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In the latest episode of Conversation of Change , we sit down with Lisa , the inspiring co-founder of Nazava Water Filters , a social enterprise committed to providing affordable and safe drinking water to underserved communities. Lisa’s story takes us from the Netherlands to Indonesia, where she witnessed the daily struggles faced by low-income households in accessing clean water. Her experiences inspired the creation of Nazava, a venture that not only addresses a critical global issue but also offers a sustainable, impactful solution. The Problem: Access to Clean Water Clean water is a fundamental need, yet millions globally lack reliable access to it. In rural Indonesia, households often resort to boiling water to make it safe for drinking, which consumes valuable resources, time, and energy, and contributes to carbon emissions. The Solution: Nazava Water Filters Lisa and her team developed innovative water filtration systems that are affordable, durable, and effective. These filters require no electricity, making them ideal for off-grid communities. Tested rigorously in diverse environments, the filters remove harmful contaminants while retaining essential minerals, ensuring that families have access to safe drinking water with minimal effort. Empowering Communities Nazava’s impact extends beyond health. By eliminating the need to boil water, these filters save time and reduce household expenses, enabling families to focus on education and livelihoods. Furthermore, the enterprise is committed to reducing its carbon footprint, aligning with global sustainability goals. A Vision for the Future During the podcast, Lisa shared her ambitious vision: for Nazava to become a global leader in household water filtration by 2030. She highlighted the importance of combining social impact with financial sustainability, ensuring that the enterprise can scale effectively while continuing to serve the communities that need it most. Supporting Beyond Borders Nazava's mission of social impact doesn’t stop at water. Lisa revealed upcoming initiatives, including fundraiser campaigns aimed at supporting war victims in Ukraine and providing filters to schools in Indonesia. These efforts underscore Nazava’s dedication to creating a better world through innovation and compassion. Why This Matters This episode sheds light on how social enterprises like Nazava are driving meaningful change. It’s a testament to the power of a simple idea—clean water for all—and the transformative effect it can have on communities. Listen to this episode on Spotify  or Apple Podcasts  and be inspired by Lisa’s journey, her unwavering commitment to social impact, and the innovative ways Nazava is empowering communities worldwide. Be sure to check out the links below for more information! 🔗 Make The Change: https://www.makethechange.sg/ 🔗 Nazava Water Filters: https://global.nazava.com/ Listen to the full conversation here: Discover our podcast on your favourite audio apps now! 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/make-the-change-conversation-of-change-podcast/id1511455099 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FPfumkodY86gN9wUBUgYV?si=ff0560b50aff4c30

Previously, we announced that Make The Change has become one of Apple's Professional Learning Partners. Since then, we are proud to announce that after going through our colleague Pedro has now been certified as an Apple Professional Learning Specialist, while our colleagues Karen and Rona have also been certified as Apple Professional Learning Providers! Digital Learning, along with our iPad For Learning platform will definitely be on the rise in the post-COVID-19 world. Home-based learning days will soon become a regular part of the school year at secondary schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute, with some levels adopting a new “blended learning” model from Term 3 next year, announced Minister for Education Lawrence Wong on December 29, 2020. The blended model is aimed at helping students develop the mindsets and habits for self-directed learning. On home-based learning days, students will have time for curriculum work, as well dedicated time and space for them to pursue their own interests. All secondary schools , junior colleges and Millennia Institute will implement blended learning at all levels by Term 4 of 2022, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a separate press release. Here is where our iPad For Learning platform comes further into the picture. We hope to encourage more educators in advocating for Digital Learning, and inspire young Changemakers to enhance their education and integrate the usage of technology into their learning process. Make The Change's mission has always been to Empower and Transform Communities through Design. Our iPad For Learning community will aid educators in empowering students in their personal learning process, transforming the school learning environment, and change the way teachers impart knowledge onto their students. We would like to encourage all educators to join our community and start planning on how to incorporate technology into the learning environment.

This year, Make The Change had the delightful opportunity to host the 2023 New Media Competition in collaboration with Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore (MDAS). Students who participated in the New Media Programme applied the new skills they learnt to create their own social media campaigns with digital posters, videos with augmented reality (AR) elements, and more, to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy in Singapore. Through this competition, they gained experience in effectively leveraging technology to make a positive real-world impact on society. We are honoured to have received over 50 entries from teams across 11 participating schools, and are excited to announce the winners of the competition! Primary school: MOST CREATIVE ENTRY & BEST DIGITAL DRAWING POSTER Arulini, Tanve, Navya, Yuna Horizon Primary School BEST VIDEO Kylivian Fong Wan Tong, Arielle Nicole Albers Horizon Primary School Secondary School: MOST CREATIVE ENTRY Yap Yu Xuan, Angelia Umar-Chen Yi Ming, Re'cole Chua Mayflower Secondary School BEST CAMPAIGN EXECUTION Kirsten Chia, Tan Xing Rui, Athena Gan, Kate Ong Singapore Chinese Girls' School BEST VIDEO Jane, Benedict, Wei Jian Mayflower Secondary School BEST USE OF AR Emma Tatyana, Meranda Tay, Laurene Lim, Nirali Mailare Singapore Chinese Girls' School To learn more about the competition, visit https://www.makethechange.sg/newzmediacompetition2023 To find out more about MDAS and muscular dystrophy, visit their website, https://www.mdas.org.sg/ To learn more about our New Media Programme, visit https://www.makethechange.sg/applenewmedia

