RESILIENCE TRAILS
In partnership with Allkin Singapore
Embark on a Learning Journey
of Empowerment, Empathy and Endless Possibilities
Launched in early 2022, Skillseed’s Resilience Trails™ is a place-based, asset-driven and community-led programme that provides flexible, high wage and home-oriented work opportunities to lower-income families, through the medium of paid community trails in our Community Guides’ neighbourhoods.
Our Community Guides include persons with disabilities, single mothers and other individuals from under-resourced families who are unable to gain permanent employment due to their lack of credentials, hefty caregiving responsibilities and a confluence of complexities in their lives. Almost all of our Community Guides live in rental flats. Our pilot neighbourhood is in Ang Mo Kio, and we are expanding soon to other communities in Yishun and in Woodlands/Sembawang in early 2025.
Beyond simply being a means to boost the earnings of our Community Guides, the Resilience Trails™ further serve as a platform that promotes the agency, voice and dignity of our Guides, by drawing out their personal stories and strengths without downplaying their challenges. Participants who experience the trails gain deeper empathy, understanding and appreciation of our vulnerable communities’ lived experiences. Finally, the trails also placemake, as they highlight and connect the various community assets, thus becoming a springboard for community collaboration and convening.
Skillseed’s Community Guides are either former or current beneficiaries of family service centres in their respective neighbourhoods. More importantly, despite personal challenges, our Guides are all active volunteers and contributors to their community.
Who might our trails be suitable for?
Our trails are suitable for participants aged 15 and above. We have facilitated our trails with corporates, social sector partners, government agencies and schools to achieve different learning objectives, such as to build greater civic identity and capacity, promote deeper understanding between different segments of society and spark collaborations with the ground for greater social impact.
We welcome all who are interested in investing in the power of community capital.
YOU can make a difference.
The 2.5h that you spend on these consciously co-created trails will impact our guides on the following three levels.
Every step you take empowers the voice, agency and assets of our guides in an authentic manner.
Financially, your support goes towards providing our guides with dignified, flexible and home-oriented employment at respectful remuneration rates, enabling them to earn as much as 6 - 7 times the hourly rate of a typical F&B service crew.
To lower our Guides’ bandwidth tax and to honour their time, all of our Guides are paid not just for the trails but also during their training and onboarding.
This provides them with more time, resources, and bandwidth to care for their families, thus building a positive cycle in the longer term. By engaging our guides in these trails, you will contribute to building better futures for our Community Guides and their families.
About Our Trails
Currently anchored in the Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood, each trail is uniquely themed and co-designed based on each Guide's strengths and lived experiences.
Duration: 2.5 hours
Dates: Upon request and subject to availability
Language: English
Trail Area: 2024 - Ang Mo Kio Neighbourhood (route varies between every trail). In 2025, we will be expanding our Trails to Yishun and other neighborhoods and communities - so watch this space!
No of pax: 10-15 participants for each trail led by a Community Guide
Fees per trail: Upon enquiry
In this learning trail, we will
Hear firsthand from our Community Guides on their journey of empowerment from a beneficiary to an active volunteer
Contrast our initial assumptions & perceptions with newly gained perspectives of the community
Observe and identify the strengths of the individual, community and environment, and how they have created value to further develop the community for themselves
Consider how to adopt an asset-based lens / approach in our daily lives / respective fields of work
Our Impact
Click to learn more about the impact of Resilience Trails on our Community Guides!
As seen on
OUR GUIDES
Here are our Community Guides! Click on their names to read their full profiles and learn more about them.
“It is not the magnitude of our actions but the sincerity behind them that makes a difference”
“Hope that through love and listening, we can help others in need.”
“You don’t need a reason to be good to others.”
“If you listen properly, you will surely find and learn something.”
"There will always be light at the end of the tunnel."
“I hope people know it’s okay to ask for help and know where to seek help when they need it. #donotfeelpaiseh”
"I may not have money to give to others, but I can contribute my time and energy!”
our Graduated guides
“Everyone deserves a chance, especially those who wish to turn over a new leaf despite their past.”
AN EXCLUSIVE PEEK
into how we brought our Trails to life
Enjoyed reading about our Resilience Trails and Community Guides?
Click here for an insider perspective of our dynamic yet heartwarming programme.
How might our Resilience tRails meet your CSR or Professional development needs?
Deepen learning for your team
Engage us for in-classroom training in any of our recommended stakeholder engagement modules (e.g. Dignity, Empathy etc.) and stack them up with the Trail experience as a practicum
Experience how these concepts manifest on the ground through intentional design and implementation
Multiply returns on sponsorship
Sponsor the onboarding of new Guides and/or the ongoing refinement of our current Guides’ trails
Gain opportunities to journey with our Guides behind the scenes before getting first dibs on experiencing the final version of your sponsored Guide’s trail together as a team
Purposeful Skilled Volunteerism
Combine a Trail with a skilled volunteerism element with us and/or our Guides
Encourage fellowship between your team members, deepen their sense of purpose, and strengthen your team’s notion and value of corporate social responsibility
Interested in arranging a curated neighbourhood trail for your organisation?
If you are keen to join a trail, please let your organisation know so that we can organise a group trail for you.
If you are keen to embark on one of our trails, do email us at info@skillseed.sg to further the conversation.
Find out more by downloading our information deck here.
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