In efforts to deliver quality services that meet the needs of the community’s social well-being, the Sarawak Government through the Sarawak Social Development Council (MPSS) is developing the State’s own social wellness index.
The State Social Wellness Index (SSWI) will serve as a comprehensive indicator of the quality of life of Sarawakians who will be able to describe their status and welfare level more accurately.
It comprises 15 domains divided under 10 indicators, namely Family Institution; Capacity Building; Social Harmony; Social Space and Infrastructure; Housing; Good Governance and Practices; Environmental Sustainability; Social Responsibility; Social Health; and Public Safety.
When implemented, Sarawak expected to be the first State in Malaysia to have its own index.
At present, the Government has to make do with truncated data on social wellness in Sarawak, which has caused difficulty in assessing people’s level of well-being in their entirety and later deciding the form of welfare needed for them.
“Therefore, to measure the level of community well-being, we (the Government) should have our own Social Welfare Index based on universal characteristics that take into account the physical and socio-cultural conditions of Sarawak,” says Minister of Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development (KPWK), YB Dato Sri Hajah Fatimah Abdullah.
To be established as a benchmark for Sarawak’s social wellness, SSWI must be inclusive enough to cover every aspect of Sarawak society, thus developing it systematically in order for all data collected to be credible and acceptable to policymakers.
For that, MPSS refers to existing global and national indexes such as the Malaysian Well-being Index for adoption or adaptation.
According to Dato Sri Hajah Fatimah, an inclusive and detailed index encompassing the social welfare condition of the people is crucial for the Government to monitor the social system of the society and identify changes that are taking place there.
By having a better understanding of the people’s well-being, the Government will be able to create suitable policies and programmes, improve existing social programmes, and undertake necessary intervention that can improve the negative impact of social change.
“With this index, it simultaneously reflects the commitment, seriousness and efficiency of the Government in caring for and protecting the people’s life welfare,” she says.
Since the start of SSWI development in 2017, the Government through the Ministry of Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development have conducted workshops and dialogues across Sarawak to gain feedback from relevant stakeholders such as government agencies and community leaders to fine-tune the index.
In 2018, the Ministry conducted a joint study with University of Malaya on strengthening SSWI, focusing on identifying its strengths and weaknesses; measuring social well-being level in Sarawak; determining social domains influencing Sarawakians; and drawing up action plans for social transformation aiming to improve the people’s quality of life.
The result of the study, and eventually data from the index used to create systems or programmes such as the State Social Development Information Management System (SDIMS).
The system, explains Dato Sri Hajah Fatimah, will provide government agencies the necessary information to develop social investment, as well as analyse and measure the effectiveness of implementations related to social issues such as homelessness, mental health, domestic violence and sexual crime.
