Events

CHAIRPERSON

Ms Natalie Lang, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

The “Citizens and the City” webinar series seeks to provide a platform for exchange between urban activists, academics, and citizens who share an interest in how people can get involved in cities. The first webinar of this series deals with one of the most pressing realms of action: unacceptable living and working conditions of migrant workers, which have received sudden attention in different cities around the world during the corona virus outbreak. The questions and challenges that aid organizations deal with in their ongoing work on migration go beyond the dormitories and include inclusion projects and gendered experiences of the pandemic. In this webinar, Cai Yinzhou, Shailey Hingorani, and Rieya Piscano will talk about their NGO work in relation to migration and COVID-19 in Singapore and Manila.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Cai Yinzhou is a licensed Singapore tour guide who founded Geylang Adventures, which aims to unpack social issues through sight-seeing. These walking tours are now incorporated in Citizen Adventures, led by Yinzhou, which also includes other social initiatives, such as Back Alley Barbers, a project offering free haircuts to migrant labourers. Citizen Adventures is also founding member of the Covid-19 Migrant Support Coalition (CMSC). Holding a major in tourism from Murdoch University, Yinzhou recently graduated from Singapore Management University (SMU) with a Masters of Tri-Sector Collaboration. For his efforts in aiding Singapore’s disadvantaged, he was conferred the Singapore Youth Award in 2017, and he featured in the National Day Parade in 2018.

Shailey Hingorani is Head of Advocacy, Research, and Communications at AWARE, Association of Women for Action and Research, in Singapore. Before joining AWARE, she worked on women’s rights and child rights in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. She has worked with Open Society Foundations, FXB-Harvard Center for Health and Human Rights, Indian Mission to the United Nations, Save the Children, and the Bloomberg Initiative. Shailey was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard University, where she received a Masters in Public Administration.

Rieya Piscano is Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist based in Manila. She currently works for Hivos South East Asia in Jakarta and serves as Manager of Voice in the Philippines – a grant facility on inclusion and intersectionality that seeks to leave no one behind by reaching the furthest behind first. Prior to moving back to Manila, she has been involved in various peace and development projects in the ASEAN region as well as in Japan and the United States. Rieya has a Masters in Sustainability Science and is currently taking up another Masters in Data Science. Her current research initiatives are focused on inclusion, intersectionality and the blockchain.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.