National Committee for UNIFEM, Singapore :: United Nations Development Fund for Women

Got an iPhone? Show your support to fight violence against women by downloading the FREE application A Call for Help. UNIFEM Singapore in conjunction with DDB and AES Technologies have launched an informative and interactive App which hopes to spread awareness and create a safer environment for women worldwide.

Firstly, a very warm and heartfelt thank you to our dear retiring President Saleemah and the executive committee 2008-2010 for their years of selfless dedicated service to UNIFEM Singapore. Because of their efforts UNIFEM Singapore has widened and deepened its list of local and regional projects supporting women and girls; has a strong voice in raising awareness and being an agent of change for women's issues and advocacy; has supportive relationships with NGOs and local and regional governments; has developed empowering interactions with UNIFEM headquarters in Bangkok and New York; and has broadened and strengthened UNIFEM Singapore's fundraising platforms.

These are truly big shoes to fill and I am overwhelmed! But with your support, and together with the new UNIFEM Executive Committee, I hope to build further on these very strong pillars already established. For those of you who haven't met me or the new UNIFEM Executive Committee, we will be attending upcoming events and will be eager to hear your views on how we can make UNIFEM Singapore an even stronger organization dedicated to women's rights and issues, for you.

I am an economist by training and my first job was in a bank. Perhaps for this reason, I am partial to current and historical issues surrounding the economic empowerment of women. I remember at the age of 9, going door-to-door selling Christmas cards to my neighbors and at the end of the day, having about 80 cents to call my own. To buy my own ice cream from the ice cream man after working so hard was in a very tiny way, my initiation to economic empowerment! It felt sweet and the ice cream tasted even sweeter!

UNIFEM Singapore works at various levels to promote economic independence for women. Livelihood programs for women are designed to empower them with skills and to ultimately enable them to become self-sufficient. An example is UNIFEM Singapore's Charles and Keith Hope Bag project, which supports women with HIV/AIDS in the Mekong region and until recently sold the finished product at Charles and Keith outlets. The large-scale migration of women in the Asian region where women from poorer countries or regions move to more prosperous cities to economically empower themselves and their families is a phenomenon of our times. UNIFEM works to protect and uphold the basic human rights of these women migrant workers who are essential to the economic life blood of their adopted countries. UNIFEM Singapore was instrumental in setting up aidha and is currently running DBS Money Send. At another extreme, forced migration of women and girls i.e. sex-trafficking, is an issue that UNIFEM continues to work tirelessly on. This year, we hope to bring renewed awareness to the issue with the ultimate aim of inspiring stringent laws to make sex trafficking a punishable crime. Our STOP campaign will be kicked into high gear from the second quarter of this year.

Mahatma Gandhi once said "Be the change you want to see". The newly elected UNIFEM Executive Committee aims to be the force of change for womens rights, issues and empowerment we want to see. We look forward to YOU helping us be the change!

Trina Liang-Lin
President

To watch:

Justin Dillon's Call + Response

To read:

Siddharth Kara's Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery

To listen to::

Vashti Bunyan's Diamond Day

UNIFEM and Government of Spain Sign Significant Three-Year Agreement to Promote Gender Equality Worldwide

To read the full report, please click here.

To read the annual report, please click here.

I would like to thank you for sharing your abundance of wisdom, knowledge, strength, wealth and friendships. We were able to do the things that we did in 2009 because of you. Your contributions as our volunteers, donors and supporters are the wind beneath our wings. We can fly high to fulfill our purpose because of your support and generosity.

This annual report is really a report of your accomplishments. This report is a report of the social impact and difference you have made in the lives of women and girls in Singapore and the region. This is your story. I am merely the story-teller of your story.

2009 was a special year as UNIFEM Singapore celebrated its tenth year anniversary in Singapore. We started ten years ago with a series of medical missions to meet the needs of rural communities in this region.

