Community Development Council

The Community Development Council (CDC; Malay: Majlis Pembangunan Masyarakat; Chinese: 社區發展理事會; Tamil: சமூக மேம்பாட்டு மன்றம்) is a government-led organisation to organise grassroot organisations and community programmes into smaller, local units as a bridge between the government and the community in Singapore. It encourages volunteerism from wider community, and organises community and social assistance programs with the help of a monetary grant from the government. They are governed by the Community Development Council Rules 1997.

CDC Districts of Singapore

Organisation

There are currently five Community Development Councils as of 27 July 2020:^[1]

Community Development Council	Constituencies
Central Singapore	Ang Mo Kio GRC
	Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC
	Jalan Besar GRC
	Tanjong Pagar GRC
	Potong Pasir SMC
	Radin Mas SMC
	Marymount SMC
	Kebun Baru SMC
	Yio Chu Kang SMC
North East	Aljunied GRC
	Sengkang GRC
	Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC
	Tampines GRC
	Hougang SMC
	Punggol West SMC
North West	Holland–Bukit Timah GRC
	Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC
	Nee Soon GRC
	Sembawang GRC
	Bukit Panjang SMC
South East	East Coast GRC
	Marine Parade GRC
	MacPherson SMC
	Mountbatten SMC
South West	Chua Chu Kang GRC
	Jurong GRC
	West Coast GRC
	Bukit Batok SMC
	Hong Kah North SMC
	Pioneer SMC
	Yuhua SMC

The council boundaries follow that of the existing political divisions, with each handling between four and six GRCs and SMCs and roughly dividing the country's population into equal parts. Each CDC is managed by a Council, which in turn is headed by an appointed mayor^[2][3] and has between 12 and 80 members. The members are appointed by the chairman or deputy chairman of the People's Association.

Mayors

Community Development Council (CDC)	Mayor[3]
Central Singapore	Denise Phua
North East	Desmond Choo
North West	Alex Yam
South East	Mohd Fahmi Aliman
South West	Low Yen Ling

Singapore has in total five mayors, each responsible for the CDC in a specific district.^[4] Mayors also sit as the chairman of the CDC. According to former politician Teo Ser Luck who was the mayor of the North East district, mayors are in charge of laying foundation for building camaraderie within communities.^[5]

However, the necessity of having five mayors in a small city-state like Singapore is sometimes questioned.^[6] In 2021, during the parliamentary debate on Budget 2021, Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh questioned the amount of salaries paid to the mayors and whether is there a need of full-time CDC mayors.^[3] Central Singapore CDC's mayor, Denise Phua, replied that she is the only full-time CDC mayor while the rest are considered part-time mayors.^[7]

Funding

The CDCs are funded by an annual sum from the government directly proportionate to the number of residents living within their jurisdiction at a rate of S$1 per person. They are free to conduct their own fund-raising programs, which the government will match S$3 for every S$1 raised, up to a cap of S$40 million a year from 2018 financial year.^[8] Previously, the cap was S$24 million a year. The government also pays for the councils' operational costs, including that for its offices.