Designations in Project Waterloo

Hi all! Thank you for coming down for the welcome tea session! It was great meeting like-minded folks who wish to contribute back to the community. NTU SIFE warmly welcomes you into our fraternity!

For those who signed up for Project Waterloo, you may wish to be informed of the following designations in our team, so you can prepare for the interview this coming week! (click image below to enlarge)

1.0 Co-leaders

Co-leaders of Project Waterloo will be tasked with overall project management, as well as people management. Leaders have the heavy responsibility of ensuring that all aspects of the project, from pre- and post-expeditions to the expedition itself are carried out smoothly. They have to manage team members’ expectations, and ensure that the well-being of members is constantly taken care of. On top of that leaders are also encouraged to conduct regular facilitation sessions with members, so that members will actively reflect on the activities that they have done.

1.1 Process

Process relates to the core activities under Project Waterloo, consisting of Engineering (building the water filtration system), Local Projects, and Business (fundraising, sponsorship and sourcing of business opportunities).

1.11 Engineering (4)

The engineering manager will be in charge of overseeing the building and implementation of the water filtration system. He will have under him a logistics officer, responsible for soliciting the purchase of the raw materials needed, and transportation of the raw materials to the building site. The liaison officer will be responsible for communicating the requirements of the engineering project to the head of the NGO in the village, and the technical experts helping out with Project Waterloo.

1.12 Local Projects (4)

The local project manager has to ensure that the local projects are initiated and implemented successfully. The importance of local projects cannot be belittled; in fact they are as important as the overseas project itself. They represent areas where the YEP team can contribute to the local community and where members have opportunities to bond with one another before they set out to Cambodia. He/she has to manage the people in his committee, who will also handle liaison and logistical work. One of our local project partners is Blessings In a Bag (www.blessingsinabag.org), but the committee is encouraged to source for other partners that we can benefit.

1.13 Business (4)

The business committee has 3 main tasks: fundraising, sponsorship as well as in sourcing for business opportunities in the village in Cambodia in conjunction with the setting up of the water filtration system. Fundraising activities can be as creative as possible, such as in selling of hand-made or food items in school, selling food vouchers that can be redeemed etc. Sponsorship should take up the bulk of the funds to be raised, and thus the liaison officer should approach corporate for donations of any kind.

1.2 Support

The support activities that help to ensure the success of Project Waterloo include: publicity and media, and welfare/Human resources.

1.21 Publicity and Media

The publicity and media manager is responsible for setting up and maintaining a website/blog detailing our journey through YEP. They will also be in charge of documenting the journey through any means possible, be it through photos or videos.

1.22 Welfare/HR

The welfare/ HR committee takes care of the needs of the team, be they food, shelter or living space, ensuring that all needs are adequately met. In addition the first aiders under the welfare committee will serve as the medics of the team, providing the relevant first aid when necessary.

SIFE Recruitment

Dear Potential SIFE Members,

A very big thank you to all who were present during our Welcome Tea Session!
We hope the presentation during the session enabled you to gain a greater understanding of what SIFE is, as well as the opportunities that SIFE is able to offer.
We would like to apologise for the minor hiccups during the registration but we are sure the delicious buffet has probably made up for the inconvenience. =)
The following are some administrative matters for SIFE members.
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Registration for SIFE membership
1. Please fill in the following form, http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGw4VHRnVm9xNlFEUlNUWVNJWUdxelE6MA
2. Indicate the interested project.(It is for our reference so that we can share more relevant information wrt the project, it does not mean that you must join the project)
3. Registration deadline for SIFE membership is 31st August 2009 2359Hr.

In addition, SIFE will prepare a box of 100 namecards for each member.
For those who have already indicated that they are joining SIFE, please fill in the form so that we can capture your data for the namecards.
As we expect to meet business leaders during our networking sessions, we advise that you give some thoughts to the email address submitted in the form.
Please refer to http://www.saipeopleblog.com/top-10-tips-to-write-a-professional-email-address-in-resume/ for some suggestions.
The cost of the namecards will be advised in a later date.

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Registration for 5th September SIFE Workshop
1. Please indicate your attendence in the same form, http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGw4VHRnVm9xNlFEUlNUWVNJWUdxelE6MA

We strongly encourage all SIFE members to attend the session.
This event is organised by SIFE SG. Other universities and polytechnics are also invited for the session.
SIFE SG will be covering the competition criteria and the SIFE team model.
It will be a good opportunity for us to interact with fellow SIFE members from the other schools!