In the last five years, we have evolved and grown into an organisation that addresses the issues of violence against women and empowers women economically by changing the community mindset through public education, legislation and enforcement. In addition we now provide multi-year support for these programs to give the time and resources for these local organizations to be self-sustaining.

In 2009 year we raised funds to develop and implement intervention strategies for the eradication of violence against women in Aceh, Indonesia. These strategies include legislation change,and the public education of women and men. This program involves the building of six one-stop family services centres through the state to support our intervention strategies and to support women in need. The family service centres will provide the necessary resources for these women: the skills to generate an income to support her family, the educational awareness to exercise her rights for the provision of medical treatment, and legal counseling for abused women.

We have evolved into an organisation that provides holistic multi-year support to programs in the region, because my team and I have been able to stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before me. Their pioneering spirits and leadership have provided us with the strong foundation on which we build our growing organization.

In commemoration of our ten year's milestone we launched the UNIFEM Scholarship for Girls and the UNIFEM membership loyalty program.

The UNIFEM Scholarship for Girls fund provides at-risk girls with the support they need to develop their potential. After all when you educate a woman, you are theoretically educating the next generation.

Our first Membership Loyalty Card, "Invest in Her Life and Shape Her Future" will entitle our member's to a range of discounts at participating merchants, retailers and businesses around Singapore, thus establishing a wonderful "pay it forward" campaign that benefits both our members and the community and keeps the UNIFEM Singapore message in the foreground.

In August 2009 we launched "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People" to raise awareness on the issue of sex trafficking and the exploitation of children and young people. In this same month we also hosted the UNIFEM National Committee Annual Global Meeting attended by UNIFEM Executive Director Ines Alberdi and over 30 delegates from 17 countries.

December was a busy month for us as we commemorated World Aids Day on 1 December with the sale of the Hope Bag, hand-woven by women with HIV, in Charles & Keith stores in Singapore. The very next day we held our 'Say No to Oppression of Women' SNOW Dinner Benefit featuring award-winning celebrity chef and television personality, Bob Blumer from the Discovery Channel. 15 December also featured our biggest ever Buy To Save gently-used designer wear sale to commemorate the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

During 2010 UNIFEM is continuing to increase our effort in promoting gender equality, addressing sex trafficking and supporting women's economic empowerment and education for girls.

One of my happiest moments in 2010 is seeing Trina Liang-Lin, a successful and inspiring business and community leader, elected as President. It is my sincere wish that the achievements of Trina and her team eclipse all of us who came before. With Trina at the helm, I know it will happen as I know UNIFEM Singapore will grow exponentially. What does this mean for you and I? This means we will be able to impact and improve the lives of more women and girls in the region. Please join me in welcoming Trina and her team in steering UNIFEM Singapore.

On behalf of my team at UNIFEM, I would like to thank you for sharing your abundance with us and for touching our lives these past years. We were able to strengthen the lives of many because you have strengthened ours. We are able to touch the lives of many because you have touched ours.

Thank you for letting me be the story-teller of your story. I am deeply grateful for the blessings of you in our work and our lives.

With much gratitude

Saleemah Ismail
Immediate Past President

Here is a brief summary of the social impact you have made over the last four years with your support of UNIFEM Singapore.

Looking back at Your Impact on Empowerment & Women Livelihood Program:

Aceh, Indonesia

S$105,000 of the funds raised from SNOW 2006 went to help UNIFEM Women's Livelihoods in Aceh. The funds were soon able to help women help themselves, in turn supporting children's education, health care expenses, as well as needs within their extended families :

1017 women receive micro-credits for capital to either restart or develop small-scale enterprises in the areas of selling vegetables, household provisions, and arts and crafts, and in preparing local delicacies.
622 households receive a revolving fund with particular attention given to women-headed households and widows
300-400 women were trained in livelihood-related skills and able to gain access to employment or start their own business.
Over 1,000 women in 13 locations were connected in a forum, addressing their challenges and daily lives, and uniting their voices of needs and rights.
Over 3,000 newsletters were distributed to provide women with access to information on their rights and participation in community level discussions.

