Singapore’s CCF contributes funds and assets to ASEAN for better disaster management
(above) The Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) presenting its Token of Goodwill & Support to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), with CCF Board’s Executive Director, Wong Chin Sing and AHA Centre’s Executive Director, Said Faisal. The momentous occasion was witnessed by (from left) CCF Board’s Executive Director, Teng Soo Hai, RSIS’s Executive Deputy Chairman, Ong Keng Yong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, CCF Executive Director, Hassan Ahmad, & SCDF’s International Relations Director, Lee Yam Ming.
Friday, 11 March 2016 – Building on the landmark working agreement signed last November between Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) and AHA Centre, the Singaporean corporate humanitarian outfit presented a SGD100,000 support towards AHA Centre’s operations and stockpiling efforts, to better respond to regional disasters. Incidentally, this made CCF the first organisation from the private and people sectors to have contributed towards AHA Centre or the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management.
10 units of Singaporean-made manual-powered and motorised water treatment systems for disaster relief were included in the support. The systems are light and portable, and can filter known bacteria, smell, chemicals and metals at a rate of 500 litres per hour, and are World Health Organisation (WHO) compliant.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and RSIS’s Executive Deputy Chairman, Ong Keng Yong, who is also the former Secretary-General of ASEAN, graced the occasion as the Guest-of-Honour and Special Guest respectively, along with diplomats and senior officials from local government bodies and private sector.
In his address at the ceremony, Dr Vivian emphasised on how disasters serve as “reminders that we need to have resilient communities. We can’t predict exactly when disasters will occur. We need to be even more prepared not just individually or as a country, but indeed, to be prepared as a region, and to help one another. For the companies in our private sector, it’s not just about money, but also about offering your expertise to help when disaster strikes. For the CCF and AHA Centre, let us commit to being prepared and to be able to work effectively together across boundaries, and to work as an ASEAN community.”
(left) Guest-of-Honour Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan delivers his address on one of the manual-powered StepPure ultrafiltration water systems, acknowledging CCF’s efforts to “offer not just expertise, but also special abilities when disaster strikes”.
(right) CCF Board’s Executive Director, Wong Chin Sing, emphases on the importance of establishing and strengthening partnerships across organisations to better prepare and address the humanitarian needs in the region.
AHA Centre’s Executive Director, Said Faisal, highlights the importance of the private sector through CCF in regional emergency relief, working towards its vision of One ASEAN, One Response in disaster management.
Launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in October 2014, and now just over a year old, CCF is intended to be a platform to catalyse private sector collaboration, hinging on the corporate partners’ networks, assets and expertise, for a better, safer and friendlier Asia. This initiative seeks to fill the glaring gap within the humanitarian ecosystem, where there is a lack of proactive and collective participation from the private sector.
In his welcome note, Director of CCF Board, Wong Chin Sing, shared: “As a Singaporean outfit, our most immediate neighbourhood is the Southeast Asia, where we the people of ASEAN, are moving towards One Vision, One Identity, and One Community. It is important that during peace times, we make new friends and strengthen bonds, such that when the need arises for us to collaborate, we can comfortably and confidently, hinge on each other’s strengths, to better serve the regional humanitarian needs”.
On 1 November 2015, CCF became the first ever non-government organisation to sign a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) with AHA Centre, to cross-share resources for disaster management in the region. The MOI marked a significant step forward for the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) – the legal instrument, which is a proactive regional framework for cooperation, coordination, technical assistance, and resource mobilisation in all aspects of disaster management, involving stakeholders from all sectors.
“Working with the private sector goes beyond relief items and financial support (one that is critical, important and needs to be continued) — it is also about sharing the knowledge, expertise, networks, skills and solutions of private sectors. It is about injecting the culture of innovation and change into the humanitarian landscape. The private sector is truly an important aspect for our vision of ‘One ASEAN, One Response’, and CCF is an important partner for the AHA Centre in making this happen,” stated Mr Said Faisal in his speech.
Last December, CCF had forged a partnership with the Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) to facilitate operational cooperation for disaster responses in the Philippines. Efforts are already underway to replicate such private partnership model for humanitarian assistance across the other ASEAN member states.
(left) GOH Dr Vivian remarking on the mobility of the manual-powered StepPure ultrafiltration water systems, which are kept compact and light weighing an average of 55kg.
(right) CCF Executive Director, Hassan Ahmad, CCF Board’s Executive Director, Teng Soo Hai, and GOH Dr Vivian observe during the demonstration of the StepPure water systems at work, which churn about 500l of water per hour.
(left) Stepping up the game. Dr Vivian having a go at one of the manual-powered StepPure ultrafiltration water system, which are included in the assets contributed by CCF to support AHA Centre’s regional disaster assistance.
(right) Waste No Waste. Held at the premises of supporting pioneer partner, HSL Constructor, the event concluded with a showcase of products made from timber waste as part of HSL’s ongoing upcycling efforts.
