In line with the Centre for Domestic Employees’ (CDE) aim to champion for fair treatment for all domestic employees in Singapore, CDE has launched its mobile kiosk, Mobile CDE, this afternoon. Mobile CDE’s objectives are to make CDE’s services more accessible, strengthen the centre’s outreach and generate greater public awareness about what CDE does.
With Mobile CDE, CDE is able to better outreach and bring their help services closer to a more diverse group of foreign domestic employees at their various congregation areas. Mobile CDE will provide on-the-spot advisory relating to foreign domestic employment issues. Employers of foreign domestic employees can also seek advice from the staff on duty.
As a start, Mobile CDE will be deployed for at least two Sundays a month at common foreign domestic employees’ congregation areas such as the vicinity around Paya Lebar MRT, Toa Payoh Town Park, Ang Mo Kio Garden East and Coleman Street. Details of upcoming deployment will be posted on CDE’s website.
Mobile CDE was officially unveiled by Guest-of-Honour, Mr Sam Tan, Minister of State for Manpower alongside Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Chairman of CDE, at the Mobile CDE launch event, which took place outside Paya Lebar MRT. The mobile kiosk set-up will facilitate on-the-spot advisory and consultation with foreign domestic employees and employers.
Emphasising the need for foreign domestic workers to have easy access to help, Minister of State for Manpower Mr Sam Tan said, “While most of our FDWs are settling-in well here, a small number of them may run into difficulties. We have informed all FDWs on their rights and how they can get help, such as calling the MOM FDW hotline. The Mobile CDE is another avenue for FDWs to seek advice and assistance.”
Reiterating the need to take an upstream and proactive approach to help our foreign domestic employees, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang said, “CDE has been actively doing outreach at various foreign domestic employees’ congregation areas since it was launched. Mobile CDE is an extension of our continuous efforts to make our services accessible to our stakeholders. At the same time, it will also help to raise awareness of CDE among the community at large.”
At the launch, CDE also showcased Project Zip Code, a collaboration between CDE and a group of final year students from Nanyang Polytechnic. The aim of the project is to create greater appreciation and understanding between the foreign domestic employees, their employers and their families through a collection of recounts and appreciation messages. Some 750 domestic workers and employers were engaged in the month-long campaign and over 40 of them were interviewed. A selection of these entries were also displayed at the event launch.
After the launch, the next deployment of Mobile CDE will be on 14 August 2016, Sunday at Toa Payoh Town Park between 12 noon and 5pm.
###
