Policy problems are becoming increasingly complex and "wicked" in nature.

Spanning from environmental sustainability, social mobility, gender equality and national identity, they tend to elicit different, oftentimes conflicting views, of what needs to be done. As such, traditional means of problem-solving where the government takes the lead are becoming glaringly inadequate. Instead, many governments, including the Singapore Government, are adopting a more collaborative approach towards policymaking. The Forward Singapore exercise, launched in June, is the most recent example of this.

On Sept 25, the Ministry of National Development kick-started the first session of its Our Public Housing Conversation to hear from citizens from various walks of life. Earlier in August, the National Trades Union Congress launched a year-long citizen engagement exercise to chart the way forward by hearing from Singaporeans their employment needs and aspirations.


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Carol Soon is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore. Nandhini Bala Krishnan and Beverly Tan are research assistants at the same institute. They convened the Ngee Ann Kongsi-IPS Citizens' Panel on Mental Health.

Top photo from Freepik.