Local projects for socially disadvantaged women get Singapore's attention

MANILA, Philippines - The Singapore National Committee for UN Women (UN Women Singapore) and MasterCard have announced the top 10 finalists for Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World. Two entries from the Philippines, Erika Rey Saturay’s Back to the Roots: Women’s Empowerment Through Community Farming and The Hapinoy Program of Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Michelle Pabalan and Mark Ruiz were among the finalists selected.

Erika’s project aims to help the women and girls in Sitio Panusungin in San Jose, Antipolo. She believes women are underutilized and are an overlooked human resource. She plans to change the world for women and girls by participating in activities that promote and advance gender equality and empowerment. “I try to veer away from reinforcing gender stereotypes. I check the words I choose or even the jokes I crack to make sure they’re not gender insensitive,” says Erika.

For his part, Paolo Benigno’s project helps women micro-entrepreneurs in Southern Luzon, Philippines. He says women’s empowerment is important because there have been studies that show women are good entrepreneurs because the bulk of their revenue goes to their families and towards good investments. “We are confident that the empowerment of women will create sustainable communities,” says Paolo Benigno.

Other finalists and their respective ideas include the following: Genevieve Radnan, Josh Bell and Stephanie Radnan of Australia for the uneducated or lowly-educated women in Karunga, Kenya; Steph Wollard of Australia for Nepal’s disabled women; Madhura Dutta, Moyna Chitrakar and Imrar Chitrakar of India for the women and girls in Chandipur Village, India; Jennifer Jones, Nobel and Mark Cox of Thailand for the oppressed Burmese women migrants and their families in Thailand and Odelia Ofori of Ghana for the disadvantaged women and girls in Ghana.

Each pitch idea was evaluated based on whether the idea was sustainable, impactful and provided economic or social benefit to disadvantaged women and girls in Asia Pacific, Middle East or Africa.

Launched in commemoration of the 100th year of International Women’s Day, Project Inspire is a worldwide platform for socially-inspired 18-35 year-olds. This initiative gives youth from around the world the chance to empower disadvantaged women or girls in Asia/Pacific, Middle East or Africa.

Youth representing 50 countries from Africa to Asia to Middle East, the Americas & Pacific Islands submitted hundreds of life-changing ideas as 5-minute pitch videos (or written proposals) for a chance to win a $25,000 grant. The grant will be used to bring to life the winning idea through education, skills training, financial inclusion or social entrepreneurship.

You have until Aug. 19, 2011 to cast your vote by logging on to www.5minutestochangetheworld.org/Vote and help determine who gets the $25,000 grand prize. The winning project will be determined by a combination of online votes and judges’ scores during the ‘live’ pitch event in Singapore on August 24, 2011. Additionally, a special grant of $10,000 will be awarded to the team with the best financial literacy/livelihood proposal aimed at helping women.