OUR SPECIALITY:

Freshly baked goods, such as cakes and bread, and western cuisine served by the intellectually challenged, who are professionally trained by vocational teachers and practicing chefs.

THE INNOVATION:

The Children Are Us Foundation (CAUF) provides intellectually challenged young people of age 16 and above with training in skills that are practical in daily life and for work so that they might better integrate into society. At CAUF’s workshops, which are purposefully situated in busy areas of the city where students are visible to the public to dispel public ignorance and discrimination, they learn skills from baking pastries for sale to growing their own vegetables.

Children Are Us also operates cafes, bakeries restaurants in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Hsinchu where some of their trainees are employed. Though workers might not be as efficient, through time and training, they perform their tasks adequately and with enthusiasm. To aid the learning process, tasks are simplified into simple steps where students are assigned to according to their abilities. And through employment, the young ones gain greater confidence and fulfillment in life.

BRIEF BACKGROUND:

CAUF chairman Su Kuo-chen and wife Hsiao Shu-Chen inspired by the sheltered workshops and communities they saw in Japan, brought the idea back home to Taiwan. Impressed by the level of service and quality of the products there, Hsiao, herself a parent of a child with cerebral palsy, was encouraged that with proper planning, training and hard work, her child might too be capable of holding a good job.

With the help of skill training and recipes from the Le Petit Prince Bakery, CAUF opened its first social enterprise, the Children Are Us bakery in Kaohsiung in 1997. It has since grown to operate five bakeries and restaurants in Kaohsiung, Taipei and Hsinchu. As of the year 2000, 51 percent of its funding from its business operations, 25 percent from private donations, 22 percent from the government, and 2 percent from fundraising events or bank interest.

The non-profit organisation, which was founded in 1995, hopes to change the general perception of the intellectually challenged as well as create job opportunities through training them to work in their social enterprises. Children Are Us, too, provides assistance to them in leading an independent life as much as possible and long-term care for them when their parents pass on.

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OUR SPECIALTY:

One of Gift and Take’s (GAT) best sellers is its patchwork animal soft toys. They come as magnets, keychains, paperweights and cuddly soft toys. GAT also designs and customises gifts for corporate events. These high quality handicrafts and soft toys are made by skilful artisans who have been marginalised, ranging from an intricate silk shawl hand-woven by disadvantaged groups in Cambodia to hand-drawn memorabilia by youths with special needs.

THE INNOVATION:

GAT believes in creating a source of livelihood for the disadvantaged through the sale of handicrafts and acts as a channel for buyers to purchase the products. Abroad, GAT has a rigorous social audit process to ensure that beneficiaries are not ‘sweat shops’ or unfairly treated; profits are also ploughed back in skills training and equipment such as sewing machines. Locally, GAT has job attachment programmes created specially for youths with special needs who cannot easily fit into society.

“We think it’s important for our interns to gain confidence and skills and be able to integrate into the workforce when they are ready,” says one of GAT’s partners who is also a social worker and counsellor. She pays special attention to develop positive work attitudes and skills in interns so that they may rise above personal challenges and become independent. In GAT’s words: “To teach them to fish, instead of giving them the fish. It’s the dignity that we hope to help them regain.”

BRIEF BACKGROUND:

Gift And Take Pte Ltd was set up by Lance Ng in August 2006. The social enterprise works with several marginalised or disadvantaged individuals and communities to produce and sell handmade gifts. GAT’s products are well-received locally and can be found at various landmarks and locations in Singapore such as the PaTH Market at VivoCity, the Singapore Flyer gift Shop, the Singapore Art Museum and most other museums.

Partners and recipients come from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. They include the intellectually and physically challenged, disadvantaged women, landmine victims, the impoverished and individuals with special needs.

Now, by building on their rich lessons, GAT plans to share their experience as a social enterprise with modules taught through workshops and seminars. Companies, institutions, schools and other organisations can contact GAT to invite them to give talks on running social enterprises as part of their enrichment programmes or to showcase its meaningful products.

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