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| What kind of environment do we want to leave to the children of Singapore? |
I whole-heartedly agree. My dream is wildsingapore will no longer be necessary, and I can close shop and truly retire. I am also doing this because I want to work with people who want to ask questions. I feel finding the answers are not as important as being able to ask questions. Answers will always and should always change.
The other mentor is Olivia Choong of Green Drinks Singapore whom I admire greatly for her initiatives and thoughts. I am looking forward to learning from both the mentors as well as the participants.
Here's more details of the Programme, ripped off from Eugene Tay's blogpost.
The Sustainability Mentorship Programme is a new youth mentorship programme co-organised by sustainability advocates in Singapore, including:
- Eugene Tay, Green Future Solutions
- Faizah Jamal, Former Nominated Member of Parliament (Civic and People Sector)
- Ria Tan, Wildsingapore
- Olivia Choong, Green Drinks Singapore
Objectives
Through this mentorship programme, we hope to:
- Nurture a core group of youth (19 – 35 years old) with a holistic view of sustainability issues in Singapore
- Inspire them to be sustainability champions and leaders in the public, private and NGO sectors
- Support them to stay committed to the sustainability cause for the long-term
- Help them to ask the right questions and find answers
Timeline
- Open call for mentees from 2 – 22 Dec 2014
- Select and interview mentees from 23 – 30 Dec 2014
- Start programme from Jan to Jul 2015 with one session each month
Selection
- Open to Singaporeans from 19-35 years old
- Applicants should fill in the application form and submit the form and your resume by 22 Dec 2014
- Shortlisted applicants will be notified for an interview
- 10 mentees will be selected for the programme based on the application and interview
- Passionate about the environment and committed to the sustainability cause for the long-term
- Humble and willing to learn
- Self-motivated and able to work independently
- Punctual and respond to correspondence promptly
- Want to take personal action to make a difference
- Communicate effectively in English (spoken and written)
- Able to work well with people of different backgrounds
- Have good time management skills
- Have experience working on projects or jobs related to the environment (preferred but not necessary)
Mentee Responsibilities
- Attend all 7 mentorship sessions
- Read materials recommended by mentors
- Implement a project after the programme
- Submit a summary report after the project to share results and experiences with mentors and other mentees
Mentor Responsibilities
- Lead one mentorship session (mentors are free to join other sessions as co-mentors)
- Share knowledge, skills, values and experience with mentees
- Provide advice to mentees on their project
A high standard of respect, ethics and professionalism should be given and expected by both mentors and mentees.
Topics
Topics and mentor for each session:
Session 1
Eugene – Welcome
Faizah – Consciousness; Self-Reflection
Session 2
Ria and Faizah – Biodiversity; Nature Areas; Conservation
Session 3
Eugene – Waste; Energy; Climate Change; Water
Session 4
Olivia – Green Products; Consumption; Non-Toxics
Session 5
Faizah – Environmental Laws; Urban Planning; Government Engagement
Session 6
Eugene – Green Businesses; Corporate Social Responsibility; Business Models
Session 7
Olivia – Social Media; Communications; Campaigning
Eugene – Wrap-up
Session Format
- Informal session on a weekend (one session per month) to be led by one mentor (or more)
- Each session would be held indoors or outdoors, and venue would be relevant to the topic where possible
- Mentor will provide reading material to mentees before the session
- Each session would be around 2-3 hours:
- Discussion on topic and reading material, and exploring issues, solutions, opportunities and challenges [~1 hour]
- Sharing skills (communications, social media and web tools, project management, engagement, etc) and values (responsibility, perseverance, confidence, etc) [~1 hour]
- Advice on mentee projects [~1 hour]
Application Form
Pls submit the form and your resume to eugene@greenfuture.sg by 22 Dec 2014. We regret that only shortlisted applicants will be notified for an interview.
Download Sustainability Mentorship Programme - Application Form (18.47 kB)
More About the Mentors
Faizah Jamal, Former Nominated Member of Parliament (Civic and People Sector)
Faizah served as a Nominated Member of Parliament since from Feb 2012 to Aug 2014, after a successful nomination by Nature Society Singapore, specifically to represent environment concerns in Parliament, drawing from the strength of her diverse backgrounds in law, environment and holistic education, and her involvement with environment advocacy over the last 30 years.Formerly a corporate lawyer in Singapore specializing in Intellectual Property Law with top law firms like Drew and Napier, and Haq and Selvam, Faizah has since 2003, embarked on a second career in holistic education through nature and the environment.
