The Power Fund is Singapore’s first national women’s rights fund. It’s focused on providing financial and capacity-building support to emerging organisations, and new initiatives of established organisations that work with marginalised women and girls. The Fund is an opportunity to resource the next generation of collective action on ending gender inequality in Singapore.
[ATTENTION: APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]
Power Fund’s grant making process is determined by our thematic priorities, the funds we have available, and our values of gender equality, diversity and inclusion, non-discrimination and respect.
Our grantmaking criteria have been developed in consultation with women’s rights activists based in Singapore. At the moment, we are only able to receive applications in English, although we are willing to provide translation assistance if groups reach out to us at least a week ahead of the deadline.
[ATTENTION: APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]
Register your group’s interest in funding, and confirm that they are a women-led organisation, and are committed to women’s empowerment. At this stage, we recommend you review AWARE’s strategic plan to ensure that your proposal is consistent with them.
[ATTENTION: APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]
Once you have registered your group, use this application form to submit your grant proposal and budget to Filzah Sumartono at filzah@aware.org.sg, by 5pm on 16 October 2017 (Monday).
[ATTENTION: APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]
A sub-committee appointed by the AWARE Board will review the applications, and make final grantmaking decisions in accordance with these guidelines. The decisions of the sub-committee will be final, and all those who submitted applications will be informed of these decisions via email. The grants will be made for the period of 1 year, with 50% of the total grant amount released when the grant is awarded, and the rest upon satisfactory review 6 months later.
In the lead up to the official review of proposals by the sub-committee, we might get in touch with you to clarify parts of your proposal we think require more information.
[ATTENTION: APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.]
Our grantees will be expected to submit a short update on progress they are making on their grants every other month. The sub-committee will review these updates at the 6-month mark and recommend a continuation of the grant or a course correction.
For any information related to the Fund’s grantmaking process, please contact Filzah Sumartono at filzah@aware.org.sg.
Grantees will typically be women’s groups* that share our values of gender equality, diversity and inclusion, respect, and non-discrimination. We are particularly interested in:
Young feminists, sex workers, low-income women, single parents, gender minorities, and other vulnerable groups are welcome to apply.
The Fund prioritises projects that:
feature research and advocacy components,benefit marginalised communities, and/orinvolve collaboration with other organisations.* At least 50% of staff and board must comprise women.
Grantees will receive one-year grants to help finance their project(s). The Fund will also offer opportunities for the following:
One-year grants to help finance their project(s).
Opportunities to create informal networks among individual women’s rights advocates, and other social justice organisations.
Training for communications, governance, finance, project management and mentorship.
Mutual learning and collaboration among advocates through the exchange of diverse ideas and experiences.
Lawyer, Joyce A Tan & Partners LLC
Malathi Das is a dispute resolution lawyer of 25 years’ experience with Singapore boutique law firm, Joyce A Tan & Partners LLC. Her practice cover personal, matrimonial and child law with a cross-border element. She writes and speaks extensively on legal ethics, gender, women, children and elder issues, and pro bono. She is a Senior Teaching Fellow and Course Coordinator for Family Practice at post-graduate level at the Singapore Institute of Legal Education. She sits on the Board of Governors of the Institute of Technical Education.
She is current President of the Zonta Club of Singapore, the Singapore Chapter of Zonta International, whose mission is the empowerment of women through advocacy and service.
Senior Vice President, Communications
Asia Pacific, Mastercard
Georgette Tan is Senior Vice President, Communications for the Asia Pacific region at Mastercard. She joined Mastercard in 2000 and is responsible for external and internal communications and corporate social responsibility throughout this region. She also spearheading Mastercard’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts – mainly education and development programs to help empower women and children across the region. In 2005, she launched an index that specifically measures women’s socio-economic advancement in the Asia Pacific region – the Mastercard Index of Women’s Advancement. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Singapore Committee for UN Women where she is co-founder for the award-winning Project Inspire initiative.
Nurul Fadiah has been actively involved in the Gender Equality is our Culture (GEC) programme in AWARE, which seeks to promote gender-equitable notions of culture and religion within the Muslim community. She contributed to sex education workshops for young Muslim girls in homes, touching on issues such as reproductive health, healthy relationships and consent that are grounded in culture and religion. Fadiah started a support group for women who grew up in Muslim households called Penawar, which addresses problems of trauma based on religion. She also researched and written on various issues in local newspapers, magazines, blogs and an anthology of short stories called “Perempuan: Muslim Women in Singapore Speak Out”. Fadiah is currently working as a research assistant for the NUS Social Service Research Centre.
Ranjana Raghunathan is currently in the academia as a PhD candidate in NUS, conducting an ethnographic research about Tamil women’s marriage experiences in Singapore. She loves listening to people’s stories and making them heard. Her work with homeless women in Mumbai for more than two years has been published as a book chapter in an edited volume on urban poverty in India. Since 2004, Ranjana has been engaged with the non-profit sector in Singapore, and has held various positions in program development, research and evaluation. She holds a master’s degree in feminist social work from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai. Currently, she is an active volunteer with AWARE and serves on its board as its 2nd Vice President.
Dr. Soin is an orthopedic and hand surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. She is presently a Global Ambassador of HelpAge International, and the founder and Chair of Women’s Initiative for Ageing Successfully. In the past, she has served as the founder member of UNIFEM (Singapore), and AWARE. She was the UNIFEM Chair from 1997 – 2002, and the President of AWARE from 1991 – 1993. As part of her work for UNIFEM, she was a part of 5 charity medical missions, including the one to East Timor, which she led. She was a nominated Member of Parliament of Singapore from 1992 – 1996, and was named one of the 30 people who have shaped Singapore in CNN Go’s Power List in 2010. She was also a Board Member of Washington University International Advisory Council for Asia from 2007 – 2016.
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www.aware.org.sg
POWER Fund queries: filzah@aware.org.sg
Media queries: media@aware.org.sg
