Our Meetings @ NTUC Headquarters
First Meeting:
Our first conference with the Women Development Secretariat (WDS) was held at NTUC headquarters. At the meeting, a brief introduction of one another over a sumptuous dinner, courtesy of NTUC, was carried out. After getting to know each other - after the ice had been broken - certain issues were brought up by NTUC to ensure that both parties were on the same page and that we had similar goals to avoid conflicts after the project started, furthermore a plan was drawn up with various time frames to guide us along. At the end of the conference both parties were agreeable to the project and thus the green light was turned on for the first phase of the project. From this meeting, we have learnt how to communicate strategically with organizations in order to gain their trust so that they would allow us to have a say in the development of the project. We have also learnt how to make compromises in order to align our interests with the organization so that we will be able to cooperate without any major disagreements that would disrupt our projects.
Second Meeting:
The second meeting with NTUC was to confirm the number of children who will be coming on board to our project. A total of 8 children, most of whom were residing around Bukit Batok, had confirmed their attendance. After which, a detailed plan was drawn up for Phase 1 . Methods of evaluating the program's success were discussed as well as how the individual sessions itself would be carried out. We agreed on the time frame for Phase 1 and discussed on future plans if the first phase was a success. This gave the group a good idea to what we a aiming to achieve and how our program will work out.
Third Meeting:
The third meeting with WDS was held halfway through Phase 1. During the meeting we discussed on the extent of success in the initial phase and provided feedback to the staffs at WDS. A detailed record was provided and the review was carried out with individual recounts by the team members on their respective session. The recounts touched on the improvement the child made over the past sessions and key issues on the child's behavior and proficiency in English. A few problems were brought up to decide on how to settle problems, followed by drafting out plans for Phase 2. We decided on recruiting volunteers to expand our project as well as a spectacular finale to celebrate the success of our first phase. Knowing what to do next in mind, the group set out to find more trainers to strengthen the project.
Final Meeting:The purpose of our final meeting was to update WDS about the process of our programme and the progress of the children. In addition, we hoped to hear from them what they thought, and obtain feedback so as to improve on our program.
We were pleased to see that WDS was very impressed with our commitment and how we dealt with problems, for example, how we mentored kids who were unable to recognize and sound out simple words and how we mentored kids who were uncooperative. WDS also informed us that every mum had given them positive feedback on our project and well as for us. I believe that the team felt a sense of achievement tonight and we are even more determined to push out Phase 2 of our project and subsequently Phase 3.
We were pleased to see that WDS was very impressed with our commitment and how we dealt with problems, for example, how we mentored kids who were unable to recognize and sound out simple words and how we mentored kids who were uncooperative. WDS also informed us that every mum had given them positive feedback on our project and well as for us. I believe that the team felt a sense of achievement tonight and we are even more determined to push out Phase 2 of our project and subsequently Phase 3.
