The birth of an idea...

It really all came together when we held a 2-day retreat in Dec 2007. This is where we brainstormed all the fundamental questions: Who, What, How, Where, Why.

It was really quite an empowering experience, deciding together as a group what exactly we are about, and the mission that would embody everything we did at Syinc. In order words, you could say that we got "in Syinc"! (pun fully intended.)

Before "Syinc" was an organisation: The Pilot Period

Yes, when we first had the thought of starting something up, we were so hungry (or itchy!) to make some kind of difference. Question was, how? With so many worthy causes around, we didn't know what exactly we should do! So we thought: Why not just start - and just do something? And this, as we later called it, was our Pilot Period.  

2006

Youth MDG Workshop: A workshop on the Millennium Development Goals which was called Exploring Sustainable Development (ok, so we've tried to come up with better names ever since). This was co-organised with Jonathan Koh, one of our old-time supporters, where we also had a number of student presenters as part of the programme. Held at NUS.

CSD-14: Also known as the 14th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, in New York. This was the first time Singapore youth were involved as full-fledged participants (vs observers) in the CSD. What did we do? We worked the CSD Youth Caucus - young environmentalists from all over - in drafting statements which were presented to government heads and reps. We even had a group from Singapore, ECO, whom we welcomed on board to join this initiative. :) Check out the statement we delivered at the High Level Segment (ie. to heads of government and other delegates)!

World Bank / IMF Meetings: Inspired by the Youth Open Space organised by the World Bank Singapore office, we coordinated a small youth caucus in the form of an education e-group. The purpose of this e-group was to generate some discussion on youth priorities, which could then be shared at relevant sessions of the proceedings. 

TIG Open Forum '06: The first time we partnered with TakingITGlobal (or TIG for short), and held an open space for Singapore youth to air their views on social engagement in the country. It was great we could have TIG co-founders Mike and Jen in attendance! Held at NUS with generous support from NUS University Scholars Programme.

2007

Youth AIDS Day: We held a film screening, venue kindly sponsored by The Substation. The film was “HIV & The Hood”, an independent production by filmmaker Tchaiko Omawale, about the less-talked about faces of HIV in inner city New York: racial differences, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, even the fact of being in prison.

CSD-15: Following on from our work at CSD-14 the previous year. We served as co-leads in coordinating strategy of the CSD Youth Caucus. It was also through this continued engagement that we built stronger relationships with the UN Secretariat at CSD, global youth networks, and the Ministry of Environment & Water Resources (MEWR).

WAD Up!: In commemoration of World Aids Day (WAD), we organised an online initiative in Dec, WAD Up!, to gather youth inputs and personal stories relating to HIV/AIDS. You can find the modest site here: wadupsg.wordpress.com . We partnered with HOPE concert (raising HIV awareness) - they sponsored tix for WAD Up! participants. Thanks also to local filmmaker Sherman Ong for all your guidance in this project!