community Development and experience our virtual learning journeys, find out more at www.skillseed.sg/walkshops. If you would like to visualise for yourself what the virtual learning journey experience will be like, write in to us at info@skillseed.sg for a sneak preview session!
ABCD Community of Practice
We invite you to join our ABCD Community of Practice! ABCD CoP is a monthly (virtual for now) gathering of like-minded individuals to explore how we can practise ABCD in our own communities and how we might spread the ABCD methodology within and beyond the social sector. Follow us on our ABCD in SG Facebook page to keep up with our happenings in relation to ABCD! If you would like to join our CoP, contact us at info@skillseed.sg
Restorative corporate team retreat
Not able to travel and want to spend meaningful bonding time with your team? Go on a restorative journey with us! Rest, relax and restore by exploring Singapore’s regenerative communities and practices in a half-day retreat! This retreat is specially designed for corporate teams who want to truly immerse in and deepen their experience of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) responsibility, locally. Experience the ecotone (overlap) between environmental imperatives and social causes while having a rejuvenating time with your team!
Find out more at http://www.skillseed.sg/organizations!