The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an increasing pressure on the social service sector to digitalise and meet rising social needs. For social service agencies (SSAs) to make a successful digital transformation, they need to build capabilities, upskill and reskill their workforce to identify the most suitable technologies for their work, integrate technology into the way they work, and ensure that their staff are equipped to reap the full benefits of these technologies.

On 10 November 2020, four Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) and Continuous Education and Training Centre (CETC) - Singapore Management University (SMU), National University of Singapore-Institute of Systems Science (NUS-ISS), Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Lithan Academy – signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with NCSS to uplift capabilities in the social service sector, in order to drive digitalisation and organisational transformation. These courses will cover content across the strategic, managerial, operational and tactical level of an SSA to help them thrive amidst digital transformation, and eventually transform to SSA 3.0.

This forms part of the 2,000 training places for digital training courses that will be made available from Dec 2020 to Feb 2023 for the non-profit sector. These courses will cover content across the strategic, managerial, operational and tactical level of an SSA to help them thrive amidst digital transformation, and eventually transform to SSA 3.0 – one that is driven by committed social service professionals, augmented by volunteers, and enabled by technology, putting end users and Singaporeans at the core.