You may recall reading about Project Butterfly in my quarterly messages.  As we wrap up the first year of my term, I wanted to give you more information about what enhancements you will begin to experience at AWARE in the rest of 2013.

What drew me, and many other women, to AWARE has been, and always will be, about making a difference. In society at large, with women in need, and among family and friends.Passion is the fuel that drives us to work together – as members, volunteers, staff and Board at AWARE – on our vision of living in a gender-equal Singapore.  Project Butterfly allowed all of us to explore just what is the AWARE we want, and what we need to do differently to ensure that the AWARE of 2022 will remain relevant in our changing Singapore.

Soon after I took on the President’s role last year it became clear to me that AWARE as it approached its 27th anniversary, was well into what is known as the ‘consolidation’ stage of its development as an organisation. According to NGO Pathfinder International’s definition, some key characteristics of an organisation at this stage include:
• More sophisticated organisation chart showing units, and reporting relationships
• New systems implemented with SOPs
• HR policies in place but not consistently implemented
• Board is in place with diverse membership but not fully optimized
• Increased diversity of donors, and revenue
• Staff & Board training and development budgets set aside and plans implemented

For AWARE to continue to grow as an organisation with lots of heart and soul, impacting women’s lives and civil society in Singapore, we need to:
• Develop and implement strategic and sustainability plans
• Fully incorporate community outreach and participation into problem identification, planning, implementation and monitoring
• Review the supervision process with effective feedback and follow up mechanisms.

We launched Project Butterflyto focus on four key areas that will provide the operational support for our journey from Great to Greater: Volunteer management; Project management; Accountability structure; and Communications & feedback.

We had a dynamic team of AWARE members with lots of passion and diverse experiences and skillsets:
·       Connie Singam (Multiple-time past President)
·       Braema Mathi(CEDAW sub comm chair and Past President)
·       Schutz Lee (past Exco member and staff member)
·       Caris Lim (past Exco member, past Support Services volunteer)
·       Mao Ailin (current Singles sub comm co-chair)
·       Margaret Thomas (founding member and current Board member)
·       Corinna Lim (past Exco member and current Executive Director)
·       AntheaOng – Facilitator (longtime Aware supporter)
·       Winifred Loh – Project Leader (President)

The deliberations of the team over four months (September 2012 to January 2013), together with input from several focus groups, led to these key recommendations:
·       Accountability is critical to AWARE’s continued growth and effectiveness. Everyone who does work for AWARE functions within the accountability structure
·       Volunteers commit to a Volunteer Engagement Form that outlines the work being undertaken, the timeline and the deliverables
·       Volunteers assign or transfer ownership rights to AWARE but different rights arrangements can be negotiated
·       Every subcommittee exists to drive a Change Agenda and has clear terms of reference that specify its timespan and deliverables. It will also have an Accountability Partner, usually a senior staff member, who will provide support and monitor its progress.
·       Any AWARE member can propose and initiate projects via the new ‘Expression of Interest’ process.

A pilot programme has begun and will continue till October this year. All new volunteers and sub committees will be introduced to the new processes, and feedback will be sought from everyone involved. We will then review the feedback at the end of the pilot for further enhancements.

Meetings are being held with on-going subcommittees to plan the transition over the next couple of months.Current projects with completion dates in the next 6 months will NOT be involved in the transition.

Meanwhile, we have re-launched five Board Committees and added two.  These are HR, Audit, Fundraising, Board Recruitment, and Programmes – as mandated by National Council of Social Services – as well as Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement, and Communications.

The role of Board Committees, which include Board and non-Board members, is to assist the board in providing guidance, setting policies and mobilizing resources for Aware.

We’re living in interesting times. Singapore is changing and civil society has an increasingly important role to play. We believe that the enhancements we are piloting at AWARE will strengthen our ability as an organisation to work for the changes we want to see in our society.