ABOUT CCF
The Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) was officially launched by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in October 2014. It seeks to be the catalyst for proactive and constructive corporate collaboration for a better, safer and friendlier Asia. Initiated and seed-funded by HSL Constructor, the CCF is a private sector initiative to pull and pool together appropriate corporate assets to help improve the capacity and resilience of vulnerable communities in Asia, through sustainable livelihood programmes including disaster preparedness and response.
The CCF had established the Swift Emergency Evaluation Deployment (SEED), as its first responders for early access into and appropriate intervention at disaster-affected areas. SEED is simultaneously tasked to evaluate and disseminate first-hand information to incoming aid responders for more informed strategic decisions. Hence, the SEED’s slogan – Bridging the First Mile. SEED’s pioneer partners include the Pacific Flight Services of ST Aerospace (aerospace); Channel NewsAsia of MediaCorp (broadcast communications); Golden Season (water) and HSL Constructor (engineering).
Since inception, the CCF and SEED have responded to super typhoon Hagupit in Philippines (Dec ‘14); Kelantan floods in Malaysia (Dec ’14), Gorkha earthquake in Nepal (Apr ‘15) and Chennai floods in India (Nov ’15).
ABOUT ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre)
The AHA Centre is an inter-governmental organisation established by ten (10) ASEAN Member States on 17 November 2011 with the aim to facilitate cooperation and coordination amongst ASEAN Member States and with relevant United Nations and international organisations in promoting regional collaboration in disaster management. The AHA Centre is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
ABOUT SEED PARTNERS
MEDIACORP
MediaCorp is Singapore’s leading media company with the most complete range of platforms, spanning television, radio, newspapers, magazines, movies, digital and out-of-home media.
It pioneered the development of Singapore’s broadcasting industry, with the broadcast of Radio in 1936 and Television in 1963. Today, MediaCorp has over 50 products and brands in four languages (English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil), reaching out to all adults in Singapore every week.
Initiatives in the new digital space include Internet TV-on-demand, High Definition TV broadcast and Over-the-Top (OTT) interactive services.
Beyond Singapore, MediaCorp is an active regional player through co-productions in TV dramas and movies, magazines publishing, as well as Channel NewsAsia International, one of the first Asian-owned English news channels.
Our financial and strategic relationship in the region includes International Media Corporation in Vietnam, which was set up to develop and produce television entertainment and economic news content. MediaCorp also has a stake in Singapore-based retail firm Reebonz, one of the region’s fastest growing luxury online retailers and a majority stake in Cubinet Interactive, a Malaysian digital games publisher.
Winner of numerous international awards and accolades including Asian Television Awards’ Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year, MediaCorp’s mission is to engage, entertain and enrich audiences by harnessing the power of creativity. For more information, please visit mediacorp.sg.
PACIFIC FLIGHT SERVICES, A WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY OF ST AEROSPACE
Incorporated in 1990, Pacific Flight Services Pte Ltd (PFS) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ST Aerospace. Based in Seletar Aerospace Park in Singapore, PFS offers a full suite of air charter services ranging from executive and leisure travel, sightseeing flights to aero medical evacuation operations worldwide. PFS manages close to ten business jets covering a seating capacity of six to 16 passengers and a flight range of 2,500km to 12,500km. The air charter specialist is equipped with a professional team of pilots and flight attendants, offering non-stop flights to over 200 destinations throughout Asia Pacific.
GOLDEN SEASON
Golden Season is an international manufacturing company with headquarters based in Singapore, and with clientele consisting of organisations from various industries worldwide. The company’s specialisations range from the fields of military & law enforcement, medical & rescue, camping & outfield to provision of battery products, and military & humanitarian supplies.
Having a strong Research and Development team formed by a group of skilled engineers and designers as well as being equipped with state of the art facilities, Golden Season is not only able to produce prototypes of concept products but also perform in-house testing. As an company, its mission include: producing and providing cost effective products of uncompromising quality and reliability, delivering orders timely and efficiently, and continuously developing innovative products through evolution of our processes and materials.
As an organisation, Golden Season aims to become the preferred supplier and make a difference for their international clientele. With a strong belief in contributing back to society, the enterprise drives towards social change and encourages CSR amongst the communities — by actively participating in charitable activities through fund raising, providing donations in kind, as well as offering logistics support for humanitarian organisations. For more information, please visit gseason.com.
HSL CONSTRUCTOR
Founded in 1994 as a small start-up company and abiding staunchly by its Vision — a Greater HSL for a Better World — HSL has grown rapidly over two decades and is recognised as a frontrunner in the regional foreshore marine civil engineering sector. HSL strives to deliver engineering solutions, while enlivening the spirit of innovation. HSL is a fully integrated marine civil engineering and construction company with the capabilities to support every stage of the project life cycle – from inception to completion and beyond. It offers turnkey design and build; planning, design and engineering; maintenance and operations; and demolition and decommissioning services. Over the years, while maintaining a steady focus on its core business in marine civil engineering, HSL has expanded its services to include plant civil engineering and ground engineering works. For more information, please visit hsl.com.sg.