In collaboration with the Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore (MDAS), Make The Change proudly hosted the 2023 New Media Competition, a platform where students showcased their innovative skills while making a tangible impact on society. We are thrilled to announce that the winners of the 2023 New Media Competition have been crowned, and it is with great pleasure that we extend our congratulations to them. Each winning team has not only earned prestigious trophies but also certificates and vouchers in recognition of their outstanding contributions. Students from Mayflower Secondary School Students from Singapore Chinese Girls' School Students from Horizon Primary School As we celebrate the success of the 2023 New Media Competition, we also look forward to the future endeavours of these talented individuals. Stay tuned for more updates on the upcoming competitions as we continue to empower the next generation of Change Makers! 🔎 Click here to learn more about the competition 🔎 Click here to find out more about MDAS and Muscular Dystrophy 🔎 Click here to learn more about our New Media Programme

We are delighted to share that over 30 schools have completed our New Media program the first half of this year. Here are some of the Photography and Digital Drawing creations that have wowed us! Photography Check out the unique perspectives captured in these photos! Photos by our primary school participants from Chongfu School (top left), New Town Primary (top right), and Kong Hwa School (bottom). Photos by our secondary school participants from Yuhua Secondary (top left), Crescent Girls' Secondary (top right and bottom left), and Yusof Ishak Secondary (bottom right). Digital Drawing Faces and favourites on the digital canvas! Digitally drawn self-portraits by our primary school participants from Angsana Primary (left), Geylang Methodist School (middle), and Anchor Green Primary (right). Digitally drawn self-portraits by our secondary school participants from Temasek JC (left), Outram Secondary (middle), and St Patrick's School (right).

In collaboration with Apple Inc, Make The Change designed an experiential learning programme to educate Primary, Secondary/Pre-U school students on how to use social media and digital marketing technologies to create projects that raise awareness for social issues through marketing campaigns. Through the programme, students can truly understand how art can bridge communication between different people, providing them with a meaningful and memorable experience. We collaborated with 27 different schools this year to introduce students of various ages to our Apple New Media Programme, allowing them to explore both soft and hard skills including many digital approaches and how to use them to reach out or simply raise awareness of current societal issues. We engaged students through the use of different digitals applications, such as GarageBand, Procreate, Jigspace, Keynote, AR Makr and many other applications to promote a a more interactive and enriching learning experience to the students. Using these applications, students were able to touch on skills ranging from photography and video production to even social entrepreneurship and digital marketing. Students will also have the opportunity to partake in nationwide competitions and apply what they have learnt through Value-In-Action initiatives. Under the Digital for Life campaign, students of the Infocomm Media Club from several schools ran a workshop titled ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’, which was held at several community clubs as well as at an NTUC Health Day Centre. Using the knowledge that were gained through the Apple New Media Programme, the students then helped the seniors to learn some digital skills during the session, making it an act of #playitforward. Seniors who attended the workshop were able to get hands-on experience in learning video editing together with Augmented Reality. As they were closely assisted by the students, the close interaction also serves as an opportunity for the two generations to bond. Apple New Media Programme 2023: What’s next? As we believe that this programme has managed to engage, empower and educate students, we will be continuing the programme next year as well. In addition to this year’s fundamental tracks for Secondary School, we will be opening an advanced track for schools who have participated in fundamental tracks this year. We hope that the advanced track will be able to allow students to have further exposure to even more kinds of softwares and concepts. This year’s fundamental track will also be expanded to Primary School students for next year. Similar to the programme for Secondary School students this year, students will get the opportunity to learn both soft and hard skills including different softwares and concepts. Should you be interested, do make sure to register your interest for Apple New Media Programme 2023 through this link as soon as possible!

