Seventy AWARE members, which includes 46 in-person and 24 online members, attended the 40th Annual General Meeting at AWARE. Photograph by Athiyah Azeem. 

Written by Lynn Li.

On 26 April 2025, AWARE held its 40th Annual General Meeting—its first hybrid AGM—chaired by President Aarathi Arumugam. Seventy members joined in person and online.

Ms. Arumugam noted 2025 as a milestone year, with Singapore turning 60 and AWARE turning 40, and introduced AWARE’s refined North Star: to be an expert, challenger, and force to empower change.

The afternoon also saw department representatives sharing updates from the past year. More details can be found in the Annual Report 2024.

The Advocacy and Research Department, represented by Sugidha Nithiananthan and Ruby Thiagarajan, continues to tackle structural gender inequality through research and collaboration. In 2024, they studied transnational families in collaboration with South Central Community Family Service Centre, partnered with Wild Rice on their play on coercive control, Dive, and reviewed technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) cases seen by the Sexual Assault Care Centre. Their work contributed to significant wins, including stronger protections for platform workers, new Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA) guidelines, expanded paternity leave, and the creation of an Online Safety Commission to tackle online harms. The team will continue pushing for FWA legislation and gig worker protections in 2025.

The newly standalone Communications Department, represented by Athiyah Azeem, saw strong engagement on social media, with two posts reaching over 100,000 views. Their focus on validating survivors’ experiences, giving language to gender injustice, and galvanising younger audiences drove impact. In 2024, the team published multiple op-eds and forum letters, with one sparking a response from the Ministry of Manpower.

The CARE Department, comprising the Women’s Care Centre (WCC) and Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) was represented by Lydia Ariani and Caris Lim. They served 2,865 clients and responded to 4,926 contacts in 2024. Despite senior staff turnover, the team onboarded five new hires, and improved internal workflows. CARE maintained strong community ties through Community of Practice sessions and offering of case consultations to social service agencies working with survivors of sexual violence. The team also invested in supervision and team wellbeing to support resilience and cohesion during the transition.

The Operations Team, led by Yasmine Tan, enhanced internal systems while safeguarding staff wellbeing. Key achievements included launching a new staff reimbursement system, improving digital safety, increasing team capacity with outsourcing and developing three-year strategic roadmaps for people and technology. These efforts helped AWARE maintain its IPC status, meet most Tripartite Standards, and score 95% on the Charity Code of Governance. The department also initiated a cross-departmental working group to address workplace stress and burnout.

The Support, Partner and Act through Community Engagement (S.P.A.C.E) Department, represented by Shamima Rafi and Izzaty Ishak, focused on building community capacity to prevent gender-based violence through engagement, education, and empowerment. They engaged 96 participants from 17 organisations for their International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) event and ran workshops and events with students, journalists, and community partners throughout the year. S.P.A.C.E also ran bystander and consent workshops, and extended outreach to marginalised youth in residential homes. In 2025, they’ll launch nightlife safety workshops, host a IDEVAW conference and launch new workshops for boys in residential homes.

The Fundraising Team, represented by Isabella Tan and Bharathi Manogaran, achieved their $2.9 million target in 2024—including a record $1.1 million from the annual Ball and $260,000 through the “From Crisis to Change” campaign. Live auction proceeds went directly to support consent education and research on masculinity. The team is prioritising funding diversification, and plans for the 2025 Ball, The Mother of All Balls, are already underway.

Ms. Arumugam closed the meeting by thanking members for their ongoing support as AWARE prepares for its next chapter.

Lynn Li is the Fundraising Intern at AWARE.