Advocacy in Action:
Get Started with Poverty Sensitisation

Objectives:

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

• Gain awareness of the realities of multi-stressed, low-income families in Singapore
• Develop empathy and understanding towards the lower-income communities
• Be motivated to take meaningful action in alleviating poverty

Your participation doesn’t just stop at awareness. All workshops are conducted for a small donation. All donations go directly to supporting lower-income women in their back-to-work journeys through DOT’s Job Readiness Programmes. By joining LOTE or TIME, you are enabling women to build sustainable livelihoods and uplift their families out of poverty.

Duration: 3 hours | Format: Experiential role-play in family units

What it is:
Living On The Edge (LOTE) is a dynamic, interactive workshop where participants experience the complex realities of multi-stressed, low-income families in Singapore. Based on real-life family profiles and local social policies, LOTE gives participants an emotional and intellectual understanding of how poverty shapes everyday choices.

How it works:

• Participants are assigned personas representing family members — from children to elderly with disabilities.
• In family units, they must navigate the challenges of limited resources, trade-offs, and social systems.
• Every decision reflects the challenging balancing act of survival.

Impact:

LOTE has been embraced by diverse audiences — policymakers, social workers, corporate CSR teams, VWOs, grassroots leaders, and the general public — as a safe but powerful space to challenge assumptions and spark empathy-driven change.

Session Details:

• Requirements:
  • 2 large rooms (1 room with 45 chairs, 1 room with 14 long tables and 20 chairs).
  • AV system in first room
  • 5 flip charts
• Capacity: Min 32 participants, max 39 participants per session (in-person) and supported by 30 booth volunteers and co-facilitators

Duration: 2 – 3 hours | Format: In-person simulation with single persona

What it is:
This Is My Experience (TIME) deepens participants’ connection with the struggles of low-income families. All participants take on a single persona and face the stresses, barriers, and choices that define life at the margins.

How it works:

• All participants take on a single persona from the lower income community.
• As an individual, they face the stresses, barriers, and choices that define life at the margins.
• Under the pressure of time constraint, decisions are to be made.

Session Details:

• Requirements:
  • 1 large room with 50 chairs
  • AV system with high speed wifi
• Capacity: Min 20 participants, max 50 participants per session.

Sharing by Participants

1. Veena Davis

2. Mie Youngson

3. LOTE at DOT’s IWD 2025

Showcasing Our Past Workshops

1) LOTE conducted for Common Ground

Bringing together Common Ground Civic Centre & Consultancy and the wider community, DOT’s Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (LOTE) highlights our collaboration with Common Ground to build awareness and empathy for greater collective impact

2) LOTE conducted for IWD 2025:

DOT’s experiential poverty sensitisation workshop (LOTE) with

– The Ritz-Carlton

– Millenia Singapore

– CHANEL

– Love, Bonito

– STATE OF ESCAPE

– GREAT EASTERN

– Standard Chartered

– Singapore Pools 

– BNP Paribas 

– J.P. Morgan

– Microsoft

– Emerson

– Dell Technologies

– Kim Yew Integrated

3) TIME workshops

a) AbbVie Singapore at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME) by DOT

b) Chanel at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME) by DOT

c) COMO Group Singapore at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME)

d) DELL Singapore at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME) by DOT

e) Gulf Technologies at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME) by DOT

f) Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME) by DOT

g) Yishun Town Sec. School at Poverty Sensitisation Workshop (TIME) by DOT