Over the past few weekends, Make The Change has been rendering our assistance for IMDA’s digital workshops for seniors. Under the Digital for Life campaign, the workshop titled ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’ was held at several community clubs as well as at an NTUC Health Day Centre. What makes these workshops even more meaningful was that they were run by students of the Infocomm Media Club from several schools. Using the knowledge that were gained through the Apple New Media programme by MTC, the students then helped the seniors to learn some digital skills during the session, making it an act of #playitforward. Seniors who attended the workshop were able to get hands on experience in learning video editing together with Augmented Reality. As they were closely assisted by the students, the close interaction also serves as an opportunity for the two generations to bond. Overall, it was a win-win situation for everyone. The seniors were able to gain new skills that will help them to stay relevant in our current digital climate and the students benefit from getting first hand experience in coaching and teaching along with interacting with the seniors.

Another 15 schools have concluded their New Media program for this year, and we are in the midst of preparing for New Media 2025! Continuing our exploration of creative talents, we're excited to present a selection of work using the mediums of audio and augmented reality: Podcast Listen in on this quick conversation about study styles! by Aanya and Siyona from Temasek JC Augmented Reality Video Here's a short theatrical clip on a surprise visitor on school grounds! by Re’cole and Sinchana from Mayflower Secondary

Phase 2 has just kicked started which means yay to meeting friends, bubble tea, and shopping! As we slowly transition back into our office, we will definitely miss the times we had when working from home. There are many perks like flexibility, more productivity, and unlimited snack time as we work from the comforts of our homes, however there are some factors that cannot be replaced, such as physical interaction and more efficient communication when we are in the office. As much as we look forward to reopening our office, many of us cannot bear to part from our comfortable homes, so let’s look back at what some of our Make The Change team did during circuit breaker! 1. Our founder, Michelle Our amazing founder definitely spent most of her time working and clinching deals for Make The Change even during this trying period. Since we are stuck at home most of the time, she was able to have more time for herself and her son. As an ever self improving individual, the circuit breaker has allowed her to read more books and magazines, she even managed to complete more online masterclasses on top of her workload! With the flexibility of working from home, she was able to manage her sleep schedule better by sleeping and waking up earlier (which is totally unlike me oops!) and pick up a healthier diet! Blessed with more time ever since WFH, she could learn more about her interest in watches and whiskey as well! Our boss definitely made full use of all the time she had during circuit breaker, living a very fulfilled lifestyle! 2. Our co-founder, Pedro Our active co-founder spent most of his time upgrading Make The Change as well. As learning has moved to the online platform, MTC’s learning programmes have to be redesigned to suit the new norm. He was also able to work on future projects and initiatives as being at home allowed more time for him to research and form new ideas, so do look forward to the new projects that Make The Change will roll out in the near future! As an avid participant of YOLO2020 , an initiative that advocates for mental wellness, Pedro keeps his fitness intact by exercising. And by exercising, we mean climbing floors!! YOLO2020’s initiative was to hike up to Everest Base Camp as a tribute to people with mental health and their caregivers, however their hike has been postponed due to Covid-19. Despite the setback, they are still earnestly preparing themselves for the hike, including Pedro. He has climbed 8,143 floors so far (something I can never achieve) , which is equivalent to the hike to Everest Base Camp! We hope that the current situation will come to an end soon so that our fitness guru can complete his hike to Everest Base Camp in September! 3. Our designer, Adeline Other than working, one of our talented designers Adeline took advantage of circuit breaker to spend even more time with her family. As a family oriented person, she is always putting her family first, and Covid-19 gave her more time with them (awww!!) . Not only that, she was able to dedicate more time to working out and keeping her physical health in good shape. She is now able to run faster and longer!! Congratulations!! With more time on her hands, she managed to try out different activities as well, such as baking, reading, watching tutorials and more. She joked that she cannot really remember all the things she has done during circuit breaker as she has done many things everyday. Just like our boss, she lives a very abundant life! To her, this circuit breaker has made her happier and positive as she was able to remove herself from the negativity in the outside world and focus more on herself and her family. We hope that she can continue feeling this way even as we progress into the post circuit breaker life. 4. Our community development specialist, Xue Min Our bubbly youngster was given the opportunity to explore new initiatives for work. Circuit breaker has normalised online activities and events and she managed to try her hands at hosting live streamed talks called Conversation of Change - a talk hosted by a youth to inspire changemakers and prompt them to make a change! This circuit breaker also allowed her to explore different hobbies and interests, and she picked up a few including baking, embroidery, reading, and listening to podcasts! As a lively individual, she definitely misses interacting with her colleagues and going to schools to conduct learning programmes such as DAFA (Digital Arts For All) . We hope that the Covid-19 world will come to an end soon so that we can interact with everyone again! While we are all excited to be out hanging out with our friends and grabbing our favourite food, it is important to still practice safe distancing and good personal hygiene. Businesses that are reopening should also observe safety measures and strictly adhere to rules and regulations imposed by the government. All of us should play a part to keep the numbers of infected people low so that we can slowly return to pre Covid-19 lifestyle.

