The Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) will focus on the personal development of migrant domestic workers in 2023 and continue promoting awareness on the importance of upskilling and reskilling amongst migrant domestic workers.
CDE gave the update on 18 June 2023 at the NTUC May Day Domestic Employees Celebration 2023. The event was held at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability.
CDE added that it will reach out to the migrant domestic worker community to promote and create awareness about the importance of upskilling and reskilling.
The centre is also working to identify partners to pilot essential caregiver training programs, such as infant care and eldercare for domestic workers to better support their employers with caregiving.
CDE Executive Director Lynn Koi said: “The caregiving training will help them [migrant domestic workers] in their current work because when many of the migrant domestic workers come here, their main jobs or scope is ready for household chores. But we are seeing more and more of them having to take up the role of a caregiver.
“Most of them are not well trained in this area yet. We hope that through this upskilling process, they can have better, proper training so they can cope better at work.’’
Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang, who was guest of honour at the event, highlighted CDE’s partnership with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Together the two organisations have opened three CDEConnect centres, with 1,500 ambassadors to support migrant domestic workers and recreational programmes.
“Today, we celebrate our migrant domestic workers’ contributions to our families and households. Together with valued partners like CDE, MOM will continue to strengthen the ecosystem of support for our domestic workers," said Ms Gan.
About 1,000 migrant domestic workers attended the NTUC May Day Domestic Employees Celebration.
The event featured a TikTok performing arts competition that commenced in March 2023 and concluded with a physical celebration on 18 June. Participants enjoyed activities such as face painting, caricature, balloon sculpting, performances, and a lucky draw.
The event was organised by NTUC and CDE to recognise the contributions of migrant domestic workers in Singapore.
Erna Ningrum, an Indonesian CDE volunteer who has worked in Singapore for eight years, shared that CDE has provided workshops to diversify her skills.
“I joined CDE and made a lot of friends from many countries. We have workshops with DBS to learn about anti-scams and how to send money. We also have AED [first-responder workshops],” she said.
