SIF Volunteers Share Knowledge and Skills to Benefit Women Living with HIV in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, India, 29 March 2010 — The Singapore International Foundation (SIF) has partnered the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Thailand’s Population & Community Development Association (PDA), to send two SIF volunteers for a livelihood project that will benefit women living with HIV, in Tamil Nadu.

The two SIF volunteers will be in Chennai to conduct a workshop, from 29 March to 2 April, for three key staff from local enterprise Social Light Communications (Social Light), a small print company based in Chennai.

Social Light is a business wing of the Positive Women Network (PWN+), an Indian organisation established in 1998 by women living with HIV. Also based in Chennai, PWN+ focuses on improving the welfare of some 10,000 women living with the disease and has member networks across India, including Rajasthan, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. PWN+ is supported by the UNDP in coordination with Thailand’s PDA, which had requested the SIF’s partnership to help improve Social Light’s business operations.

While print company Social Light has made modest profits since its establishment in 2006 that support initiatives by PWN+ this is largely due to strong support from local and international aid organisations that had engaged its services.

Social Light now wants to identify new marketing and sales strategies to expand its market opportunities, by raising customer service standards and enhancing the staff’s technical skills in design and production.

Over the five-day workshop, the two SIF volunteers will work closely with Social Light staff on basic management, design and production, budgeting, and account servicing.

The SIF volunteers are: Ms Shirley Hew, Executive Director & Publisher of Straits Times Press Pte Ltd; and Mr Eric Tee, Project Manager at Yahoo! Southeast Asia, based in Singapore.

Ms Hew has over 35 years’ experience in multi-platform content publishing, and in planning and initiating marketing and branding campaigns in first world and developing countries. “I hope we can add real value to make Social Light viable and sustainable not only in the short term but also in the medium term. At this point, they are only just starting out and we’ve entered at a very critical period, which is exciting for us and hopefully beneficial for them,” says Ms Hew.

Prior to joining Straits Times Press, Ms Hew headed various international companies publishing groups SNP Corp and Times Publishing Group/Marshall Cavendish. She was also previously a current affairs host and news anchor at the former Singapore Broadcasting Corporation.

Her fellow volunteer for the project, Mr Eric Tee, currently manages creative projects for clients and online users in the region at Yahoo! Southeast Asia. In addition, he has extensive experience over eight years as a web and graphic designer, and also volunteers regularly at the Singapore Boys’ Home. He says, “I am happy to have the opportunity to serve Social Light’s needs, which will in turn benefit women living with HIV. I know that at the end of the workshop, I would have gained invaluable life lessons from them about courage and dealing with adversity. I look forward to volunteering for more of such projects.”

Prior to the workshop, the SIF conducted a study trip in June 2009 to learn about Social Light’s needs. Ms Margaret Thevarakom, SIF’s Deputy Director for International Volunteerism, says, “Since then, our two volunteers have worked closely with Social Light to understand their current practices and client servicing, in order to design the workshop training. This project is also one of the SIF’s first efforts in focusing on livelihood and business, a key area where Singapore professionals can support the region.” The SIF focuses on five areas when working with communities for sustained development: healthcare, education, environment, livelihood & business, and arts & culture.

PWN+ founder and Social Light board member, Ms Kousalya Periasamy, publicly declared her HIV-positive status in 1995. She was the first woman in India to do so. Ms Periasamy says, “Social Light and the SIF have worked hand-in-hand to establish each other’s needs and input for the collaboration. I’m very keen for my colleagues to learn about sustaining and improving the business services and extending the clientele. This will hopefully generate higher margins to help fund our various support initiatives.”