Looking back at Your Impact on Ending Violence against Women:

Over S$70,000 raised from SNOW 2009 goes towards supporting the Save Community Initiatives: Women, Peace & Security in Aceh over three years from 2010 to 2012.

This program reaches thousands of women at sub-district and village levels to:

develop training activities around women's crisis centers to be built in 23 districts
develop one-stop crisis enters at sub-district hospitals in six pilot sites.

These centers will be places to get legal counseling, emotional counseling, and to participate in livelihoods programs to learn how to generate income for families.

Looking back at Your Impact on Addressing Trafficking:

S$84,800 from SNOW 2007 went to UNIFEM Anti-Trafficking Program in the Mekong Region. The impact included:

Creation of a model for introducing gender sensitivity in schools by implementing activities in international schools in Thailand as a pilot to be up-scaled and implemented on a national level in the second year.
Implementation of a five-day Gender Sensitivity Training workshop in February 2009 for three target groups including 35 international high school students, 14 international high school teachers, and 44 Thai university students.
Creation of a model for school-based, youth-initiated activities to be implemented for prevention of violence against women (VAW) and girls in Thai schools on a pilot basis, in partnership with the Ministry of Education
Creation and training of male facilitators to build a men's network at the village level in Thailand and Cambodia. These male facilitators conducted focus group and male network sessions with the aim of engaging men as partners to end violence against women.

UNIFEM is working to replicate these programs within the school system, the male network and in government agencies in other countries in the Mekong region.

S$23,000 of the SNOW 2007 proceeds goes to Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre which we are supporting till 2011. The Centre assists women in crisis and works towards girls' access to education through:

Offering safe house accommodation, counselling, medical treatment and skills training to approximately 1,300 women and children each year.
A scholarship program for at-risk girls. In 2008, the CWCC provided and managed 935 scholarships in the Siem Reap province.
CWCC is leading advocacy for better protection of women against sex trafficking and domestic violence

Your Impact on Women with HIV/AIDS Livelihood Program:

In 2009, UNIFEM Singapore supported CCW-PWHO by collaborating with Charles & Keith to promote the sale of exclusively designed hand-woven bags, The Hope Bag, in Charles & Keith stores.

The Hope Bag sale proceeds provided women with HIV/AIDS a meaningful livelihood, many of whom are the sole breadwinner of their family. Social stigma and discrimination prevents these women from being able to secure a livelihood to support their family. The income generated from the proceeds of the Hope Bag support these women and their young children.

Your Impact on Raising Awareness of Sex Trafficking:

Looking at Your Singapore Impact

Since 2005 UNIFEM Singapore has been leading the initiative to raise awareness of sex trafficking and efforts required to tackle the demand for sex trafficking. As a result of our effort, the Singapore Government included the legislation for child sex tourism in the revised Penal Code.

UNIFEM Singapore continues its effort to raise awareness of sex trafficking. In 2009 we embarked on a three-pronged approach against sex trafficking of Prevention, Prosecution and Protection jointly with The Body Shop and ECPAT.

Since the start of the campaign we have organised :

1000 students engaged in sex trafficking awareness interactive workshops across Singapore
Four public screenings of trafficking films
Three public forums & discussions on trafficking featuring speakers like Somaly Mam.
Launched interactive media campaign, 'Sound Out against Trafficking' with www.soundout.sg microsite
Sound Out Singapore on Facebook and Soundout Twitter. The website and Facebook sites are one-stop resource sites for members of the public to learn more about the issue, signal their support for policy change and to spread the message to their circle of influence. These online resource sites contain videos, posters, photographs, news clippings, research reports and a bulletin board to discuss the issue online.

Since 2009 UNIFEM Singapore and our partners, The Body Shop and ECPAT are conducting a situational analysis research to investigate sex trafficking in Singapore. This is the first time that such a study is being conducted in Singapore. The report will be made public on by second half of 2010.

