Bernise Ang Founder of SYINC

” I saw for myself how young people could actually make change happen if they pooled their energy and smarts together” .

Talia Delgado
Romania - 20/06/2008
  Bernise is passionate about empowering and activating young people to realise their potential and to bring about positive change to their communities in addressing the challenges of our world today. She has a deep interest in building human capacity and social capital, international development; participatory decision-making; and the empowerment of youth for social change.

Bernise is the founder of SNIYC, which works to link up as well as build capacity among Singapore youth to engage in community-building and social change with greater effectiveness.

She has since been appointed to the Advisory Board of Youth Action for Change, which works to engage youth to empower youth through ICT for positive social change.

Bernise also serves as the National Focal Point in Singapore for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, involved in an initiative to build a national network of HIV/AIDS actors in Singapore.

Most recently in Nov 2007, in recognition of her efforts, Bernise is the first Singaporean to receive the YouthActionNet Award & Fellowship from the International Youth Foundation.


What concrete factors inspired you to become a social actor?

During my university days, I became actively involved in student welfare and representation for international students and other minority student groups who faced struggles I'd never witnessed before in Singapore. A cornerstone of my student services in Australia was a campaign for international student rights on public transport.

It was already a 15-year long campaign when I entered the scene, but by the end of my term, the case had been brought to the Anti-Discrimination Board and it was only after I left university that we heard the good news in March 2006: The Tribunal had ruled that the NSW government was being discriminatory towards international students and the existing ruling had to be overturned.

It was through this experience that I saw for myself how young people could actually make change happen if they pooled their energy and smarts together. I was particularly touched by the other student activists I was working with – their passion, dedication, and faith in social justice in the face of massive brick walls is just... inspiring.

How did you come up with the idea of the project?

Well, the first thing that glared at me, while I was deciding whether or not to come back to Singapore after studies, was that Singapore's social change landscape was perhaps.. lacking in the vibrancy I saw and read about in other countries, and in which I was personally involved in Australia. I just felt that there was so much potential for a more flourishing civil society, which would foster more active citizenry, global/social consciousness, and eventually a more healthy society to be in.

With that impetus, I did a bit of poke-around and research on the sector: It seemed that our social service sector and direct service provision were excellently run, with a lot of support from various government schemes and programmes. What I didn't see though, was a similar level of support for work on emerging social issues, such as HIV, climate change, fair trade, migrant workers, etc. I also found that the bulk of opportunities and resources tended towards the same big, established NGOs and semi-government organizations - who *do* do very good work - though it meant that often the smaller, informal groups and initiatives got left behind.

And so I thought we really need some kind of body that supports and helps coordinate the various groups involved in "social change" - again, this was a term hardly heard of where I come from, and so I saw a gap to be filled. I also wanted to de-stigmatize social change work here, because positive social change is a beautiful thing that isn't always about opposition parties, or riots or protests.
So I talked to a couple of friends whom I'd worked with in student representation, pulled off our first project (a youth workshop on the Millennium Development Goals - MDGs) in early 2006 - and the rest is history.


What has been your most positive and negative personal experience while doing your project?

One of the hardest things I've had to face along the way is something intangible – having your intentions doubted. This could mean that support needed for a project may not be forthcoming even from agencies that set out to support objectives such as yours, so sometimes you have to take a much longer route to get the project going, and that can drain you. When all you want to do is to do good, it can be a little... disempowering.
However, I see an upside to this overall because this means that even social change-agents are held to account, which I believe will strengthen organizations and civil society as a whole, in the long term.

Interestingly, one of the most positive experiences was not project-based, but rather an internal activity: A recent team retreat Dec 2007. The team really came together and synthesized our collective vision together – we even have 10-year goals now. It is the passion of the amazing individuals I work with that reminds me why this is something so special, and why we need to persevere to create the change we want to see.


What or who motivated you to continue the project?

Sometimes people who study non-profit motivation talk about how self- gratifying it is when you start out on a good cause and the encouragement of people (ie. social reward) sometimes becomes an incentive for your actions. But, after a while, something else has to come into play.

For me, I realized that this isn’t even about “oh, how nice it is, we young people are doing these great things”: It’s simply the fact that this is work that needs to be done, in our time, and we have the capacity (and opportunity!) to make that happen. So let’s do it.


How the project did changed you as a person and in which aspects did it?

It may sound ironic, but since starting SYINC in Singapore, I've actually become a bit more of a realist! Money and politics are not spared even in non-profit work. But, just as the nature of any field or industry is fraught with its own idiosyncrasies, I take it as the brilliant child I love whose eccentricity I have to deal with as part of life.

However, this has also made social change something that's very real and tangible for me, when you really break it down, it's not about grand schemes we design for ourselves or even for the world, but in the little gestures – an SMS to give encouragement for a project, a 5min chat in between meetings, simply showing another human being .. well, humanity.


What final aims would you like to achieve with your project?

In 5 years, I see SYINC becoming a strong tool for social engagement – one that's relevant, that young people can relate to, and that responds to real needs on the ground. This means providing a resource point that social change groups can own and leverage on; it means people look forward to the next SYINConnect; it means synergising efforts with public agency allies in serving youth; it means people making full use of SYINCubate to turn their social change ideas into effective, sustainable projects.

Ultimately, I wish to see a society where people are not left behind, nor marginalized, no matter their class, group or orientation. Where people have genuine economic, social, and political choices, and where the playing field of all opportunities is a little fairer. A world that is sustainable, peaceful, and just. And if in my lifetime, if SYINC can help contribute just a little bit and build critical mass towards a tipping point that can catalyse that change – then that would be an achievement many times over. – still working on this.

SYINC .

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