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Registration for YEP
1. Submit the completed Registration Forms to ntusife@gmail.com by 29th August(Saturday) 2359Hr via Email with the title"Registration form(Waterloo)"/"Registration form (Tiwala!)" for administrative purposes.
(Remember to register for SIFE membership to be eligible for it)
2. The respective project leaders will be interviewing the applicants over the course of next week.
3. We will release the list of selected members latest by 4th of Septmber(Friday)
4. First YEP meeting will be scheduled on 5th September(Saturday) from 2pm to 4pm (after our SIFE workshop, venue to be confirmed).

We are aware that a number of the attendees may not have received the Registration Form for YEP. We have attached the form to this mail.
Due to the huge response, the team has decided to make both YEP Projects exclusive for registered NTU SIFE members only.
And Project Tiwala! will be extending their registration datelines from 26th August to 29th August 2359.
For those who have submitted your forms already, you do not have to submit again.

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Once again, thank you for taking the time to learn more about SIFE.
The Exco team is very heartened by the favourable and passionate response from our attendees during the tea session.
NTU SIFE is always seeking for passionate, like-minded people like ourselves.

The projects which we have shared are going to be challenging yet fulfilling.
We can assure you that the experience and the contacts that you gain along the way will be very different from your peers.



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Best Regards,
Students in Free Enterprise(NTU SIFE)

Mission: Serving the community through sustainable enterprise and joint partnership with business leaders .
Vision: Achieving self-sustainable communities and producing socially responsible business leaders.

Recruitment

Hi guys!

Those interested in joining Project Waterloo, Project Tiwala or NTU SIFE, please note that there will be a welcome tea session next:

Wed,
26th of Aug,
6.45pm-8.00pm @
South Spine S4 Seminar Rooms 12 & 14.

Light refreshments will also be provided.

Be prepared to be engaged!

Register for the tea session by clicking here.

What can SIFE do 4 me?

SIFE is about developing the capabilities and character of students with its structured programme co-organised with our corporate sponsors.

Through:

Workshops

Internships

Networking sessions

Forums

We hope to equip SIFE students with the essential skills and aptitude to participate and take up community projects both locally and overseas.

SIFE places a strong emphasis on project creation and management because we believe that they are one of the most effective ways of applying what we have learnt in classrooms onto the real world.

SIFE projects are different from normal community projects because of:

• Our emphasis on sustainability
• Fusion of business acumen with a heart for the community
• We do not simply build facilities, but we build up the capabilities of communities to rely on themselves for a living
• We track the income and standard of living in the community to assess our impact

First Day of CCA Fair

It has been a hectic and wonderful day so fair in school. I have never perspired so much in school, running up and down preparing the marketing collaterals for our Booth. Nonetheless, the team enjoyed ourselves sharing our SIFE mission with fellow NTU Students.

Response for Project Waterloo is very healthy and we are bringing in another YEP - Project Tiwala! (means faith in tagalog) for our new SIFE members. Project Tiwala is an overseas project in Philippines and it is a joint project with NUS students. Keep your eyes open for NTU SIFE's booth!

P.S. We are located near LT 8, near the Singtel Booth. For any enquiries, feel free to ask the representatives at the booth. Alternatively, email us at ntusife@gmail.com.

History of NTU SIFE

To our dear freshies who will chance upon this page,

Below is a summary of the history of our club.

We have worked hard, but we had played hard as well.

We would like to invite you to join us in making a difference to the world we live in. =)

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History of NTU SIFE

Prior to the current team, there was no succession planning.

All of the previous teams were formed for the sole purpose of competing in the SIFE Nationals.

They were disbanded after the Nationals. Thus the experience gained by each team over the years was not passed down.

Formation of NTU SIFE

About 1.5 years ago, a few of us came together and formed an team by ourselves to compete in the nationals with our first project - Hawkers Financial Literacy Programme.

Since then, our team has grew from 5 people to 10 people.

We are now embarking on NTU SIFE's recruitment drive over the next 3 days (17 -19th August 2009).

SIFE Nationals 2008

We took part in the Nationals with our first project.

And we emerged as the finalists in the competition, with the support of Prof Clive and Mr Anthony Teo, Secretary of NTU.

The team was very heartened by the results and continued working on other projects.

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First SIFE Project(Hawkers Financial Literacy Programme) (Contributed by Guanyi)

In March 2008, a financial literacy project targeted at the hawkers was conceived as we felt that there was a need to lift the veil about insurance and emphasize the importance of maintaining bookkeeping records to track cashflows.

This will have a positive effect on their personal finance and businesses.

Through the project, we collaborated with various parties to develop suitable materials and method of delivery.

Eventually, a fruitful and interactive workshop was conducted where we shared some insurance insights and bookkeeping skills with the participants.

