New initiative seeks to boost understanding of families in Asean

Member states will share data, work on a cross-country survey on state of families

- Shermaine Ang

Asean member states will be coming together to exchange ideas and develop knowledge on families in the region under a new collaboration.

In the Collaboration on Understanding the State of Asean Families, the countries will share data on families and work towards producing a cross-country survey on the state of families in the region, with the aim of presenting an Asean Report on Families.

This will help Singapore develop family-centred policies and refine practice in Asian contexts, said Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli on Nov 6.

Mr Masagos was speaking at the Asian Family Conference, held at Sands Expo and Convention Centre and organised by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

The new collaboration was endorsed by the Asean member states on Nov 5 at the Special Asean Ministerial Meeting on Social Welfare and Development, where the countries discussed the key role of governments in supporting families.

"Through the collaboration, we encourage academic institutions and researchers in our countries to develop family-centred research and plan to develop a repository to house this research.