Your Impact on Migrant Workers in Singapore

Day Off for Domestic Workers

The Day Off campaign, launched in May 2008 continues to educate employers in Singapore to voluntarily give their domestic workers a regular day off. This is particularly relevant because an estimated half of 190,000 foreign workers do not enjoy a regular day off in Singapore.

What Has Been Done

On our Day Off website, www.dayoff.sg, in the period from 30 April (when we went live) to 21 May 2008, we had 3,392 visits with over 2,500 unique visitors and 10,000 page views. We had readers from as far as Canada and Japan.

In 2009 to mark our Day Off's first year anniversary, we launched three new videos as part of the campaign's viral marketing activities which were widely distributed through various channels. The new videos features mock job interviews where real people, not actors, in which participants are asked if they would accept zero days of annual leave.

15 poster ads, produced by UNIFEM Singapore, were displayed at the NE Line MRT stations.

UNIFEM DBS Moneysend

Launched in 2009 and gaining new steam this year is UNIFEM's MoneySend money remittance program. The program is a joint effort between DBS, MasterCard and ipac.

The free program provides migrant workers a low cost and efficient avenue for sending money back to their native countries and encourages both the sender and the receiver to save money by opening bank accounts. In addition, each successful registrant will receive free financial empowerment workshops (goal-setting, retirement planning and cash flow, debt management and budgeting) conducted by ipac. Intelligent and informed remittances are in line with the aims of UNIFEM Singapore's aims to 'economically empower' and promote 'governance and leadership' within women.

All money raised with this program will be channeled back into the migrant community via the Day Off Campaign in Singapore and also community development programs in the region.

Loyalty Card

In conjunction with our 10th Year Anniversary, we proudly launched our first Membership Only Loyalty Card at our annual BUY TO SAVE Event on December 12 & 13, 2009. The card, which features the slogan, ''Invest in Her Life and Shape Her Future,'' was unveiled at the charity designer fashion sale sponsored by Club 21. The proceeds from BUY TO SAVE, which drew hundreds of women over its two-day run, support local campaigns to end violence against women.

Each current UNIFEM Singapore member will receive a membership card which will be valid for one year. This card will entitle members to a range of discounts at participating merchants, retailers and businesses around Singapore.

MoneySend talk at the National Kidney Foundation

As a part of MoneySend's marketing efforts, on May 23, 2010 UNIFEM was invited to the National Kidney Foundation's Quarterly Nurse's Sharing which addressed over 300 of the foundation's nurses. NKF's nurse workforce is made up of approximately 80% migrant workers, hailing from countries such as China, India and the Philippines. The Ministry of Manpower estimates that migrant workers make up 30 % of the workforce in Singapore, or 1.4 million individuals.

Saleemah Ismail opened the presentation addressing her commendation of the nurses to live and work overseas, something that might be daunting especially for those that had left their families in their native countries. Saleemah let them in on a comforting fact: that Singapore is a country built by a community of migrants consisting of Chinese, Malay, Arab, Indian and Eurasian individuals and that migrants have a unique experience and can be capable of making big changes in their own lives and in the their community - money remittances being one of them. For instance, by some estimates 1/6 of the world's population receive positive benefits in some way or another from remittance flows.

Continuing on this note was UNIFEM intern, Marisse Reyes who spoke about the importance of informed remittances and the impact that they are capable of having on the receiving countries. In support of this, the ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 188 says, "By increasing household investment in human and physical capital, remittances have the potential, at the aggregate macroeconomic level, to rebalance growth toward domestic demand and to create long-term growth." For example, remittances have the power to uphold national economies as seen in the Philippines where the BBC reported that remittances made up 13.5% of the GDP in 2006.

To maximize the potential of remittances from Singapore UNIFEM is offering migrant workers with the MoneySend program in partnership with DBS and MasterCard. The program offers an online fund transfer service that is low cost (as low as SGD 1.00) and encourages both the sending and receiving ends to save money as both parties need to establish their own bank accounts. The service is open to migrants in Singapore remitting to India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia. Each transaction secures a donation to UNIFEM Singapore, where it is then channeled to fund the Day Off Campaign in Singapore and development projects in the migrant's country of origin.