Second SIFE Project(MISE Competition) (Contributed by Diana)

NTU SIFE participated in the Mayor's Imagine Social Entrepreneurship (MISE) Challenge in 2008, emerging as finalists in the competition. MISE is a social entrepreneurship business plan competition, whereby students are paired with Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) to identify sustainable businesses that can be started to empower the beneficiaries in the VWOs.

Third SIFE Project(CycleCulture) (Contributed by Ming Zhou)

CycleCulture is a project undertaken by NTUSIFE which exploits the recent public transport experiment to allow foldable bicycles on the Singapore MRT system.

NTUSIFE students showed international students around various places of interest in Singapore with the use of foldable bicycles and the public transport system.

CycleCulture embraces the 'Go Public' philosophy in encouraging young people, both local and international, to make use of the public transport network.

This initiative not only promotes environmental friendliness by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, it also promotes a healthy lifestyle through cycling.

However, we stopped the project as NTU didnt support cycling due to safety issues.

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First Forum (Contributed by Juhu)

Title: Social Entrepreneurship: Business with a Heart (23 Jan 09)

Speakers: Jack Sim from World Toilet Organization, Hazel Menon from Beauty Immanuel, Bernise Ang from Syinc.

During the Forum, we also had a Student Sharing Session whereby students from ITEs and Polytechnic get to showcase their projects with NTU Students.

ITE KARE Team to present their product: bags made from recycle materials.

SPSIFE Team to present their SIFE projects

NTUSIFE Team to present our vision and mission + past projects: Cycle Culture, Mayor's Imagine for Social Enterprise (MISE) Competition, Financial Literacy Hawker Project.

Second Forum(Contributed by Diana)

Title: Get Real: The Untold Stories of Entrepreneurs.

Speakers: Mr Samuel Chia of NYDC Cafe, Ms Nanz Chong-Komo of Komo Pte ltd, Ms Elfaine Tan of Fr3b.com

NTU SIFE is coorganising this forum in the upcoming Entrepreneurship and Innovation Festival organised by the Nanyang Technopreneurship Centre.

Third Forum(GK Forum) (Contributed by Juhu)

Title: The Art of Changing Lives: Discovering Opportunities in Social Enterprise (27 Aug 09)

Speakers: Antonio Meloto - Founder of Gawad Kalinga, Bebet Gozun - Head of Green Kalinga (GK's Environmental arm)

Mr Antonio Meloto will be introducing their holistic poverty eradicating strategy development: a stage of social artistry. The way social innovation works into process for sustainability.

Ms Bebet Gozun will touch on the reality part of environmental projects implementation, the feasibility and innovation.

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Existing Project(YEP) (contributed by minghui)

Currently, NTU SIFE is working on Project Waterloo. It is a Youth Expedition Project(YEP) which is funded by National Youth Council.

The project can be broken down into 3 phases, Pre-expedition, Expedition and Post Expedition.

Now till November: Pre-expedition consists of recruitment, fund-raising activities, team-bonding/facilitation sessions, local project(e.g. Blessings in a Bag)

December: Expedition consists of building a water filtration system in Pursat Province, Cambodia.

January till March: Post-expedition is still in the pipeline. It has to be a local project as well.

Existing Project(GK Project)

To be updated by Juhu.

Existing Project(Recruitment) (contributed by minghui)

A solid recruitment is critical to the sustainability of NTUSIFE.

And we are not sparing any effort to ensure that we get the right people we want over the next 2 weeks.

Welcome Tea Session(26th August, Monday)

A session for newcomers to know more about SIFE.

We plan to invite SIFE SG to come down and share with the newcomers about SIFE.
Venue to be confirmed.

Presentation at GK Forum(27th August, Thursday)
In line with the social entrepreneurial theme of the forum, NTU SIFE will have an official launch during the event.
The club will share its vision and projects with a student audience of approximately 100-200.

Homerun I
1.Fundraising
a.Selling Food
i. YaKun
ii. Finger food
iii. Old Changkee
b.Photography
i. Taking professional shots for namecard
c.T-shirt
i. Selling t-shirts in school

2.Local Projects
a.Blessings in a bag
b.Sungei Buloh Wetland CIP

3.Facilitation session
a.Interview/selection(2nd/3rd Week)
b.Introduction to YEP + Setting groundrules/expectations + Goals/Objectives(4th Week)
c.Cambodian Movie/Make a Stand game/ Human knot(5th week)
d.Cultural lessons/Language(After exams)
e.Final Briefing(Prior to departure)

Expedition
1.Cambodia (December)
a.Water filtration
b.Kindergarten

Homerun II
1.Local Project(???)