She is an Adjunct Lecturer with Republic Polytechnic pioneering the Environment Education module since 2008, as well as with Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)-Wheelock College Boston, where she guides Outdoor Education and Early Childhood Education students not only to be eco–literate, through skillful facilitation, she also encourages her students to reflect deeply on the intangible lessons from Nature in leading examined lives.
Faizah has a law degree from the NUS and a Master’s Degree in Environment Law from King’s College, University of London after being awarded the European Community (EC)-ASEAN Scholarship for Environment Studies in 1992.
Ria Tan, wildsingapore
Ria Tan is just an ordinary person who is passionate about Singapore’s marine life. For the last 10 years, she has been regularly monitoring about 40 Singapore shores, making about 100 surveys a year with a small team of hardcore volunteers.She blogs at wild shores of singapore and runs thewildsingapore website which includes wildsingapore news and wildsingapore happenings and an online guide to Singapore’s common marine life. She has more than 40,000 photos on wildsingapore flickr for free download.
She started TeamSeagrass and volunteers with the Mega Marine Survey of Singapore in collaboration with NParks. She was involved in setting up the guiding system at Chek Jawaand Pulau Semakau and trained volunteer guides at the Sisters Islands Marine Park. She is also part of the Friends of Ubin Network and organised Ubin Day 2014. She volunteers as a nature guide with the Naked Hermit Crabs.
She is also an associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum of Singapore. She is co-author of the Chek Jawa Guidebook, the Wild Singapore coffee table book and Southern Shores guidesheet and is currently working on new marine nature guidebooks for Singapore. More about wildsingapore and Ria’s projects.
Olivia Choong, Green Drinks Singapore
Olivia is the President and Co-founder of Green Drinks Singapore, a non-profit environment-focused society that raises awareness on pertinent local and global environmental issues, and connects businesses, government agencies, academia, media, NGOs and individuals for knowledge sharing and meaningful collaboration opportunities. Her role also involves engagement with the government.Olivia manages Green PR, a public relations consultancy catered to small and medium environmental businesses, founded with the intention of advancing the green economy through raising awareness of green businesses, its products and services.
She is often featured in the press, speaking on environmental issues and giving her views on how Singapore can make progress in the area of sustainability. For her environmental contributions, Olivia was awarded the EcoFriend Award for 2013 by the National Environment Agency, and the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) 2014 by Junior Chamber International Singapore.
As a writer, she contributes business and lifestyle articles on the environment. In addition, she blogs about sustainable living and spiritual pursuits, and was a finalist in The Singapore Blog Awards for the category of best lifestyle blog in 2011.
Olivia currently serves on the board of advisors for youth environmental NGO, Avelife.
Eugene Tay, Green Future Solutions
Eugene Tay is a sustainability and green media consultant who believes in spreading the environmental message, and inspiring and empowering others to take action.Eugene is the Director of Green Future Solutions, a sustainability consulting company that helps businesses and organisations address environmental challenges and identify green opportunities. He guides companies and organisations along their sustainability journey, and helps them on: Strategy and Operations; Research and Content; and Marketing and Engagement.
His green media publications, websites and campaigns include the annual Singapore Green Landscape; The 7 Habits of Green Conscious Singaporeans; Green Business Singapore;Asia is Green; Zero Waste Singapore; Low Carbon Singapore; Greenstore; Waste is not Waste; The Green Corridor and Save Food Cut Waste.
Eugene is also the President of the Sharing Economy Association (Singapore) and the Founder of Circular Economy Singapore.
Eugene is a recipient of the EcoFriend Awards 2014 awarded by the National Environment Agency, one of the honours list for the Singapore Advocacy Awards 2014, the Environmental Blogger of the Year (Merit Winner) at the Asian Environmental Journalism Awards 2013, and the “Excellent Winner” and “Country Winner (Singapore)” at the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce Green Award 2012.
