Singapore, 23 October 2008 – MediaCorp has partnered the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) to launch its second Asian social enterprise initiative –The Village H.E.L.P: Cows for the People project.  

H.E.L.P stands for Healing the Environment and Liberating the People.  

This project hopes to show that when given a leg up and a window of opportunity, people can make a difference in their environment and liberate themselves from generations of hardships. 

MediaCorp’s first Village H.E.L.P project was called Land for the People. Launched in 2006 in the village of Kertas Maya, in Indramayu, Indonesia, MediaCorp gave a one-off donation for 10 households to rent land for them to till and grow paddy. With profits from the first harvest, the villagers were able to support the rental fee of land for another 10 households in their village. The objective was to create a positive domino effect for the rest of the families in the village.

Similarly, The Village H.E.L.P: Cows for the People project aims to set up a dairy farm for poor families in the village of Phoolpur in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is one of the poorest communities in India. For a start, the project will empower 15 families. They will be trained to set up the infrastructure, operate the farm and manage its finances.

The SIF provided some funding for the project to help pay for infrastructure costs such as rental of land, building of shed and the purchase of cows as well as professional training from veterinarians, dairy technologists and chartered accountants.

Ms. Jean Tan, SIF Executive Director, says, “As SIF seeks more partners in helping us promote our mission to help disadvantaged communities, we are delighted to partner MediaCorp in this economic empowerment project. We believe that together, through the Village H.E.L.P project, we will enable the villagers in Phoolpur to establish and sustain a livelihood, not just for themselves but also for future generations to come.”

Currently, the beneficiaries of the Cows for the People project have no regular income, any farm or animals to subsist on. They work as farmers on other people’s land or odd job labourers earning about S$1 a day. Education for the children is secondary because their priority is to survive. This project hopes to give the villagers opportunities to earn a decent living, improve the quality of their lives including the ability to send their children to school.

Mr Lucas Chow, MediaCorp CEO, says, “This is MediaCorp’s initiative to help impoverished communities in Asia break out of the poverty cycle. We hope to give a once-in-a-lifetime chance for communities which are living at and below the poverty line to break that cycle and change their lives forever. We are delighted to have SIF join us in this mission.” 

MediaCorp, via its HD documentary division Caldecott Productions International, will manage the project with the villagers on the ground as well as to film the entire project as a documentary.

Summing up, The Village H.E.L.P: Cows for the People project hopes to equip the villagers with the necessary skills to be self reliant and be an inspiration to other disadvantaged communities across Asia.

Issued by Caldecott Productions International

For more information, please contact

Mazlena Mazlan
Head of Research/Resources
Caldecott Productions International
MediaCorp’s HD Division
Tel :      (65) 6350 3226
Fax:      (65) 6259 2062
E-mail: mazlena@mediacorp.com.sg

About Caldecott Productions International

Caldecott Productions International is MediaCorp’s high definition (HD) documentary division with a key focus in producing and distributing high quality HD Asian documentaries for an international market.  CPI’s specialty is in producing original stories from the ground, championing the lives of the common people because their stories are worth telling.  Its main subject matter is centred on social issues and human interest with respect to the environment, wildlife, unique cultures from Asia.

CPI works with some of the most creative independent directors in Asia for authenticity and local perspectives. If the aim of the novel is to teach the heart to know itself, CPI hopes that its documentaries will do likewise. Passion also drives action and CPI hopes to make the physical and social environment a better one through its content. CPI also participates in co-productions with established production houses and broadcasters on broader topics such as wildlife and history. 

MediaCorp is Singapore’s leading media company with the most complete range of platforms, spanning television, radio, newspapers, magazines, movies and digital media.  MediaCorp has over 55 products in four languages (English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil), including online classifieds, Internet TV-on-demand and High Definition TV broadcast. Winner of numerous international awards and accolades including Asia Television's Broadcaster of the Year, MediaCorp’s vision is to become Asia’s top media company, delivering valued content to the world.

For more information, please visit www.caldecottproductions.com

About the Singapore International Foundation

Established in 1991, the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) is a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to nurture active global citizens and friends for Singapore.

SIF aims to help the development of communities outside of Singapore through the Singapore Volunteers Overseas (SVO) programme.  SIF facilitates the participation of volunteers in capacity-building programmes in areas as diverse as healthcare and health education, organisational and personal capacity development, empowerment of disadvantaged children, women and families, and rehabilitation of the disabled.

SIF seeks to reach out to new audiences and friends of Singapore through a public and cultural diplomacy programme which includes organising concerts abroad and hosting visits to Singapore by foreign thought leaders and influential personalities in the fields of academia, business, civil society, government and the media.

For its work, SIF was presented the Excellence for Singapore Award. Our Patron is His Excellency S R Nathan, President of the Republic of Singapore.

For more information, please visit www.sif.org.sg