Shirin Fozdar Programme Evening & Launch of the SMU Women Alumni Group

By the SMU Corporate Communications team

24 May 2016

Shirin Fozdar Programme Chairperson Ms Claire Chiang shared plans
SMU’s 29^th alumni group launched for women graduates
Celebrating the empowerment of women in the community

On an evening at the Singapore Management University (SMU) celebrating the empowerment of women, the Shirin Fozdar Programme (SFP) and SMU Women Alumni (WA) Group began new chapters and set out towards trailblazing visions amidst toasts and cheers.

[Photo (right to left): Officiating the launch and evening with the mixing of a special cocktail were Ms Claire Chiang, Chairperson of SFP; Ms Anna Haotanto, President of the SMU WA Group; Prof Arnoud De Meyer, President of SMU; and Associate Prof Low Aik Meng, Director of SMU Office of Alumni Relations.]

More than 120 invited guests were the first to hear about SFP’s plans and to witness the birth of a new SMU alumni group, at the Shirin Fozdar Programme Evening and Launch of the SMU Women Alumni Group held on 11 May 2016 at SMU’s University Lounge. Among them were several notable guests, including Dr Jimmy Fozdar, son of the late Ms Shirin Fozdar, and SFP Advisory Board Members.

[Photo: (second from left) Dr Jimmy Fozdar, son of the late Ms Shirin Fozdar, graced the event. He was joined by Ms Chiang, his wife, and staff from the SMU Office of Advancement.]

In the welcome remarks, SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer (below) thanked the advocates advancing women’s roles and rights in the community and enabling SMU to continue the mission of the SFP. They include the generous donors and supporters of the SFP, and the visionary driving force SFP Chairperson Ms Claire Chiang, who have continued the spirit and legacy of Singapore’s pioneer women rights activist Ms Shirin Fozdar. Ms Chiang has been a tremendous leader and champion of the SFP at SMU for the last five years.

Prof De Meyer said, “Claire has said that the way women’s roles are advancing needs to be progressive. The vision of the Shirin Fozdar Programme is also progressive, from transforming women’s roles in building the community, to shaping the future of regional cities. Now more than ever, this effort of supporting and furthering the role of women as leaders and active members of society, in unison with men and the community, is becoming more important as we strive to harness the strengths of diversity and build an inclusive society.”

He was also pleased to launch the SMU Women Alumni Group as the University’s 29^th alumni group – gathering the voices and interests of female SMU alumni, and building on the already strong relationship with alumni and commitment to empowering women. He said that while the Group is the youngest, it has potential to become the strongest.

Shirin Fozdar Programme – The Year Ahead

At the cocktails and networking event, Ms Chiang (above) outlined the milestones and the future of the SFP.

She started with a snapshot of SFP’s broad phases and milestones since establishment. Beginning with fundraising-centric work under the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), it progressed to be institutionalised under SMU. Launched by late Singapore President Dr Wee Kim Wee and housed under the Wee Kim Wee Centre, it was moved to SMU so that the Programme could benefit from SMU’s business management expertise, while SMU students could learn about non-business skills from SFP.

Subsequently, it was housed briefly at the Business Families Institute (BFI), and has now found its new home under SMU’s Office of President. Ms Chiang expressed thanks to the gracious support and leadership of both SMU President Prof De Meyer as well as SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong, whom SMU is proud to have as the first female provost in Singapore.

Over the last five years, SFP’s conferences have reached out to over 1,500 people, and featured speakers and participants from over 45 countries. Speakers and guests of honour have included Singapore Ambassador-at-Large Professor Chan Heng Chee and women’s rights advocate Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir. SFP has given close to S$1 million to over 50 projects and some 40 social service organisations in Singapore and ASEAN. It has also contributed to NGO capacity-building work in countries as far away as India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Kenya.

SFP’s mission is to continue to serve as a platform to connect students, advocates, policy-makers, businesses, institutions and the public to shape a resilient community and nurture integrated perspectives in women’s development. Its underlying ethos, RICE, which stands for Resilience, Integration, Connectivity and Empowerment, will continue to be its fundamental guiding principles.

Unveiling this year’s programme, Ms Chiang elaborated on the new Shirin Fozdar (SF) Fellowship, Shirin Fozdar Scholarship, and the Shirin Fozdar Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Award.

The SF Fellowship is geared towards generating research that makes a difference to areas such as businesses, policies, science, education and care-giving, whereas the SF Scholarship will be given to outstanding female undergraduates to support them for their university education. The SF D&I Award will recognise and celebrate significant and innovative contribution to the enhancement, support and advancement of D&I on campus and in the community.

Coming up, the inaugural Shirin Fozdar Annual Lecture will be delivered on 2 September 2016 by Dr Noeleen Heyer, former United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General who worked for the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in her early days.

Continuing the series of successful Women on the Move Conferences, three have been lined up from July to November this year. Plans include visits to Beyond Social Services, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Trehaus. They will delve deeper into a range of topics from building resilience in the community, understanding health and nutrition, to work life integration. Another SFP Evening is scheduled for the end of the year.

Ms Chiang concluded by calling all to remember the spirit of Shirin Fozdar – a tremendous woman and humanist who believed in service to others and can relate to anyone. “Do not just run ahead alone – run with the men, young and old, and those who are different in the community. Combine our strengths, and create synergy and value. Be part of the movement for change,” she said.

Overseas Community Service Projects – Shirin Fozdar Community Service Grants Recipients

Some recipients of the Shirin Fozdar Community Service Grants also presented their overseas community project experiences and their learning journeys. Students of the Pendeza and Vikasa projects shared their stories.

[Photos (left to right): Students from Pendeza and Vikasa projects sharing their overseas community service journeys.]

For Project Pendeza, students travelled all the way to Kenya to volunteer at Our Lady of Grace Orphanage. The SMU team imparted sewing and cooking skills to the girls so as to inculcate a business mindset, inspired them with educational movies to nurture and strengthen their character, and organised teambuilding activities and regular night tuition sessions.

The students in Project Vikasa went to India to conduct IT, financial management and website management training sessions for six women groups to enable them to more effectively own the process of managing their textile-based line of products. This was aimed at helping disadvantaged young girls ultimately.

Launch of SMU Women Alumni Group

The SMU Women Alumni (WA) Group aims to gather the voices and interests of female SMU alumni to create a community to share experiences and drive volunteerism to help its members grow personal and professional interests.

The newly formed group brings the total number of SMU alumni groups to 29, serving and bringing together over 17,000 SMU alumni spread across the globe. This came hot on the heels of the launch of the Travel and Hospitality Alumni Group in early-May by SMU Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping, and the launch of the SMU Philippines Alumni Chapter in Manila in late-April by the Office of Alumni Relations.

Speaking at the launch, Ms Anna Haotanto, President of the SMU WA Group (above), said that with 15 years of graduates and an estimated 9,500 females among them, the Group has the potential to become the biggest alumni group.

She added that the WA Group believes that a strong women alumni will inspire SMU’s female undergraduates and young female students to join SMU for a fulfilling education.

The WA Group concocted a special cocktail (above) to commemorate the launch, symbolising wishes for bonds to be everlasting and perpetually inspiring. The ingredients signified the underlining elements of its strategic focus and major areas of a woman’s life: health, finance, family and personal development.

The evening concluded amidst toasts and fanfare.