We're excited to announce the winners of the annual Social Innovation Hackathon, a collaborative initiative between Makes the Change and Ngee Ann Polytechnic! This year's hackathon brought students from diverse backgrounds to tackle pressing social issues through innovative solutions. Let's take a moment to celebrate the winning teams for their remarkable achievements and groundbreaking ideas. Let's take a look at the creative innovations from the winning teams! Innovation : Team S'Okay came up with a mobile app, SYNCRO, that helps people support elderly parents through technology. Featuring two accounts - a master account for caregivers and a non-master account’s screen. This enables a real-time assistance and guidance, ensuring seniors stay connected and engaged in today's digital world without any barriers. With its user-friendly interface, it offers a seamless solution for families, enhances connectivity worldwide, making technology accessible for all. Innovation : Team 51SEATS's solution was to reshape the grocery shopping experience for underprivileged visually impaired individuals by introducing existing technologies in retail environments. Their approach includes familiar technologies, such as braille labels and maps, integrated into the store's shelves. By prioritizing inclusivity, they are empowering the visually impaired to confidently navigate public spaces, fostering independence in day-to-day tasks. Innovation : Team Coalition designed an app, Dialectify, that focuses on bridging the gap between dialect and written language speakers. The app offers innovative features for a more convenient lifestyle, preserving Singapore’s unique dialects. With a focus on inclusivity, Dialectify helps users feel comfortable with their dialects and confidently use mobile devices independently. We are truly inspired by these young change makers and their unwavering drive to make a difference in the world. Their innovative solutions demonstrate the power of collaboration, creativity, and passion in addressing social challenges. As we celebrate their achievements, we're reminded of the incredible potential within each of us to drive positive change. By highlighting the winning teams and their innovations, we celebrate their contributions to social change and inspire others to take action. Here's to another successful year of innovation and collaboration at the Social Innovation Hackathon!

We were thrilled to kick off our Youth For Change programme with an engaging and dynamic workshop. Aimed at empowering Change Makers aged 15-35, the workshop was a success, filled with creativity, collaboration, and a shared passion for social innovation. The day began with a series of icebreaker games designed to energize the room and help participants get to know each other. These activities not only broke the ice but also set a positive and collaborative tone. Introduction to Social Innovation Participants were then introduced to Social Innovation and its importance in today's world. This session ignited a spark in our attendees, motivating them to think about the impact they can make in their communities. Brainstorming Session: Identifying Social Causes The heart of the workshop was the brainstorming session, where participants were divided into small groups and tasked with identifying social causes that mattered to them. Guided by our facilitators, the groups delved into discussions about various issues, from environmental sustainability to mental health and education. This session was incredibly productive, as participants not only identified key issues but also began to think about potential solutions. This was a fantastic opportunity for everyone to exchange ideas, share their experiences, and build connections with like-minded individuals. The room buzzed with enthusiasm as new friendships and collaborations began to form. What's Next: From Ideas to Action Participants left with a better understanding of social innovation and a plethora of ideas ready to be developed further. The next steps in the Youth For Change programme will involve refining these ideas into actionable projects, with continued support from mentors and industry professionals. Join Us on This Journey Our first workshop was just the beginning. We are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm and creativity shown by our participants and look forward to seeing how their projects evolve. If you missed this workshop, don't worry, there are plenty more opportunities to get involved. Mark your calendars! Our next workshop is coming up on the 5th of October, Saturday. You can register on Peatix or Eventbrite . Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming events and join us in making a difference. Together, we can drive social change and create a better future!

In this episode, Make the Change engages with Liz Cullen Whitehead, the CEO of 12PointFive and co-founder of Diversity Masterminds, who has supported diverse entrepreneurs since 2002. Liz shares her journey of creating positive change, her challenges, and how she addressed them. She also provides insights into the importance of supplier diversity, sustainability, and mindfulness in today's business landscape. Learn about Liz's bespoke services to underrepresented business owners and how she helps them leverage certifications for growth. Discover the rewarding aspects of her consultancy experience and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to make a positive impact. Be sure to check out the links below for more information! 🔗 Make The Change: https://www.makethechange.sg/ 🔗 Liz Cullen Whitehead: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizwhitehead/12 🔗 Diversity Masterminds: https://www.diversitymasterminds.com/ 🔗 12PointFive: https://12pointfive.com/ Listen to the full conversation here: Discover our podcast on your favourite audio apps now! 🎧 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/make-the-change-conversation-of-change-podcast/id1511455099 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FPfumkodY86gN9wUBUgYV?si=ff0560b50aff4c30