20,000 hours of showing up: Singapore's students befriend families working hard to get ahead — and win a national first

Good neighbours are made, not born — and at the National University of Singapore they are made by the thousand. Since 2022, more than 1,100 NUS students have given over 20,000 volunteer hours as befrienders to lower-income families in Singapore's ComLink programme, staying with the same families for a full year: helping children with their studies, cheering parents on toward their goals, and simply showing up, week after week. Singapore's Ministry of Social and Family Development has now named NUS its Outstanding Partner for 2026 — the first university in the country to receive the award. The students' work reaches further still: some learn sign language to train alongside the Deaf community, and a new course pairs students with persons with disabilities to build practical living skills together.

SDG 10 · Reduced inequalities — Mechanism: institutional program