New scheme which funds youth projects that promote family bonding

Fairy tales are usually read to kids and end happily ever after. But a group of students are using fairy tales to encourage dating and newly married couples to have kids earlier.

The four final-year communication studies students from Nanyang Technological University have put a different spin to 15 stories, many of them fairy tales, and used illustrations to impart information about fertility and living as a family in Singapore.

Their six-month campaign, called The Singaporean Fairytale, is one of five projects that has benefited from Project Superglue, a pilot grant scheme launched by National Family Council yesterday to fund youth projects that promote family bonding.

Under the scheme, NFC will provide a one-time funding of up to $10,000 or 70 per cent of the project cost (whichever is lower) to approved projects. Projects must be initiated by Singaporeans or permanent residents, aged between 13 and 31 years. Selected projects will be showcased as part of NFC's National Family Celebrations in June.

The students behind The Singaporean Fairytale stumbled upon Project Superglue after several failed attempts to get sponsors from the private sector,, said Ms Chan Luo Er, 23.

Her other team members are Ms Hannah Chung and Ms Joanne Quek, both aged 23, and Mr Wilson Wang, 25.

The funding from Project Superglue, allows them to go beyond their website and Facebook page to publicise their work. Already, they have produced booklets and postcards with their versions of Three Little Pigs and Rapunzel. They plan to start by distributing these booklets to university students in Singapore.

Ms Chan hopes their campaign message will stick. "Fertility is a hard fact, but fairy tales act as a softer approach to attract viewers," she said.

Since the soft launch of the scheme last month, NFC has received eight proposals and awarded the grant to five projects.

Proposals must be submitted by May 3. Visit www.projectsuperglue.sg for details of the scheme, email projectsuperglue@aux.com.sg, or call 8647-1477.

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