The migrants, who are usually women, see their remittances go to food, healthcare, education, household operations and utilities. To encourage more informed and long term spending and saving, UNIFEM is offering Part 1 of free group financial workshops entitles "6 Simple Steps to Achieving Financial Independence" conducted by well respected financial advisors, ipac on July 22, 2010. In addition migrants who participate in the MoneySend program will receive one on one customized career coaching with complements of ASKI Global.

These efforts aim to support women (especially those from developing countries) in the work force and provide them with the tools necessary to succeed and to provide a better future for their community. In 2007, Goldman Sachs reported that different countries and regions of the world could dramatically increase GDP simply by reducing the gap in employment rates between men and women: the Eurozone could increase GDP by 13%; Japan by 16%; the US by 9%.

Mediacorp Radio Program -'WomenSpeak'

Women as Role Model and Mentor

This article is a written version of UNIFEM Singapore 'WomenSpeak' podcast on Mediacorp Radio which was aired in January 2010.

"How might your life have been different if the first time you had feelings of sadness, confusion or depression, an older woman, a mentor, had come to sit with you?

If she had come to sit with you, as someone had come to sit with her the first time she had feelings of sadness, confusion or depression?

If she had been with you until you began to find your strength?

How might your life have been different?"

If there isn't such a person in your life right now, it is not too late to find a mentor to be your sounding board.

All you need is a commitment to learn and acquire knowledge, and somehow your mentor will come into your life.

For those who are successful in their own lives, perhaps this is the time to be a mentor to a young woman.

It does not matter that you did not have a mentor. Perhaps you did, perhaps you had a composite role model, a role model who is a combination of the many women you know and/or are inspired by.

Each of us, at some points in our lives, needs the support of others to move ahead.

When we support one another to be the best we can be and to live our best lives instead of trying to put down each other, everyone benefits.

The whole community benefits.

And how cool is that?

Blogger's Night: An evening of stimulating discussion on crucial women's issues in Singapore

Discussing women's abuse and sex trafficking is not everyone's idea of spending a Friday night which is why UNIFEM Singapore felt very lucky to have loyal supporters, who took the time out to show up at our first ever Blogger's Night on 7 May.

The event was aimed to provide friends of UNIFEM Singapore a closer look of the issues that we have undertaken which include ending violence against women, promoting livelihood programs in the region, championing migrant workers' rights and specifically highlighting the issues surrounding sex trafficking.

UNIFEM Singapore's new president, Trina Liang-Lin, kick-started the evening by welcoming 30+ guests consisting of socio-political bloggers, youth publication journalists, education institute representatives and friends of UNIFEM.

Executive Committee Member and Immediate-Past President, Saleemah Ismail, then took the stand and shared stories of ongoing UNIFEM projects as well as upcoming campaigns in Singapore and around the region.

In a special segment on sex trafficking issue, Saleemah provided information on the sex trafficking study that is currently underway. Daisy Tan, The Body Shop's Head of Brand and Values also shared her views on the global STOP sex trafficking campaign that the company both supports and partners with UNIFEM Singapore.

Katrina Dick, a passionate UNIFEM volunteer who has been working closely with us on our school talk programme, continued the discussion by highlighting the prevalence of the sex trafficking issue in Singapore. Her segment was followed by testimonial stories from Jolovan Wham, the executive director of H.O.M.E (Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics) whose organization has dealt with sex trafficking victims. He particularly discussed two case studies involving victims from Thailand and Sri Lanka.

As the segment drew to a close, intrigued guests raised questions on several issues including the definition of sex trafficking, authority interventions, existing laws, United Nations' take on the problems, and shared their thoughts on UNIFEM programmes. The UNIFEM Singapore team, Jolovan and members of the audience took turns responding to the questions and voicing their opinions.

