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Anjli Doshi-Gandhi, (PhD)Former Deputy Director General Policy
National Population and Family Development Board,Ministry of Women, Family & Community Development,
Malaysia
6th CIFA Regional SymposiumFamily First: Supporting Asian Families in the Era of Inclusive Growth
10-11th June 2021
Email: [email protected]
Introduction
Pioneering the first Malaysian Family Well-Being Index (MFWBI) in 2011, 2nd MFWBI in 2016 and 3rd in 2019
Policies, Family Friendly Initiatives and Practices for Family Well-Being
Success Factors and Challenges
for Transformation Towards Well-Being
The Way Forward/Conclusion2
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Section 16(3)… “a family is entitled to protection by society and the state”
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Why focus on families?
Families make a critical contribution to society
Socio-economic trends
MARITAL STABILITY
FAMILY SUPPORT SYSTEMS
WORK-LIFE BALANCE/WFH
IMPACT OF ICT
CHANGING FAM
STRUCTURE
SOCIAL ISSUES
PARENTING FINANCIAL
SANDWICH GEN /AGING
POP
IMPACT OF COVID- 19 ON
FAMILY
MENTAL HEALTH
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Mental WB
SocialIsolation
Education
Family Functioning
Parenting
FamAdjustment/Adaptation
Financial WB
ChildcareDomesticviolence
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GDP has become the best known measure of macro-economic activity and a proxy indicator for overall societal development and progress in general.
indicators are used to broadly illustrate people’s general satisfaction with life, in relation to their jobs, family life, health conditions, and standards of living, etc.
indicators are used to broadly illustrate the family’s wellbeing in relation to their jobs, family relationships, health, economy, religion/spirituality, environment, standards of living, etc.
To build a set of indicators to measure the well-being of the Malaysian family
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Mechanism to monitor family well being trends
To come up with family well-being index
To identify some “Priorities for Action” to enhance the well being of the family
Quantifiable
FAMILY WELL-BEING(OBJECTIVE)
Perceptions on Family Satisfaction, Well being & Happiness
Health indicatorsHousingPublic’s safetyMarriage rates
FAMILY WELL-BEING(SUBJECTIVE)
Family member’s satisfactionFamily happinessInteraction/family relationshipsFamily functioningResilient family
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Previous studies clearly showed that
basic necessities such as housing,
education, employment,
income, health, safety and
relationships form the key domains in
determining individual and
family well-being
Family is the basic social unit which
prepares and supplies human
capital resources for national
development.
Measuring family well-being can
indirectly measure the impact of the
implementation of national social and
economic development
policies on families
Index was conducted with the aim of measuring the well-being of
Malaysian families.
This study used obj& subjective
measures approach: asking people to
report on their life satisfaction &
wellbeing eg. how satisfied are you with
your family relationship?
Used a 10-point scale format: 1=very
dissatisfied, 10=very satisfied.
Malaysian Family Well-Being Index
Study (2011, 2016 & 2019)
Index was first
developed in
2011 and some
modifications
were made to the
2nd & 3rd MFWBI
(2016, 2019)
FWBI 2011
Comprised of 7
domains and 23
indicators.
FWBI 2016
8 domains n 23
indicators
FWB 2019
8 domains n 22
indicators
Stratified random sampling based on ethnic and locality
FWB Index 20112,808 households involving
fathers, mothers and child aged 13-24 years
FWB Index 20163780 Households & child aged
3-24
FWB index 20195005 respondents
Face to face interviews
&
Selfadministered
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• Std of living• Econ situation•Savings & Debt•Financial WB •Fin Mgmt
• Family health/practices
•Stress mgmt
• Emergency response knowledge• Feel safe at home• Family safety
• Cooperation• Relationship Involvement
• Role of Religion/• Spirituality
•Spiritual Practices
• Basic amenities• Pollution levels
•3R Practices
• Parental involvement• Fam resilience• Fam functioning
• Quality time with fam•Work & fam bal• Spousal Relationship•Family Coping
Influence•Use of SMS n Tel•Control of Usage
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Family Well-Being (FWB) Index
& Domains - 2011
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
Family Well-
Being IndexDomain's Index
Family Relationships
Family’s Economic Situation
Family’s Health
Family’s SafetyFamily & Community
Family & Religion/Spiritual
Housing & Environment
Family Well-Being Index (2011) -7.55
7.82
Familyrelation
ship
6.9
Family econo
my
7.38
Familyhealth
7.39
Familysafety
7.83
Family &
community
8.25
Family &
religion
7.28
Housing &
environment
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Strata
Urban = 7.60
Rural = 7.48
Ethnicity
Malay = 8.04
Chinese = 7.29
Indian = 7.23
SCORES BY SOCIO-ECON STATUS Type of Family
Nuclear = 7.54
Extended = 7.50
Single parent =
6.80
Blended = 5.99
Income
RM2,000 &
below = 7.33
RM2,001-4,000 =
7.20
RM4,001-7,000 =
7.35
RM7,001-10,000
= 7.02
RM10,001 &
above = 7.25
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Understanding of “Family Well Being”
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Key challenges family is facing?
