RESILIENCE TRAILS™
Building community,
one trail at a time
About
Resilience Trails™
In partnership with Allkin Singapore and Yishun FSC @ Children’s Society
Embark on a journey of empowerment, empathy, and endless possibilities.
Resilience Trails™ is a place-based, asset-driven and community-led programme launched in early 2022.
We invite you to join our Community Guides—individuals who actively shape their neighbourhoods and uplift their fellow neighbours—for an “Empathy Walk” that immerses you in the lived experiences of communities that may be under-resourced, yet richly resourceful.
As you traverse these familiar streets, you’ll uncover hidden stories, learn from your Guides’ personal journeys, and discover how to spot local strengths and connect neighborhood assets. Ultimately, Resilience Trails™ is designed to turn those insights into a springboard for authentic community collaboration and trust-building.
In our Resilience Trails™, you will…
Witness
Hear firsthand from our Community Guides on their journey of empowerment from a beneficiary to an active volunteer
Reflect
Contrast initial assumptions and perceptions with newly gained perspectives of the community
Identify
Observe and identify the strengths of the individual, community and environment, and how they have created value to further develop the community for themselves
Apply
Consider how to adopt an asset-based lens and approach in your daily life, or in your respective fields of work
What to expect
Location: Ang Mo Kio or Yishun
Theme: Exclusively unique to each Community Guide
Duration: 2.5 hours on-site, with a 0.5 hour pre-trail briefing session conducted virtually
Dates:
Weekday mornings (9.30am onwards)
Weekday afternoons (2.30pm onwards)
Saturday sessions only upon request and availability
Language: English
No. of pax: 10 to 15 participants for each trail led by a Community Guide and a Skillseed Facilitator
Multiple trails can be run concurrently, subject to availability
Fees: Upon enquiry
Suitable for: Ages 15 and above.
Our Trails can be platforms for National Education (NE) learning journeys, ground sensing for policy students and policymakers, volunteer preparation for citizen engagement, training of stakeholders in citizen engagement skills, context setting for CSR, and any type of community engagement projects.
How we might partner for greater impact
Deep learning for your team
Engage us for in-classroom training in any of our stakeholder engagement modules (see Roots and Shoots) and stack them with the Resilience Trail experience as a practicum.
Experience how these concepts (such as Empathy or Dignity) manifest on the ground through intentional design and implementation. Reflection sessions for the Resilience Trail can be customised to fit the needs & learning objectives of corporate partners.
Multiply returns on sponsorship
Sponsor the onboarding of new Community Guides and/or the ongoing refinement of our current Guides’ trails.
Gain opportunities to journey with our Guides behind the scenes, and get first dibs on experiencing the final version of your sponsored Guide’s Trail together as a team.
Purposeful skilled volunteerism
Combine a Resilience Trail with a skilled volunteerism element with us and/or our Community Guides.
Encourage fellowship between your team members, deepen their sense of purpose, and strengthen your team’s notion and value of corporate social responsibility.
Meet our Community Guides
Each of the Resilience Trails are co-created with our Community Guides, who share their individual experiences, challenges, and stories of resilience.
Our Community Guides are people with deep roots in neighbourhood life— they include friends with disabilities, single mothers, and others who may be under-resourced.
Although barriers such as credential requirements and caregiving responsibilities can make long-term employment challenging, our Guides draw on their resilience and resourcefulness to uplift those around them. More than half live in rental flats, yet this closeness to local realities only strengthens their connection to, and understanding of, community needs. As current or former beneficiaries of family service centres, each Guide has transformed personal challenges into a commitment to service: they volunteer, contribute, and lead with determination, demonstrating that true expertise comes from lived experience and a heart for community.
Camy
“It is not the magnitude of our actions but the sincerity behind them that makes a difference.”
Julie
“I hope people know it’s okay to ask for help and know where to seek help when they need it. #donotfeelpaiseh”
Roslan
"Once you believe in yourself, the only thing left is a choice: to step forward or stay still.”
Graduated Guide
Graduated Guide
Fadillea
“Everyone deserves a chance, especially those who wish to turn over a new leaf despite their past.”
Where your money goes
Empowering voices
With each step, you authentically empower our Community Guides’ voices, agency, and assets by engaging with the stories of their lives—their interests, skills, relationships, and more—which they have the autonomy to share along the trail.
Respectful remuneration
All Trail fees go towards providing our Community Guides with dignified, flexible and home-oriented employment at 6 to 7 times the average hourly rate of an F&B service crew.
*Community Guides are paid during their training and onboarding as well.
Better futures
Besides increasing in confidence, our Community Guides also benefit from gaining more resources, and bandwidth to care for their families, building a positive cycle in the long term. By engaging our Guides in these Trails, you contribute to building better futures for them and their families.
Testimonials
Today’s session has improved my understanding about the different ways of life in Singapore. It’s really rare that we hear in such detail about how they live and why they choose to live in certain ways. I’m really impressed and inspired by the trail and Siti’s story. It made me reflect about what it means for me to live the way I am now. Eg how we might be living in a purchased flat but lack the ties like in rental flats in this area, with help from members and community leaders like Siti who are willing to step up to bond the residents and build more meaning in their everyday lives.
— Participant from Singapore International Foundation
I learned so much about the neighbourhood and social issues through someone’s lived biography. It was thought provoking.
— Dr Ad Maulod
I got to see the real Singapore which could have not been possible without this trail.
— Nishant Kumar
Keen to join or organise a curated neighbourhood trail?
Just drop us a message with your interest and we'll reach out!