Advocacy

Advocacy & Research

Access Social Mobility Summit 2024

Going beyond its slate of student programmes, Access invested in more advocacy work with its inaugural Access Social Mobility Summit on 5 April 2024. The first of its kind in Singapore, the summit saw the attendance of 450 guests across the people, public and private sectors, and gave them the opportunity to deepen their understanding of social mobility, drive greater action, and create new partnerships to accelerate positive change.

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Access Conversations with Tharman 2023

Access Conversations brought together a diverse group of youths, including influencers and community activists, to hear perspectives on various social issues from Mr and Mrs Tharman in-person.

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Social Mobility Survey Report 2023

Continuing from the previous survey in 2022, Access sought to understand the general perceptions surrounding the local education system and the impact of intervention through education, with measures such as fostering skills, to prepare individuals for the workforce. It also sought to gain a better understanding of sentiments towards success aspects that are deemed critical by individuals, and reasons that could contribute towards career success.

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We Write Our Rules 2022

#WeWriteOurRules (#WWOR) was started to share unconventional life journeys and definitions of success, as we found that many individuals perceive success as being too difficult to achieve in Singapore. The campaign sought out 25 individuals who were not subscribing to stereotypical definitions of success. Instead, they are today writing their own rules with their unorthodox education and career journeys.

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Social Mobility Perception Survey Report 2022

Access ran a Social Mobility Perception Survey from 11 June to 11 July 2021, to examine perceptions of social mobility among members of the public based on their lived experiences. This poll was launched on OPPi, an AI-powered crowdsourcing platform with proprietary analytic and statistical capabilities and involved a series of demographic questions and statements to which participants could respond, including topics on scholarships, schools and employers.

Key Highlights:

77% of respondents agreed that children from wealthier families benefit more from the Direct School Admissions (DSA) scheme as compared to children from low-income families.
Amongst respondents whose parents both obtained a university degree, more (31.11%) were optimistic that they could count on assistance from their parents’ networks to achieve their goals (as compared to 11.43% for 1 parent only, and 11.86% for respondents without parents with university degrees).
64% of respondents agreed that children from wealthier families benefit more from the Direct School Admissions (DSA) scheme as compared to children from low-income families.
77% of respondents agreed that all socioeconomic groups (high-income, middleincome, low-income) should be proportionally represented in the pool of government scholarship recipients.
67% of respondents disagreed with the statement “Every school is a good school.”.

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Programme Evaluation

At Access Singapore, programme evaluation is central to ensuring that our interventions contribute meaningfully towards our vision of enabling upward social mobility for socially, academically, and financially disadvantaged youths. Guided by our Theory of Change, we measure outcomes at different stages of each programme, using the insights to continuously refine and strengthen our interventions.

Theory of Change

Our Theory of Change provides the foundation for how we design, deliver, and evaluate our programmes. It maps the logical links through which programme activities are expected to contribute to meaningful improvements in youths' lives. From immediate changes in knowledge, attitudes, and skills, to intermediate behavioural changes, and ultimately to long-term outcomes related to education, employment, and social mobility.

Pre-post Methodology

For each programme, participants complete surveys before and after the intervention. This pre-post methodology allows us to measure immediate changes in key outcomes such as career awareness, self-efficacy, work readiness, social capital, and other programme-specific competencies.
In order to accurately evaluate our programmes, Access employs psychometrically validated scales (e.g., ACT!SG, Career Maturity Inventory, etc.).

Longitudinal Impact Measurement

Creating upward social mobility is a long-term endeavour. As many of our beneficiaries are still in school when they participate in our programmes, meaningful outcomes such as educational attainment, employment, career progression, and expanded professional networks may not become evident until several years later.

For this reason, we complement our immediate programme evaluations with longitudinal impact measurement. Through our alumni network, we stay connected with participants and conduct periodic follow-up studies to understand whether the knowledge, confidence, aspirations, and networks developed during our programmes are sustained over time and translate into meaningful behavioural and life outcomes.