20 Nov 2006 UNIFEM SNOW Benefit Dinner

(In aid of UNIFEM Sustainable Livelihood Programme -“By Helping 1 Poor Woman in Asia, 4 Children will Benefit”)
AWDS supported The National Committee for The United Nations Development Fund for Women, Singapore (UNIFEM Singapore)’s Say No to Oppression of Women (SNOW) Benefit Dinner at the Conrad International Centennial Hotel. AWDS members enjoyed a night of entertainment, 7 course gastronomic feast by 7 celebrity chefs, with Guest-Of-Honour Mrs Lim Hwee Hua (Minister-of-State for Finance and Transport) gracing the event, and an Art Auction themed: “Women: Guardians of Heritage & Culture”. The UNIFEM Singapore SNOW Benefit is part of our series of events to raise funds and public awareness for the United Nations sanctioned International Day to End Violence Against Women commemorated every year on the 25th of November. Funds raised for this year’s SNOW Benefit went towards the UNIFEM Sustainable Livelihood Programme, a Microcredit Fund in Aceh, whereby 10 local financial institutions provide micro-financing loans to small businesses run by women. Its aim is to help restart their economic activity and stimulate the local economy. To-date, through vocational and business skills training and revolving credit facilities, nearly 450 women in IDP shelters in Aceh have resumed businesses such as pottery production, fish processing, garment trading and selling of traditional cakes. UNIFEM has also been supporting a mobile training unit to teach computer literacy and administrative skills to young people in remote locations to help them enter the job market.