Sex trafficking is a topic that is foreign to a large number of Singaporeans. But the evening proved to be an eye opener to some of them.

"I never thought of such things (sex trafficking) happening in Singapore. It's a reality check for me", said Yue Jun, a student from Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Danyya, an environmental science student at Republic Polytechnic had similar views and gave UNIFEM Singapore a thumbs-up for its efforts. "Such tragic plight has to stop and the only way it can happen is to have someone to be the voice of the voiceless. UNIFEM Singapore has done quite an excellent job in creating awareness about sex trafficking." The student who showed a personal interest in social issues also expressed her interest in learning more about domestic violence issues.

The UNIFEM Singapore team was very pleased with the positive response of the event. Trina Liang-Lin noted, "It is heartening to see that we have friends who sincerely care and support the causes that UNIFEM believes in. We are definitely looking into organizing more informative sessions like this."

Traffick Jam

We have formed the UNIFEM Singapore Youth Team keeping in mind that young people can affect positive changes in the society. Seeking to unite and empower members between 15 to 25 years of age, the Youth Team hopes to be a platform for encouraging young people to voice their opinions and ideas and to help further UNIFEM's agenda in the region.

On 20 March, the UNIFEM Youth Team hosted their inaugural event, Traffick Jam: Shop to Stop. Through the event, we sought to increase awareness regarding sex trafficking amongst the youth. To make it more appealing to the youth, our target group, we incorporated bands and blogshops into our event. An emcee presented the performers and directed the visitors to various stalls. He also highlighted the aim of the event and directed them to the UNIFEM booth to learn more about sex trafficking. The stall owners, who were selling products like clothes, accessories, handmade cards and soft toys, also handed out pamphlets on UNIFEM and the issue of sex trafficking along with every purchase. Some of the Youth Team members also set up stalls at the event.

Despite the slight rain that morning, there was a steady stream of people visiting us at the UNIFEM main office, where the event was held. As people entered the office, they were able to watch educational videos educating on sex trafficking and UNIFEM. There was also a UNIFEM booth where those interested could sign up to be a part of the Youth Team.

The event turn-out exceeded our expectations. People who attended the event were interested in finding out more about UNIFEM and enjoyed themselves at the myriad of booths that were available. The event truly did succeed in raising awareness about the UNIFEM Youth Team and issues related to sex-trafficking.

UNIFEM Singapore Film Series: Taken

"It's just cheap," said Save the Children's Sophie Mosko about the motivation behind the Albanian mafia's involvement in sex trafficking. "You don't have to buy drugs; you don't have to buy guns. You just kidnap girls."

Taken, the featured film for March, highlighted the kidnapping and trafficking of young girls by the Albanian mafia, which is active throughout Europe and the United States. Over 100 UNIFEM members and guests attended the movie screening. Directed by Pierre Morel and starring Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace, Taken is a heart wrenching story of an American father whose teenage daughter and her friend become unwitting victims of human trafficking while on a summer trip to Paris. Upon their arrival, the girls are conned and kidnapped by members of the Albanian mafia and are then drugged, raped, and sold to trafficker after trafficker.

In reality, the Albanian mafia is responsible for kidnapping women not only outside of their home county, but also within Albania as well. According to a recent Save the Children report, an estimated 30,000 Albanian girls have been forced into prostitution and trafficked into other European countries. "A majority of the women who are trafficked are under 18 years old," says Mosko. The sex trade demands younger and younger girls "because there's less fear of AIDS."

Typically, if the girls are not found within the first 96 hours of kidnapping, their chances of being rescued are little to none. Through the perspective of a desperate father encountering roadblock after roadblock in Taken, we witness the corruption of the police officials involved and the power, violence and ruthlessness of the mafia as they navigate their way through the horrifying world of human trafficking.

