Set up in 1984, the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD) was restructured in August 2014 with the creation of three sub-councils – (i) Employer and Business (E&B); (ii) Family and Community (F&C); and (iii) Educational Institutions (EI) – to better engage and garner support from our business, community and education partners. From 2020 to 2022, ACCORD has made good progress in broadening and deepening the reach and impact of its initiatives to increase support for National Service (NS) and Total Defence (TD) in spite of the pandemic.

ACCORD KEY ACHIEVEMENTS 2020 – 2022

From 2020 to 2022, ACCORD members have continued to scale up and enhance efforts to (i) strengthen community support for defence and NS; (ii) enhance support, appreciation and recognition of NSmen; and (iii) encourage all Singaporeans to play their part to support NS and TD.

Pre-Enlistees

NS Info Sharing for Pre-Enlistees. In 2021, EI council members piloted the Joint-ITE and Joint-Poly NS Info Sharing sessions to help pre-enlistees prepare for NS through online sharing sessions in spite of COVID-19, and 90% of the attendees agreed that they felt better prepared for NS after the engagement session. 17 Junior College/Integrated Programme schools also organised the NS Info Sharing sessions, and over 80% of those who attended also felt better prepared after the session.

Collaboration with Physical Education (PE) Educators. EI council members partnered SAF Centre of Excellence for Soldier Performance (CESP) to organise a 'Train the trainer' workshop for the polytechnics and ITE colleges to share SAF's best practices in IPPT training and adopt new training modalities to improve pre-enlistees' IPPT performance. ACCORD established a community of practice with all the PE educators across all three ITEs, five Polytechnics and 22 JC-IP schools to better prepare pre-enlistees physically for NS.

Pre-enlistees and Families with foreign links

Support for Pre-Enlistees in Foreign System Schools (FSS) / Privately Funded Institutions (PFIs). ACCORD established a network of NS coordinators in all 31 FSS/PFIs in Singapore to manage the growing number of pre-enlistees in these schools and prepare them for NS. This allows the NS coordinators to better support their pre-enlistee students in understanding and anticipating their NS journey. 817 pre-enlistees along with their families from across 19 FSS/PFIs attended the EI Council Joint NS Info Sharing session and 97% agreed that they had a better understanding of what to expect for NS after attending the session.

Virtual BMTC visits for Pre-Enlistees and Families. Beginning in 2020, F&C council members worked with Nexus to organise virtual visits to Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC) for Pre-Enlistees and their families who are Permanent Residents (PRs), New Citizens (NCs) and Overseas Singaporeans (OSs) to familiarise the families with NS. Over 2,500 pre-enlistees along with their families in Singapore and 17 other countries participated in the virtual visits and over 85% of the parents of pre-enlistees indicated that the visit increased their support for their son's participation in NS.

National Servicemen

Engagement of Employers. E&B council members launched a Community of Practice (CoP) of NS Advocates in 2021 to sustain NS advocacy efforts in the E&B community and strengthen support for NS. In addition, the CoP also produced an NS Competency Playbook that helps both employers and NSmen learn about the various competencies that were inculcated through NS.

Support for NSmen's Career Development. E&B council members supported NSmen's career development plans by providing them with complimentary professional memberships. A framework was introduced to provide NSmen with a complimentary 1-year membership with Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI). With the SHRI membership, NSmen could attend curated courses and customised learning and development programmes, attend monthly webinars for professional enrichment and attend job preparation sessions. A package under Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS) was also launched for NSmen to enjoy complimentary MIS Associate memberships for quarterly workshops and MIS courses.

Appreciation and Recognition of NSmen's Contributions. F&C council members organised a SAFRA ExploreSG Virtual Run for TD in 2021 which saw 267 NSmen and their friends or families clock 1,068 runs, demonstrating their support for TD and NS. To commemorate NS55, F&C council members also organised the NS55 Fitness challenge which received overwhelming support from the public. More than 2,400 participants walked more than 550 million steps to show their support for our NSmen. The 'We Support NS' Campaign was also held to rally the community to show appreciation for NSmen and reinforce the importance of NS and Commitment to Defence. Besides the display of heart-warming notes of appreciation from various communities, members also tapped on their extensive networks to onboard a total of 167 merchants with 1,411 outlets as well as 69 online stores across Singapore.

Youths

Engagement of Undergraduates on Threats and Challenges to Singapore. EI council members continued the 'Singapore: Imagining the Next 50 Years' module for undergraduates and also piloted its first Joint-University Webinar series in 2021 to reach out to more undergraduates beyond the module. 178 undergraduates attended the pilot webinar which touched on regional developments, opportunities as well as potential threats to Singapore. Following the successful pilot run, the workgroup nominated student leaders who organised a second webinar on digital threats and how youths could play a part in defending against them. 791 undergraduates attended the 2022 ACCORD webinar, with 99.5% of participants agreeing that they learnt more about the complexities of national and social issues in a hybrid threat environment. Almost all agreed that they would play a part in working towards a better Singapore.

Support for Youths to put Total Defence into Action. Singapore Management University (SMU) and Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) adopted a problem-based learning approach for undergraduates to develop plans to engage other youths on NS and defence. Undergraduates developed Final Year Projects or Module level projects to raise awareness of threats to Singapore and increase support for TD. One of the SMU project ideas titled "Youth Cyber Wellness Workshop" was adopted by F&C council member's Heartware Network youth volunteers. The National University of Singapore (NUS) will also be starting a Problem Based Learning module on TD in 2022. As part of NS55, EI council members engaged 30 student leaders across the three ITE Colleges to brainstorm ideas on how youths can increase awareness and show appreciation for NS and NSmen. ITE colleagues will be implementing their ground-up proposals in the second half of 2022. In 2021, ACCORD received approximately 20 proposals for ground-up initiatives that will be implemented, and the number of ground-up youth-led initiatives for TD is expected to rise in 2022.

Families

Engagement of Families on Support for NS. F&C council members engaged NSmen and their families through #OurNSFamilyCamp. The #OurNSFamilyCamp at the Army Open House 2022 fostered greater understanding of NS and military defence and raised the support for NS and NSmen within NSmen and their families. F&C council members have partnered SGFamilies to organise nine pre-NS webinars to engage parents of pre-enlistees on enlistment and NS matters. Over 900 participants have attended the sessions and the pre-NS webinars have been well received.

Women

Engagement of Women in the Community. F&C council members worked with the youth and women grassroots organisations to organise NS community engagement sessions called "Supporting NS as a Community". The webinars provided a platform for Members of Parliament to engage women on defence-related issues.

Encouraging Women to be Advocates. F&C council members were unable to organise another Women's Boot Camp (WBC) due to the pandemic. Tapping on the good response and networks formed amongst female participants after previous WBC, F&C council members engaged past participants from the 2019 and 2020 iterations who continued their advocacy and support for NS through participation in the publicity and organisation of other F&C council initiatives such as the NS55 Fitness Challenge.