Maid a Friend is a social campaign that seeks to increase the level of fulfillment among foreign domestic workers (FDWs) by encouraging household members to engage in meaningful conversation with them.

Our strategies were guided by our key messages:

  • Meaningful conversations with one’s FDW is key to a good interpersonal relationship by forging friendships; and
  • It is easy for one to engage in meaningful conversations with their FDW.

Led by a four member team, Maid a Friend ran over three phases from December 2016 to March 2017. It generated an approximate reach of 2,500 and 143,500 participants on-ground and online respectively. The three phases and its initiatives are as follows:

Phase 1

  • Launch of online activities with ‘Word of the Day’ on Instagram;

  • ‘Foreign Domestic Wonders’ feature write-up on Facebook; and
  • ‘Make a Friend’ video on Facebook. Watch the video below.

Phase 2

Phase 3

  • Revitalising online activities with a Facebook contest, ‘Message Mission’ and ‘Message Mission 2.0’. Watch the video below.

Throughout the course of Maid a Friend, we garnered support from not only our target audience and household members of FDWs, but also FDWs themselves, who have reached out to us with words of thanks.

Knowing that we were able to impact lives in some way, no matter how big or small, is more than we could have asked for. The team is extremely honoured and happy to have left positive impressions on members of the public, and to have helped household members and FDWs respect and understand each other better.

As we near the end of our project, we hope that Maid a Friend will spark other similar initiatives, to ultimately foster not only a sustainable, productive future for FDWs in Singapore, but also an environment of genuine care and friendship.

The Highlights

Nothing brings people together like good food, and the ‘Chatter Platter’ sessions has proven this to be true!

Chatter Platter was a series of three luncheons where 10 families and their FDWs came together to interact and bond over a meal of their respective FDWs’ hometown cuisines.

“Nowadays, everyone is so busy. We hardly have time to catch up with one another, let alone to eat with our domestic helper. This event has made me think about how we should spend more time talking and getting to know our domestic helpers better,” said Mdm Agnes Lee, a participant at one of the ‘Chatter Platter’ sessions.

Participants were seen not confining conversations with just their family members and respective FDWs, but also with other families and FDWs who were seated at different tables.

Many of the participants have shared with us that it was their first time tasting their FDWs’ native cuisine, and it was a refreshing experience.

The Memories

Mdm Wendy Huang (right) and her family laughing and bonding with their domestic helper over a Filipino cuisine meal.
Mdm Agnes Lee (second from left) interacting with other families as she tries Burmese cuisine for the first time with her family and their domestic helper, Mawi (first from left).
A deck of conversation cards was provided to initiate topics for a light hearted and meaningful conversation.
Sizzling Bangus (milk fish on a hot plate) and Lechon Kawali (deep fried pork belly) were some of the Filipino delicacies that families got to taste for the first time.

Reflection #1 – The Challenges

The main challenge was the lack of direct access to our target audience.

  • Due to privacy and confidentiality concerns, it was a challenge reaching out to our target audiences directly, especially during the recruitment of participants for ‘Chatter Platter’.
  • There was a lack of overt identifying features which we could use to reach out to our target audience.
  • ‘Chatter Platter’ sessions were subjected to the availability of participants. We encountered three families who backed out last minute as they could not accommodate to our timings. Recruitment of FDWs were found to be easier at their common gathering places and through them, we’ve reached out to our target audience.
  • Active promotion of the campaign and recruitment of participants through on-ground activities is required. Fortunately, we had two FDW agencies to help us send electronic direct mailers to their clients, and thus ensuring our target audience gets the intended message.

Reflection #2 – The Takeaways

Low-effort activities for target audience is preferred.

  • For similar projects in future, it is ideal to incorporate more low-effort initiatives to household members, as they were more inclined to act on it when so. For example, Message Mission 2.0 was well-received because household members were only required to provide their respective messages, and our team handled the rest of the task.
  • Even though the tasks for our target audience required low effort, it is also important to provide it in a timely fashion; hence providing the motivation to complete the task.
  • Our ‘Chatter Platter’ sessions could be made more effective by tailoring it for our target audience. For example, instead of gathering the participants at an external location, we could make the sessions more intimate by arranging these in the convenience of their homes. Perhaps, this could spark more engagement between the parties involved.

Positive portrayal of target audience.

  • With reference to past campaigns and studies, it was found that when a negative angle is used, it elicits a defence mechanism in its target audience. Therefore, our team decided to approach the issue with a cheerful outlook for Maid A Friend. As a result, we’ve received encouraging and positive feedback from the public.