Stories of Singapore’s Awesome Women to be used to inspire and empower school children

SINGAPORE, 9 March 2021: The stories of the women in the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame are to be turned into lessons for school children about the value of having bold dreams and the determination to make those dreams come true.

This is the aim of Project Awesome: Dare to Dream, an initiative of the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) and the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame (SWHF).

The multi-pronged programme to inspire young Singaporeans, especially girls, to dream big, aim high, and chart their own path in life has the support of Deloitte Singapore as a corporate partner and the School of the Arts as an education partner. More partners are expected to come on board in the months ahead as the Awesome Community takes shape.

Project Awesome is built around the children’s book Awesome Women of
Singapore, which was launched yesterday by President Halimah at the 7th
induction ceremony of the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame at the Istana.

The book brings to children aged 8 and above the stories of the 160 women in the Hall of Fame (as of March 2019). It also showcases the work of 10 local women artists who were commissioned to draw the portraits of the 100 Hall of Fame inductees who are featured prominently in the book.

In April, complimentary copies of Awesome Women of Singapore will be sent to all primary and secondary schools, madrasahs, and homes for children and youth.

Along with the books, the schools and homes will be offered a range of teaching aids and interactive tools to help teachers use the stories of the Awesome Women to get their students thinking about their goals in life and how they can overcome any obstacles they might face.

Many of the Awesome Women were trailblazers who, driven by their vision of a better life, broke through structural and cultural barriers and carved out new paths for themselves and for others.

Students who have been at Hall of Fame exhibitions and talks say it is empowering to learn about the women’s achievements and contributions, and it inspires them to want to pursue their passions.

Project Awesome will have a pilot run from April 2021 to March 2022. Feedback from the teachers and students who use the lesson plans and other tools will be used to refine the programme for the subsequent years.

The five-year target is to have 50% of Singapore’s students take part in at least one of Project Awesome’s activities, and to build a network of community and institutional partners who want to inspire and motivate children and youth to be bold and creative, and to live life to the fullest.

Community partners

Corporate partner Deloitte Singapore is committing funds and expertise to Project Awesome. This is in line with Deloitte’s WorldClass initiative that seeks to impact 50 million futures by 2030.

Launched in 2017 as Deloitte’s signature global social impact initiative, the WorldClass programme empowers individuals and communities by providing quality education and skills development opportunities. It is a reflection of Deloitte’s commitment to investing in people and lifelong learning.

Project Awesome’s aim of inspiring girls and boys in Singapore to chart their own path is precisely what Deloitte wants to achieve with WorldClass.

“We want to provide young people with the right skills and opportunities,” said Mr Philip Yuen, Chairman of Deloitte Singapore.

“Through these actions – even in the simplest of ways – Deloitte wants to generate an ever-expanding pattern of small gestures and personal connections that we believe will ultimately lead to a more balanced world.”

He added: “Women’s voices have not always been at the forefront of history, even though they have shaped history. That is why our younger generation - boys and girls alike - needs to hear about these amazing stories and be inspired to make a difference.”

The Project Awesome logo was designed by education partner SOTA’s Year 4 Service Learning Team (Project Awesome), This is their description of the logo: “By daring to dream, we are boldly reaching for the stars and overcoming adversity. The stars are symbolic of our dreams and achievements, and the lasso encourages us to reach for them. Multiple stars of differing sizes show us that the sky’s the limit to what we can achieve through our strength and courage.”

SOTA also has small teams of students working on possible video podcasts of Awesome stories and on Awesome merchandise.

The lesson plans and other teaching tools for Project Awesome are being developed by Singapore start-up Face the Future that creates workshops, tests, games, and other tools to help young people understand and practice soft human skills.

“We are keen to work with many more community partners - corporations, educational institutions, civil society organisations, individuals – and to build an Awesome community,” said Margaret Thomas, SWHF chair and a member of the SCWO Board.

“We want to find a variety of ways in which the stories of the Awesome Women and related content can be used creatively to spread knowledge of women’s contributions and achievements, and to inspire and empower people, especially children and youths.”

Ms Thomas noted that the government has embarked on a review of the status of women in Singapore, with a White Paper later this year expected to propose policies and programmes to establish gender equality as a fundamental value in our society, with boys and girls growing up as equals and respecting each other equally.

She said: “We believe bringing the stories of the Awesome Women to school children can be helpful in this effort as it will show boys that women are as capable as men in all areas, and it will give girls strong role models.”

The fund-raising for Project Awesome includes a campaign on the giving.sg platform. The campaign will be promoted on social media with the help of messages of endorsement and encouragement from a range of influential people.

While the immediate goal of the giving.sg campaign is to raise funds, the bigger goal is to get the Project Awesome message to as many people as possible. And the message is this: ‘You too can be Awesome. You can and you should, like the Awesome Women of Singapore, dare to dream, and then make that dream come true.’

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