About 140 projects helped more than 270,000 Singaporeans embrace digitalisation as a lifelong pursuit
SINGAPORE – 04 NOV 2022
The Digital for Life (DfL) movement has reached another milestone today, with the DfL Fund exceeding its fundraising target of $10million this year through partners’ donations from DBS Foundation, Netlink Trust, UOB and Maybank – these donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by the Government. Besides donations, DBS Foundation’s Community Impact Chapter also committed to support senior citizens, youths, hawkers and special needs individuals to uplift their digital skills and literacy through a nationwide programme. This will be in areas such as e-payments, awareness and protection against online frauds and scams. DBS expects to support 100,000 beneficiaries over two years, through classes at the bank’s physical branches, learning journeys and workshops.
More People-Private-Public (3P) Partners Championing DfL Causes
The DfL national movement was launched in February 2021 to activate the community in building a digitally inclusive society for Singaporeans. To date, about $10.25 million has been raised, and more than 130 partners have come together to drive about 140 projects that strengthen digital inclusion, literacy, and wellness. In all, more than 270,000 Singaporeans have embraced digitalisation and enriched their lives through these efforts.
These achievements were celebrated at a partners appreciation dinner today, which also saw 19 partners who were recognised as DfL Champions receiving tokens of appreciation from Minister for Communications and Information, Mrs Josephine Teo. In addition, four corporate donors presented cheques of their donations to Mr Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive, Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), and Chairman, Digital for Life Fund Steering Committee. These were DBS Foundation ($500,000), Netlink Trust ($450,000), UOB ($134,000) and Maybank ($120,000).
“The Digital for Life national movement was established for all Singaporeans to play a part to help one another use digital technologies to benefit lives. Our corporate and community partners have been invaluable in advancing the movement through funding, co-creating outreach programmes and galvanising the community. We are confident that more partners will come forward to help us to achieve our vision of an even more digitally inclusive future,” said Mr Lew.
Youths Form a Key Part of the DfL Movement
Youths are catalysts in leading and driving positive change for the community.
IMDA is also equipping youths for the digital future by grounding them in foundational skills such as computational thinking and coding, and exposing them to emerging tech. Currently, all upper primary school students participate in a 10-hour Code for Fun enrichment programme. Across schools in Singapore, youths have also worked on projects to address real world problems using tech solutions. For example, as part of a partnership between IMDA and the Infocomm Media Clubs, more than 300 secondary school and junior college students had the opportunity to learn from industry leaders such as AWS and Intel about emerging technologies such as AI. Students then applied the knowledge they learnt to address real world challenges and projects.
Through this partnership, a prototype, PosteoPilot – an AI telehealth solution - was developed by students from Admiralty Secondary School to reduce time and cost for the diagnosis of sports injuries and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s by using AI to analyse a patient’s pose during remote check-up. A web-based app, Requartech, was also created by students from Maris Stella High School and Raffles Girls’ School to raise awareness about proper recycling by using AI to categorise photos of items captured by mobile devices. These projects were showcased at the Infocomm Media Club Youth Awards event that was held earlier in the day where youths’ efforts in contributing to the community were celebrated. This event was graced by Guest-of-Honour Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, Mr Tan Kiat How.
More youths have also come forward to volunteer their time and service for the Digital for Life movement. For instance, from July 2020, youth volunteers from the Youth Corps Singapore ran digital learning workshops at senior activity centres to improve seniors' basic digital literacy skills and cyber-safety awareness. Collectively, Youth Corps volunteers have put in over 3,600 hours to help about 1,800 seniors with basic digital skills.
The DfL Fund Calls for Proposals for More Digital Inclusion Projects
The DfL movement is seeking for more individuals and organisations who are keen to drive digital inclusion projects and activities to apply for the DfL Fund. Application will be next open from December 2022 to March 2023 and can be accessed at: https://www.digitalforlife.gov.sg/about/digital-for-life-fund-and-movement
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