Citizen Engagement Done Differently - the Build for Good movement
OGP officers Nitya Menon and Liao Yihan reflect on their experiences as a mentor and organiser across three Build for Good hackathons.
Have you ever… walked into a coffee shop toilet only to find it filthy? …struggled with a high electricity bill but confused which gadget was responsible? … experienced trauma each time you repeat your mental health history to a new counsellor?
Whose problems are these to solve? Should the government be doing more, or can citizens also play their part as well?
The answer is: all of us! It is a collective effort to make Singapore an even better place.
At OGP, we view the future as a shared responsibility. Singapore can be better, and our government even stronger, if we partner with our citizens to identify and solve problems.
Be the Change
The 2020 World Values Survey indicated that Singaporeans are increasingly liberal, environmentally-conscious and passionate about their family and friends. As reinforced in the 2020 ForwardSG survey, we care about the world we live in and creating a better place for our-loved ones. Most of us feel a responsibility to help one another and are open to partnering with the government to bring about a better future.
Why isn’t this intrinsic concern for the nation being channelled into concrete action rather than a culture of complaints?
When studying this problem, OGP hypothesized that Singaporeans may: (i) feel that the government is not taking their views seriously; (ii) be uncertain of where to start; and (iii) be disincentivised by the high-cost of living to put aside their personal time to participate in more active citizenry.
In 2023, we thus started Build for Good as a movement to enable and empower citizens who are motivated to make a difference.
Building for Good
Build for Good provides citizens with the opportunity to:
Connect with like-minded individuals
Identify real problems in Singapore
Receive technical mentorship, policy guidance and financial support to bring their solutions to reality
Conducted in two phases, a month-long hackathon followed by an 8-week accelerator programme - participation in Build for Good is a sprint for both builders (i.e. participants) and organisers.
With weekly sessions to aid problem discovery, prototype-building and testing, we can recall the sheer grit, passion and imagination of teams to get them across the finish line.
In just four weeks - teams go from identifying a problem to building a working prototype, and presenting them to peers, industry leaders and government representatives on the finale day.
The five teams that demonstrate the strongest public good potential will proceed to the accelerator phase to further scale and launch their solutions.
1. Problem Discovery
Build for Good gives teams the freedom to work on any public good problem that they are passionate about.
No one - including the government - has a monopoly on good ideas nor comprehensive oversight of all the problems in Singapore.
Instead of providing challenge statements for participants to work on, we let teams own and identify the most urgent problems to work on. To support them with the process, we:
Consolidate and share problem statements from citizens, non-government organisations, and government agencies with our builders.
Convene domain experts from government and non-government organisations through a human library session, where builders can have two-way conversations to get a better understanding of different problem spaces in Singapore.
Conduct workshops to help builders consolidate and sharpen their problem statements.
Teams are strongly encouraged to conduct further research to validate their problem statements. This is to ensure that problems are grounded in reality, which enables the arising solutions to be of real service to Singapore and Singaporeans.
2. Prototyping & Building
Once a problem is identified, teams will ideate on possible solutions. OGP organises expert-led workshops and clinics to equip builders with the necessary skills to sharpen their ideas and bring them to life.
Each team also has a dedicated mentor to provide them with technical and non-technical advice throughout the process. We make sure that our team of mentors come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and we intentionally match them to ensure that the mentor’s expertise complements the team’s focus and skills gaps.
As a mentor, it is deeply inspiring to see your team’s dedication to making a difference. Playing a small part in the success and journey of your team can have an enduring impact on the problem they are trying to solve.
(Our mentor) is the best. He provided guidance at just the right level, helped us gain clarity through the iterations and was really supportive throughout the experience.
- Build for Good Environment participant, 2024
3. User Testing
At OGP, we take a user-centric approach to solutioning, and establish the same technique in Build for Good. All teams are required to conduct user testing with the intended users of their prototypes. We invite members of the public to try out the solutions and give the teams feedback to help them iterate on their solutions before the Finale.
For the past 2 runs of Build for Good, we organised user testing sessions involving over 160 citizens, ranging from seniors to students and working professionals, to try out the prototypes that the teams built. This provided the teams an avenue to hear from actual users, which helped them refine their solutions before the finale.
4. Finale Pitches
The teams’ efforts culminate at the Finale, where they get the opportunity to present their final solution and working prototypes to invited guests including government leaders, industry experts, and a distinguished judging panel.
Organised in a science-fair format, the Finale is designed to maximise interaction between the guests and prototypes.
Most teams leave the Finale with a clearer sense of product-market-fit and the necessary next steps to secure pilots. They also connect with important stakeholders that can propel them to the next level of success.
Pushing promising projects to launch — BFG Accelerator
The Build for Good Accelerator programme aims to help promising solutions launch and scale from 0 to 1 to 100. Through the 8-week programme, teams continue to polish and scale their products, develop long-term plans, and execute pilots. Milestones are set along the journey to keep teams accountable and on track.
Accelerator teams are given S$20,000 funding to cover the expenses required during this process. Experienced start-up founders and industry experts also provide their expertise and mentorship to the teams.
Our Accelerator programme has delivered promising results. For example, RemediSG successfully facilitated 5 donor-recipient matches through their pilot, distributing S$500 worth of medication which would otherwise have gone to waste, and abated 10kg worth of CO2 emissions. Additionally, CareCompass has also successfully partnered with the Ng Teng Fong Hospital, allowing 50 caregivers to receive tailored care suggestions through the webapp. See here for the concrete impact achieved by each of the teams.
“The Road Goes Ever On”
Build for Good is only the start of the journey. Even for those teams that successfully graduate from our Accelerator programme, there is a lot more to be done to bring their vision to a complete reality.
After Build for Good, OGP remains in contact with our builders. We provide ad hoc advice, connect teams to opportunities and nurture a Community willing to support one another to take action for a better future.
It is incredibly heartening for us that a number of our Build for Good teams have gone on to successfully incorporate, scale their solutions and create pockets of positive change across the island.
The next time you see a problem in Singapore - don’t just complain, build!
To catch a glimpse of the hackathon and accelerator experience, check out the videos in this playlist.
Wish to join the movement? Sign up for our upcoming Community Hackathon and build the change you want to see: https://community-hackathon.gov.sg
Sign-ups close on 6 Apr 2025, 2359hr.
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