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

The National Committee for UNIFEM, Singapore supports the general mission of UNIFEM in developing countries by providing funds and support for regional programs. Click to find out more about the programs that we are currently supporting, or have supported in the past.

Women, Peace and Security in Aceh (2009) *NEW
Anti-Trafficking Program in Mekong Region (2007-2008)
Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (2007)
Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (2007)
Financial Literacy Education Migrant Workers in Singapore (2001 – 2006)
Anti-Trafficking Program in Batam (2001-2006)
UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (2005)
East-Timor Medical Mission (2004)
Laos Woven Dreams Project (2002)
Nepal Bhotia Education Centre (NTEC) (2000)
Karenni National Women's Organisation (KNWO) Midwives Training Project (1999)
Karreni National Women's Organisation (KNWO) Animal Husbandry Pig Rearing Project (1999)
Bintan Education (1999)
Bintan Medical Mission (1998)
Vietnam Sao Mai Project (1998)
Vietnamese Scholarship Project (1998)
Vietnam Sewing and Embroidery Project (1998)

The Women, Peace and Security in Aceh program aims to create sustainable governance and peace in Aceh through women’s full participation in recovery and peace building. The country’s current post conflict transition is fertile ground for Aceh to create a democratic and equal society, and women are an essential component to a robust peace process – for any peace process in Aceh to be democratic and fair, it must support women and men alike.

This program will reach thousands of women at sub-district and village levels: training activities will be developed around women’s crisis centers to be built in all 23 districts, and one-stop crisis centers will also be developed at sub-district hospitals in 6 pilot sites. In addition, the National Committee for UNIFEM Singapore is supporting the campaign to end gender-based violence in Aceh through funding public education and research programs, as well as facilitating legislative reform. For a one-page information sheet on this project, click here.

This UNIFEM regional program aims to prevent trafficking in persons, especially women and children, by addressing demand-side issues, such as social assumptions, values and norms, which ‘justify’ exploitative behaviour. In order to finally benefit potential and actual victims of trafficking, this program targets school children, the general public and decision-making bodies, to build knowledge and understanding about the prevailing norms and perceptions that generate the demand for trafficked persons, as well as to promote and pilot programs in educational institutions that interrogate and provide intervening alternatives to the behaviours generating demand.

H.O.M.E. runs shelters that provide housing and support to migrant women that have been trafficked or abused. H.O.M.E. is a registered society and charity in Singapore, and was founded in 2004 with the aim of improving the welfare and status of migrant workers in Singapore. Apart from providing shelters for victims, H.O.M.E. also provides additional services such as outreach and advocacy, free legal advice and vocational courses. H.O.M.E. has sheltered victims from Bangladesh, China, Congo, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. To learn more, visit www.home.org.sg.

One of the main beneficiaries of the SNOW Benefit 2007 is the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center. The CWCC provides crisis intervention services including rescuing, sheltering and counselling those affected by violence. It also offers medical and legal assistance, literacy and vocational training and education scholarships to impoverished women and girls. To learn more about the CWCC, please click on this link to watch a 4 minutes video of our visit to the CWCC in September 2007.

The Financial Literacy Education Migrant Workers Project aims to provide financial literacy training to domestic workers so as to empower and enable them to break free of vicious poverty cycles and continue to provide for their dependants upon returning to their home countries. This project has successfully spun off aidha - a not-for-profit, educational organization dedicated to ‘enriching lives through financial education.’ aidha serves women migrant workers, primarily those involved in domestic service. For more information, please visit www.aidha.org.

NC UNIFEM Singapore collaborated with Yayasan Mitra Kesehatan dan Kemanusiaan (YMKK) and Action for Aids (AFA) Singapore to work together on an anti-trafficking initiative in the Asian region. UNIFEM Singapore is particularly interested to address the health and empowerment issues of migrant and trafficked women workers in the industrial and sex sectors of Batam, Indonesia.

The UN Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) was established by General Assembly resolution 50/166 in 1996 and is managed by UNIFEM) on behalf of the UN system. The UN Trust Fund is the only multilateral grant-making mechanism that supports local, national and regional efforts to end violence against women and girls. Since it began operations in 1997, the UN Trust Fund has distributed more than US$44 million to 291 initiatives in 119 countries and territories. For more information, visit UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.

The UNIFEM medical mission saw 35 ex-combatants and more than 100 villagers while in Timor-Leste. Most war veterans sustained their injuries in the late 1970s and 1980s. These are mostly old men living with old injuries. While many have adapted over time, their injuries are now starting to worsen as they age. A few veterans need surgery, which can be performed by the hospital in Dili. However, some require more complex surgery, done in phases, for which facilities in the hospital are inadequate. A significant amount of medical supplies was also donated to the Ministry of Health, including much-needed antibiotics and x-ray films.

Women in Asia need to develop sustainable livelihoods in an increasingly competitive global economy. This is particularly true in rural communities that have been marginalized by economic growth in the urban centres. Apart from leaving their homes as labour migrants in search of jobs as factory, domestic or sex workers, rural women have limited ways of earning income.

In partnership with ENGENDER, PrimeTime, SIF and UNIFEM Bangkok, the Laos Woven Dreams Project aims to tackle the issue of economic empowerment of women in poor villages in Laos. The project will empower women along the entire stage of weaving – from the designing and dyeing of materials all the way to marketing the end product. Money raised in Singapore will be directed particularly to three aspects – scholarships for women to attend weaving classes, Laotian hand-woven textile curriculum development and marketing brochure for Laotian hand-woven textiles.

The project initiated and managed by the Nepali Bhotia Education Centre conducted teacher training programs for female secondary school graduates in remote Nepali villages. The aim was to help these women become effective teachers and community development activists.

The project supported five women aged 18-25 through the process of training on health education, nursing and mid-wifery in Mae Sot, Thailand.

The project targeted thirty families in three camps. Two pigs were provided per family (total 60 pigs). The aim was to sustain production for the initial families involved and raise enough income to extend the project to more families.

This project aimed at helping families pay the schooling expenditure for their children (especially girls). Thus far we have sponsored 866 children.

UNIFEM Singapore began its first community project in Bintan in 1998 to help distressed families in the wake of the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998. There were a total of six medical trips to the islands. Once every 2-3 months a party of 10-12 dental surgeons, 6-8 medical specialists, some nurses and other volunteers would spend the entire weekend at various locations on Bintan and the surrounding islands. During each trip the doctors would see between 400-800 patients on an average. The dentists in turn attended to over 200-250 patients per trip.

The project sought to provide financial assistance for a teacher and nutritional supplements for twenty orphans belonging to ethnic minority tribes located in Sao Mai, Pleiku, central Highlands, Vietnam.

The objective of the project was to provide young Vietnamese girls their rights to formal education. Year long scholarships were provided for young girls located in Ho Chi Min City and suburban Vietnam.

This project focused on providing a group of Vietnamese girls access to learning the marketable skills of tailoring and embroidery. This in turn prevented them from being lured into prostitution or other means of employment that could endanger their health and integrity.