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To what extent is your family facing challenges in life?
2.7 %
2.2 %
5.2 %7.3 %
9.0 %
19.8 %
15.0 %
19.2 %
11.3 %
3.1 %
5.2 %
65.3 %
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Development of Family Well-Being
Index: Lessons Learnt• Objective and Subjective Indicators
• Identification of Domains and Indicators
• Weightage for Domains
• No of Indicators for Domains
• Scoring of Indicators- Uniformity of Likert scale
• Suitability of Measurements Used
• Single variable to measure domains
• Research Limitations20
To strengthen family relations especially family resiliency and family functioning.
Helping Families to achieve Work-Life balance through support programs/initiatives
To continue the national agenda to enhance the standard of living of low income households 21
To empower the community as a catalyst for family support systems
To enhance knowledge regarding family safety
To propagate healthy lifestyles among families
To promote culture of religiosity and practice of religion/spirituality as well as family values
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• Holistic services thatbenefit the entire familythrough the family lifecycle
• 3 Ps (Public, Private,People) Initiatives 23
Programs & Initiatives for
Family Wellbeing'To fulfill the unmet needs of families
towards FAMILY WELLBEING’
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• Family Perspective Commitment
2 • Review of Policies & Laws
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• Accessibility to family friendly services
NATIONAL FAMILY POLICY & POA, 2010
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Prioritising family perspective in all socio-economic
development efforts towards creation of quality population
STRATEGIC THRUSTS
Interventions for Family Well-Being• Develop policies & programs that promote (or reduce the
barriers to marriage and childbearing
• Work life balance /WFH
• Provide more and better childcare services
• Encourage males to play a more active role in familyresponsibilities
• Policies/programs to support & strengthen families
• Assist families to meet the basic necessities of daily life
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Family perspective in all Social Economic Development (NFP)
National Family Month
Work Life Balance Initiatives
– 90 days paid maternity leave
– 7 days paternity leave
– Paid compassionate leave
– Flexi working hours/ working arrangement
– Creche at the workplace
– Subsidies for childcare
– Tax deductions
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FAMILY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
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Parenting ModulesParenting@WorkPre Marital Course
“SmartStart”Promotional & Advocacy ActivitiesFamily Counseling ServicesFamily Centre
Programs & Activities at the Board’s Family Centres
Needs assessment-hotspots
Empowering the social mechanism in the community-Family champions for FWB domains
Intervention programs to increase the FWB index
FACE-Family and
Community EmpowermentOBJECTIIVE
SUCCESS FACTORSLessons from the existing programs & sharing of
experiences;Needs assessmentCommitment BudgetPartnership & collaboration with NGOs/ Civil Society/
Media /Corporate/Govt etcUtilization of technology Resource mobilization;Alert to emerging trends; andImproved monitoring & evaluationResearch
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Challenges• Commitment
• Sustainability of Interventions
• Sense of Ownership
• Community engagement
• Budget/Funding
• Partnerships
• M & E
• Measuring Impact 32
Components of Successful Transformation Towards Well-Being
1. Understand and acknowledge where we are now (“As –Is”)
2. Envision clearly where we want to be (“To Be”)
3. Formulate a strategy to close the gap between
“As-Is” & “To Be”
1. Develop a methodology to execute the strategy
2. Break down the strategy into actionable projects/programs
3. Continuously monitor progress of implementation
4. Practice fair process to ensure buy-in from all stakeholders
5. Produce change in people’s attitudes & Behaviours
Prof Chan Kim-Blue Ocean
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The WAY FORWARDAdvocacy & promotion
• Family Engagement • Integrated Multi-sectoral programs• Targeted Interventions• Financial literacy programs• Empowering families • 3Ps Approach• Utilization of technology,• media & research• Mainstreaming role of families• in SDG
Conclusion
• GDP needs to be accompanied by other data such as FWB Index
• Defining well-being is challenging. It is complex & multidimensional and assessing it requires many components
• The challenge is how can the FWB Index guide policy & practice
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