UNIFEM Singapore received an overwhelming response on Taken. After attending the movie screening, UNIFEM member Joanna Joskie Lee observed, "The movie has indeed challenged my ignorance to the world out there and [to] what other women are dealing with in their lives. I am now encouraging my female friends to be part of this [anti-trafficking effort] and be aware of the situations out there."

UNIFEM Singapore Film Series: Trade

A diverse group of people ranging from college students to professionals, from all ethnic backgrounds, began gathering in front of UNIFEM Singapore's booth at the Golden Village Vivocity cinema on 30th April, patiently waiting to collect their tickets to watch Trade, our fourth free film screening.

Before the film began, UNIFEM volunteer, Katrina Dick, spoke to the 100+ attendees on the subject of the film and answered any general queries on sex trafficking in general and on Trade in particular.

The film's opening scene shows a starry-eyed Adriana celebrating her 13th birthday in a traditional Mexican style. Her friends pop the pinata hanging over her head and Adriana is quick to add her giggles and squeals to the falling confetti. Little does she know that her innocent squeals will soon turn into nightmarish screams. Kidnapped by Russian traffickers, Adriana is sold from one gang to another and smuggled across borders in gruesome conditions. As she waits for her virginity to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, she is victimized sexually and mentally. Her brother, Jorge, who is determined to find her before she is sold off to some pedophile scouring the internet decides to take matters into his own hands by following the kidnapper's trail all the way from Juarez, Mexico to New Jersey. During his desperate journey, Jorge is aided by a kind-hearted cop, played by actor Kevin Kline.

After many heart-wrenching scenes and an ambivalent ending, the audience walked out of the cinema, buzzing about the harsh cruelties of sex trafficking. Our collective outrage at this film, like the others we have screened, serves as a reminder that where such films end, our initiatives to make positive changes should begin.

UNIFEM Book Club

Inspired by one of our volunteers, UNIFEM Singapore is pleased to announce the formation of a book club. Held once every two months at our Nassim Road office, the book club will feature an array of local and international authors with a focus on women's literature. In order to ensure a captivated audience, we welcome your recommendations and requests. If you have a favorite author or a "must-read" book in mind, please email your suggestions to contact@unifem.org.sg

Charles & Keith

For a list of stores, please visit www.charleskeith.com

Charles & Keith, international footwear and accessories label, has been an ardent supporter of UNIFEM causes with its active fundraising projects through sales of limited edition items. In 2007, Charles & Keith specially designed a felt tote bag, inspired by beautiful women around the world who are striving to survive, of which proceeds from the sale of the bags were dedicated to UNIFEM Singapore. Charles & Keith continued its love affair with UNIFEM in 2009. In its socially responsible efforts, Charles & Keith was honored to launch the fundraising campaign with its very own limited edition bracelet - Cheris. 100% of the sale proceeds of Cheris bracelet was donated to UNIFEM Singapore. In conjunction with World's Aids Day on 1st Dec 2009, Charles & Keith collaborated with UNIFEM Singapore for a third time to launch the exquisite satin-trimmed tote, HOPE Bag, designed and hand made in Cambodia by the Positive Women of Hope Organization, PWHO. All the proceeds from the sale of these beautiful bags went to UNIFEM Singapore's "Cambodian Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (CCW)", to promote a better livelihood for the Cambodian women with HIV/AIDS.

For our Membership Loyalty Card program, Charles & Keith is offering UNIFEM Singapore members a special 10% discount on regular-priced items. Simply flash your UNIFEM Singapore membership card upon purchase to enjoy the discount at all Charles & Keith stores in Singapore. This offer is valid until 30 September 2010. Discounts are not available with other privilege cards, promotions, discounted items and/or gift vouchers.

About UNIFEM

UNIFEM is the United Nations Development Fund for Women set up in 1976 and headquartered in New York. Our programmes globally are designed to assist women in the region by providing access to education, health, economic independence and a life free of violence and abuse.

Created in 1999, UNIFEM Singapore, is a non-profit group working towards women's empowerment and gender equality.

