UNIFEM (part of UN Women) IN CONVERSATION 2010

Back by popular demand, we are pleased to announce UNIFEM's In Conversation series event for August 2010!

UNIFEM IN CONVERSATION Series was launched with an up close and personal conversation with Dato Ambiga, winner of the 2009 International Woman of Courage Award. She is a resolute advocate of women's equality and their full political participation. In the face of death threats and intimidation, she has emerged as a strong voice of tolerance and justice. The series also included Mony Pen from Cambodia and Anshu Gupta from Goonj, winner of Lien Centre 3i Challenge.

Our guest speaker, Harvard trained anthropologist Ms Melissa Kwee, (past president of UNIFEM Singapore) knew from a young age that she was meant to make a real difference to other people.

Well renowned for her dedication to the youth community and for her involvement in a pioneering several youth related social causes - ranging from fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of women to nurturing leadership skills in the younger generation - Melissa has been recognised with many awards both abroad and at home.

Close to her heart has been the creating and incubating community-based initiatives empowering people to lead their own positive change. In 1996, she set up Project Access, her first non-profit group here promoting a leadership education programme for girls. For five years, Melissa worked with local schools, community organizations, government institutions and created a network of Leadership Resource Partnerships across Singapore to serve as mentors and role models for youths.

From 2002 to 2006, as President of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM Singapore), Melissa initiated groundbreaking projects such as the Stop Demand for Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children Campaign and Financial Education for Migrant Women Workers.

In 2006, Melissa founded another programme, "Beautiful People", to reach out to teenage girls who lacked strong social and family support by offering lifeskill programmes and the opportunity to be mentored by Big Sisters.

In line with UNIFEM's mission to continue women's empowerment in the region, UNIFEM Singapore had established the UNIFEM Scholarship for Girls under the Beautiful People programme.

On Saturday March 6th, UNIFEM Singapore presented our inaugural scholarship funds to promising, yet at-risk, young women currently living in local girls homes and allowing them to take part in a life skills coaching program called My Beautiful Life. This year-long course provides mentoring and career guidance to equip participants with knowledge and practical skills that will help them in securing a job.

The In Conversation session will feature an array of local and
international speakers with a focus on women's local and global topics. In order to
ensure a captivated audience, we welcome your recommendations and requests at
contact@unifem.org.sg

To register, please RSVP with your Full Name, Membership Number, Contact Number and the Number of Seats required. Please feel free to bring your friends and family along for a cozy discussion!

Light refreshments will be provided.

Map to UNIFEM Singapore, please click here.

Launch of 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.

This month's Book Club Meeting will be based on Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace... One School at a Time (2008).

He got lost trying to scale K2, and ended up being an internationally-renowned humanitarian who builds schools for children in the remotest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Along the way, he survived an 8-day kidnapping, fatwas issued against him by angry mullahs, death threats from his own countrymen (in the U.S.) and extended periods of separation from his family. This man is Greg Mortenson and "Three Cups of Tea" recounts his remarkable journey from despairing failure to astounding achievement.

Today, his non-profit aid group, Central Asia Institute (CAI), boasts of more than 130 schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan, more than 80 fully or partially supported teachers (several of them former Taliban), and education for over 58,000 students (among them 44,000 girls). Because of a condition that Greg Mortenson insisted upon, that villagers must provide the land and the labour to assure a local "buy-in", none of the schools that CAI has helped built has been destroyed by the Taliban or other anti- American groups.

"Three Cups of Tea" is at once an extraordinary expedition and inspiring story
of "one man's mission to promote peace, one school at a time."

This book is sold in all major bookstores, subject to availability of stock.

If you have a favorite author or a "must-read" book in mind, please email your suggestions to us at contact@unifem.org.sg.

Alternatively, to RSVP for UNIFEM's Book Club Launch, please email rsvp@unifem.org.sg with your Full Name, Contact Number and the number of seats required. Please feel free to bring your friends and family along for a cozy discussion on Three Cups of Tea!

Map to UNIFEM Singapore, please click here.