If you are 50 or older and have a free morning, there is now a formal way to spend it helping other seniors, with a small stipend at the end of the task. Age Well Kakis, a volunteering programme run by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), started on Friday, 30 October, when Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and for Health, launched it at the National Celebration of Seniors.
What the volunteering involves
The work is practical and close to home. Kakis can help run activities at Active Ageing Centres, deliver meals to vulnerable seniors, or go along with an older resident to a medical appointment. AIC adds befriending, as well as roles at senior care centres, nursing homes and community mental health providers.
You pick the tasks that suit your interests, your health and your calendar. Most are done within a day, and some take only a few hours, so this is closer to a one-off shift than a weekly commitment you have to sign away your Saturdays for.
Opportunities already sit at more than 100 community care touchpoints, including Active Ageing Centres and services run by Community Care Organisations. Over the next two years, MOH and AIC aim to reach some 16,500 participants and fill up to 700,000 volunteering slots in community care.
The stipend, and who sets it
This is the part that sets Age Well Kakis apart from most volunteer schemes. Participants receive a stipend for each completed task, either in cash or in kind, such as vouchers. There is no single national rate. Each organisation decides the amount and how it is paid, depending on the task and how long it takes, so the stipend for a three-hour meal run need not match the one for a full-day outing.
The programme works in two directions. The volunteers stay active and socially connected themselves, and their help complements the work of care staff at the centres and homes they serve.
How it fits with Neighbourhood Kakis
Age Well Kakis sits alongside the People’s Association’s Neighbourhood Kakis programme, first piloted in 2024, under a wider push by MOH and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to get more Singaporeans contributing locally. Between them, the two programmes aim to involve some 30,000 participants over two years, one in community care and the other in neighbourhood settings.
How to sign up
Age Well Kakis is open to Singapore Citizens and permanent residents aged 50 and above. You can register through the AIC volunteering opportunities site, call the AIC hotline on 1800-650-6060, or walk into your nearest Active Ageing Centre and ask the staff there.
