Migrant Workers Colabs

The Full Report

We have consolidated the Colabs series’ insights into a full report, but as the migrant workers situation is constantly evolving, the document is a continuous work-in-progress.

Part 1: Context

In Part 1, we set out briefly the historical and global context of the migrant workers situation in Singapore, recognising that the contributions of migrant workers to our country’s progress and prosperity are part of Singapore’s story.

We also include multiple perspectives in migrant workers landscape, grouped according to themes like ‘Coming to Singapore’, ‘Settling in’, ‘Working conditions’, ‘Living conditions’, ‘Healthcare’, ‘Wellbeing’, ‘Businesses and workers’.

Part 2: Our Journey Together

In Part 2, we first explain what we mean by a complex issue, an emergent and changing situation which has no single root cause and requires multiple cross-sector stakeholders to work together on systems-level interventions.

This part also contains our approach for the series. We focused on intensive stakeholder engagement with key players in the space, rather than academic research or large-scale surveys.

Part 3: Complexity Distilled

Part 3 contains the insights gathered from the series.

We first recognise that balance and divergence are two fundamental forces which shape the ecosystem. Balance means that different individuals and stakeholders take significantly opposing directions, making it hard to find a balanced middle ground. Divergence means that there is no ‘typical’ persona of any stakeholder group; we cannot generalise them.

These two forces underpin our seven deep dive insights on the system’s complexity and the lived experiences of stakeholders.

Our participants also co-created three kinds of systems maps to illustrate the size and interconnectedness of the system, and the diversity of migrant worker journeys:

1. The ecosystem and stakeholder maps illustrate who is in the system and how they are involved.
2. In the composite journey maps, we follow two worker archetypes on their end-to-end migration journeys, as well as their typical work and rest days.
3. The issues map underscores the complexity of the system and how different parts link to one another.

Part 4: The Future and You

Finally, Part 4 captures our participants’ co-discovery of possible areas of opportunity. These are not strategic roadmaps, but areas of existing and potential leverage to realise our aspiration statement.

We first outline a suggested theory of change aimed at sustained economic growth and competitiveness, improved well-being of migrant workers, and a society proud and thriving on our other-centredness.

We then deep-dive into the five areas of opportunity identified by our participants:

1. Collaborative innovation around the labour supply model
2. Supporting migrant workers to build a better future in return for their service
3. Empowering migrant workers with accessible information
4. Ensuring migrant workers can lead a decent life with dignity in Singapore
5. A place for migrant workers within Singapore’s collective story and society

For each of these areas, we have detailed the key stakeholders involved, existing initiatives, specific opportunity areas and tactics spread across the short, medium, and long terms, and suggested potential initiatives and partnerships.

Following some possible future state stories, we offer some tools to get you going on your collaboration journey, including:

1. Stakeholder cards are a quick way to find potential partners and consolidate effort.
2. The journey map template provides the starting point to create powerful visuals around the lived realities of migrant workers.

You are also most welcome to get in touch with the Colabs team; we would love to hear from you and connect you with the network. We also want to hear your feedback, comments, and suggestions on the report. We strongly encourage you to get in touch with us via emailing [email protected].