Open Village: Building Purpose Through Mini Jobs, Progression, and a Living Community

In many nursing homes, seniors are cared for well, but daily life can still become passive. When everything is done for you, it is easy to stop making choices, stop moving, and stop feeling needed.

At Little Changemakers, we created Open Village to close that gap.

The main purpose is clear: help seniors find purpose through mini jobs with progression, so they can contribute in ways that feel real and dignified. This also requires a mindset shift across care teams, families, volunteers, and the wider community, from “doing for seniors” to “building with seniors”.

The gap we saw

Across our ground observations and conversations with care teams, we kept noticing the same pattern:

• Seniors are often offered activities, but not roles.

• Engagement depends heavily on staff capacity.

• Seniors may join once, but there is little continuity or growth.

• Many seniors miss the identity they once had: worker, helper, provider, organiser, host.

So we redesigned the environment and experience around what creates purpose: responsibility, contribution, and progression.

How Open Village works

Open Village is a living ecosystem with both outdoor and indoor participation spaces. Each space is designed to create mini jobs that seniors can grow into over time.

Open Village helps seniors find purpose through mini jobs with progression, from farm-to-table outdoor roles to a senior-run minimart and kopitiam indoors.

Outdoor: Farm to table, with wellness built in

Open Village includes outdoor roles such as:

• Tending to vegetables and learning simple farm routines, supporting a farm-to-table rhythm

• Growing herbs for crafting and herbs for wellness activities, including TCM-inspired experiences

• Looking after quails with safe, structured caregiving tasks and egg harvesting.

• Aquaponics participation, supporting light maintenance and observation roles

These roles create a natural reason for seniors to get outdoors, move with purpose, and feel connected to living things. The “work” is meaningful because it leads to real outcomes: food, shared routines, and wellness-based creations.

Indoor: A minimart and kopitiam run by seniors

Indoors, Open Village includes a minimart and kopitiam run by seniors, serving residents, guests, and volunteers.

This creates familiar, culturally meaningful roles such as:

• stocking and arranging items

• simple counting and sorting

• welcoming and guiding guests

• basic service routines and station setup

• supporting hospitality and community flow

These roles are designed for mixed abilities, including dementia-friendly task design. Seniors can take on what they can manage, and build up step by step.

Mini jobs with progression, not one-off activities

Open Village is not a series of sessions. It is a role pathway.

Mini jobs are structured so seniors can progress from:

• trying a role with support
  to

• doing it with confidence
  to

• owning a station routine
  to

• mentoring or supporting others

Progression is what turns “an activity” into “a purpose”.

Opening the nursing home to the community

Open Village also changes how a nursing home connects with the outside world.

• The nursing home will open to the general public to join free workshops

• The space becomes a welcoming environment where volunteers can have open dialogue, not just “help out”

• Students can learn through design thinking, using the village as a living lab to observe, empathise, prototype, and improve real community experiences

This creates a powerful ripple effect: seniors contribute, volunteers learn how to engage with dignity, and students experience what human-centred design looks like in real life.

The mindset shift we are building

Open Village works because it shifts the narrative:

• Seniors are not just recipients of care, they are contributors to community life

• Volunteers are not just doing tasks, they are learning and building relationships

• Students are not just studying concepts, they are solving real needs with empathy

• Care teams are not carrying engagement alone, they are supported by a system designed for sustainability

Why this matters

Purpose is not a bonus. It is a human need.

When seniors have meaningful roles, a place to contribute, and a pathway to grow, the care environment becomes more than safe. It becomes alive.

Open Village will be launched officially in April 2026. Follow our Instagram for updates!