Temasek Review 2021

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Steward

Touching Lives

Temasek Foundation identifies community needs and spearheads programmes, to connect people, uplift communities, protect the environment, and advance capabilities, in Singapore and around Asia.

Foster a more resilient, harmonious and inclusive society, by supporting individuals, strengthening families and uplifting communities

Strengthening Families and Communities

Catering to Different Learning Needs

Fostering International Exchange and Enhancing Regional Capabilities

Connect people, promote stewardship, and advance capability and capacity in Asia

Inspiring Change and Connecting People

Enhancing Capability and Capacity Regionally

Advancing Science and Protecting the Planet for a Sustainable World

Enable sustainability and innovative solutions to improve liveability

Enabling Sustainable Living

Strengthening Social Resilience and Uplifting Lives

Strengthening Families and Communities

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KidSTART practitioner Ms Sua Swee Lee (right) sharing with parent Ms O Lay Hoon on how she can bond more purposefully with her son

Multi-Disciplinary Programme for Enhancing Child Development

The early years of a child are critical to their physical, cognitive and social development. One major thread of work at Temasek Foundation is to ensure that young children from low-income families have a stronger foundation for a good start in life.

Temasek Foundation partnered the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), Nanyang Polytechnic and Singapore University of Social Sciences, to introduce the Multi-Disciplinary Programme for Enhancing Child Development. This aims to train early childhood practitioners to support young children from low-income families more effectively. It has been offered to some 100 practitioners from KidSTART, a programme to empower low-income families to build strong foundations for their children. These KidSTART practitioners have supported more than 1,000 children aged six and below.

Strengthening Social Resilience and Uplifting Lives

Strengthening Families and Communities

temasek-foundation-achieving-resilient-and-inspiring-families-programme

Ms Nazartul Shehnaz and her husband Firman Hanif picking up parenting tips through a resource kit provided to participants of Project ARIF

Temasek Foundation Achieving Resilient and Inspiring Families Programme (Project ARIF)

Project ARIF was set up in collaboration with Temasek Foundation, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) to provide newly-wed couples support when they are starting families.

Through the two-year pilot programme, some 800 newly-weds will receive religious, marital, medical and parenting guidance from a team of naib kadi (deputy marriage solemnisers of Muslim marriages), mosque personnel, and healthcare professionals from KKH. Feedback from participants may be used to expand the programme to other groups.

Strengthening Social Resilience and Uplifting Lives

Catering to Different Learning Needs

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SUTD research staff working on a reading app for children with dyslexia

Lexicaid – A Reading Support App

With the support of Temasek Foundation, researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) are developing a reading app with visual and auditory functions that help children with dyslexia read better. The app has features such as visual flashcards and pronunciation and word definition prompts, which help children read and learn independently. The app is being developed based on insights from studies done by the Dyslexia Association of Singapore and at a primary school on learning patterns of children with dyslexia. In addition, the app collects data on the learning progress of each child. Using the data, parents and teachers can customise learning plans that fit the needs of each child.

Fostering International Exchange and Enhancing Regional Capabilities

Inspiring Change and Connecting People

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Public health experts and leaders from public and private sectors sharing ideas on how communities can overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic

Temasek Shophouse Conversations

Temasek Shophouse Conversations, launched in 2021, is a series of virtual and in-person events that bring leaders together from the public, private and community sectors to forge multi-sector collaborations. The events seek to galvanise and inspire action for the common good.

The theme of the Temasek Shophouse Conversations was “Do Good Together”. The inaugural session in January 2021 saw Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat delivering a keynote address where he drew lessons learnt from COVID-19 that could help prepare for Disease X. Subsequent panel discussions featured community representatives who shared how their own lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic could help ensure communities are more resilient and prepared.

Fostering International Exchange and Enhancing Regional Capabilities

Inspiring Change and Connecting People

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Li Jian Xing (right) volunteering in mask distribution initiatives organised by Temasek Foundation

Youth Call-to-Action Programme

Another of the Temasek Shophouse Conversations was the Youth Call-to-Action programme, organised in partnership with Heartware Network. This initiative aims to empower the youth to become effective drivers of public good through structured training and mentorship. Eighteen young people submitted proposals which ranged from improving well-being to supporting employment. Seven corporates and institutions will mentor them to develop the projects.

Fostering International Exchange and Enhancing Regional Capabilities

Inspiring Change and Connecting People

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Learning how to use the app at a Senior Activity Centre in Serangoon to listen to music from the 1950s to 1970s

VintageRadio.SG

VintageRadio.SG is among some 200 recipients of the oscar@sg grants. It is a not-for-profit radio service that plays nostalgic tunes, the oldies and goldies familiar to seniors, as an engaging way to rekindle precious memories, help them reconnect digitally, and keep them informed. The oscar@sg fund supports ground-up initiatives to help people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fostering International Exchange and Enhancing Regional Capabilities

Enhancing Capability and Capacity Regionally

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Researchers from ASC collaborating to promote greater understanding and awareness of ASEAN

ASEAN Prize 2020

The ASEAN Prize honours individuals or organisations from ASEAN for outstanding contributions towards community building in the region. It also aims to promote intra-ASEAN collaboration. The ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC) at the ISEAS — Yusof Ishak Institute was awarded the prize last year for its work in promoting greater understanding and awareness of ASEAN, and contributing towards regional cooperation and integration.

Fostering International Exchange and Enhancing Regional Capabilities

Enhancing Capability and Capacity Regionally

step-youth-regional-affairs-dialogue-2021

A week-long dialogue among the youth to foster leadership skills and understanding of geopolitical issues

STEP Youth Regional Affairs Dialogue 2021

Some 80 student leaders from Asia took part in the second STEP Youth Regional Affairs Dialogue. The hybrid event saw them discussing and proposing ideas to address issues such as social inequality. The week-long dialogue held in January 2021 was organised by Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological University.

Advancing Science and Protecting the Planet for a Sustainable World

Enabling Sustainable Living

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Research on sustainable cell-based methods used to produce lab grown milk products

Producing Lab Grown Milk

Temasek Foundation funded a project by TurtleTree, a Singapore-based biotech start-up, to produce lab grown milk products using sustainable cell-based methods. The project beat more than 400 applicants from over 60 countries to win The Liveability Challenge 2020, an annual competition that provides funding to commercialise innovative solutions aimed at improving liveability. Winning the competition gave TurtleTree significant exposure that sparked several collaborations, in turn, potentially accelerating its path to the market.

Advancing Science and Protecting the Planet for a Sustainable World

Enabling Sustainable Living

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RWDC’s biodegradable biopolymer plant in Georgia, USA, is a blueprint for the company’s first commercial plant currently being developed

Developing a Sustainable Alternative to Single-Use Plastic

RWDC Industries is a Singapore-based biotech start-up and the winner of Temasek Foundation’s Liveability Challenge in 2018. It is making strides in the field of biodegradable biopolymers, which decompose in natural environment, leaving no harmful remains or by-product. The company is moving closer to its goal of offering a commercially viable alternative to single-use plastic by using polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), which is a naturally occurring material produced by microbes. RWDC Industries will supply more than 150 million kilograms of PHA over five years to sustainable materials innovation company Cove to manufacture biodegradable water bottles.