UNIFEM Singapore's mission is to develop nations throughout South East Asia by providing funds and support for:

Economic Empowerment Programmes enabling women to develop business and entrepreneurial skills and gaining access to local, national and global markets
Governance and Leadership Programmes giving women a voice and visibility in decision making processes which will shape their lives
Conflict Area Programmes proving services for women violated during war and armed conflict and promoting the role of women in peace building
UNIFEM Trust Fund helping to support actions to eliminate violence against women, including projects in the areas of: HIV/AIDS, female infanticide, trafficking, forced prostitution, domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape.

In the past five years, UNIFEM Singapore has raised more than $600,000 to fund our missions.
1,017 women in Aceh received micro-credit facilities to restart or develop small-scale enterprises (vegetables selling, household provisions, arts, crafts, preparation of local delicacies) through UNIFEM Singapore Aceh Livelihood Program.
More than 100 school and university students, teachers and lecturers in Thailand attended UNIFEM Gender Sensitivity Training workshop in 2009.
More than 1500 students in Singapore to have been educated by UNIFEM Singapore on preventing and ending violence against women through talks and workshops.

Over the past decade UNIFEM Singapore has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and create change on issues of critical importance to women in South East Asia. More specifically, we have organized campaigns, talks and film screenings, thereby, supporting innovative UNIFEM programmes in Aceh, Timor Leste and the Mekong region including Cambodia. Furthermore, we actively promote a Singapore-based unit trust fund that invests in global securities showing a commitment to the empowerment of women.

UNIFEM Singapore prides itself in being a community organiser and a mobiliser of social change with a successful track record. For example, UNIFEM Singapore embarked on a public education initiative in 2005 to tackle the demand for sex trafficking. This initiative resulted in the implementation of the Child Sex Tourism Legislation in 2007. UNIFEM Singapore has also been the main driver for the anti-sex trafficking public education initiative.

We have mobilised the community by engaging the public, business sectors and government agencies in a multi-touchpoints campaign which utilizes interactive, print and word of mouth mediums, closed-door dialogues and roundtable discussions.

This year, UNIFEM Singapore will be working together with other government agencies, businesses and any interested parties to generate ideas and practices that will help to eradicate sex trafficking in Singapore and the region. Our aim is to undertake research studies, pinpoint root causes, and work with NGO's to assist sex trafficking victims. We are already collaborating with The Body Shop STOP campaign as well as H.O.M.E. and ECPAT to raise awareness and funds in order to stop sex trafficking of women and young people and we will continue to raise awareness through programmes for the general public, educational institutions and youth groups in Singapore to make everyone conscious of the fact that sex trafficking is cruel, unacceptable and illegal.

Contributors:

Text: Marisse Reyes, Camilla Adindamaulani, Ayesha Azhar Siddiqui, Aza Vakil, Saleemah Ismail, Charles & Keith

Images: Sylvia Koh, Fey Foong, www.charlesandkeith.com

UNIFEM - SOUND OUT Against Sex Trafficking

Thanks to UNIFEM and TBWA/Tequila Singapore, saved by the bell will now have a new connotation. Log on to our SoundOut website or on Sound Out Facebook to pledge your support against sex trafficking by 'ringing a bell.' This campaign looks to raise awareness among Singpaore's general public about the horrors of sex trafficking and what you can to do to stop it. The website contains up-to-date information on the issue, a calendar highlighting relevant events and contact information for schools and organizations looking to get involved in the fight against commercial sex. Ring a Bell today. Who knows maybe you'll save someone from becoming a victim tomorrow.

Join the UNIFEM Singapore Group on Facebook

UNIFEM Singapore is now on Facebook!

Our Facebook group is an active platform for UNIFEM Singapore to share updates, photos and information to all group members. It will also serve as a forum for group members to share ideas and thoughts about women's issues.

The UNIFEM Singapore Facebook group is open to everyone. To join, simply search for 'UNIFEM Singapore' on Facebook. Just a small reminder, please note that you have to sign up for Facebook before you can join the group.