While Adriana Rasip was in secondary school, a stranger sponsored her education. She never found out who it was, as the money was given through the school. However, this was a turning point for her and continues to guide and inspire her work today.
“Someone believed in me, in my potential, and invested in me,” she told CNA Women. “I want to do the same for other families, to invest in people.”
As a political science student at the National University of Singapore, she wanted to be a policymaker. But a three-month internship at the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) turned those plans around.
While doing outreach to families living in rental flats to raise awareness of the community resources available to them, she realised that “you can’t make policies without knowing what’s the lived reality” of the people affected by them.
“I had the misconception that policymakers are the experts and that you can create programmes on your own,” she said.
“Being on the ground and really understanding what families are facing is when you know their real needs, as compared with their perceived needs.”
That led her to become a community worker in the social services sector after she graduated in 2016.
Adriana speaking with a family to find out about their aims during an Empowered Families Initiative workshop. (Photo: Aelvin/Project Obscura)
While working with lower-income families, she noticed a gap – assistance was focused on basic needs, with little support for long-term aspirations.
“I saw that a lot of them have the motivation to upskill themselves or to have their own home-based business; some have caregiving duties so can’t go for full-time employment,” said the 32-year-old. “But they lack the financial resources to start something or just get a head start.”
Adriana decided there was a need to shift how people see lower-income families. This led her to co-found Empowered Families Initiative (EFI) as a development initiative in 2022,
“We knew about the problems and challenges, and our values were very aligned,” said Adriana.
(From left) Empowered Families Initiative co-founders Sonia Jalal, Palvindran Jayram and Adriana Rasip. (Photo: Nur Nazurah Jamadi)
The goal of EFI is to reimagine how social assistance can be given to families. Instead of looking at their needs, EFI starts on the premise that families have potential, so it invests in their plans and aspirations.
“They just need someone to invest in them and in their plans so that they can move towards their goals,” she said.
In 2022, the three friends tested their concept at a competition. A local charity, =Dreams Asia, was looking for creative solutions to eradicate poverty in Singapore. Teams were given seed funding to test their idea for six months and the results were then evaluated by a panel of judges.
Empowered Families Initiative won the =Dreams Asia Breakthrough Prize of S$500,000 in 2023. The co-founders are pictured here with families from the pilot intake. (Photo: Dreams Asia Breakthrough)
The trio used the grant to work with seven families – EFI’s pilot intake – and won the =Dreams Asia Breakthrough Prize
EFI, which obtained charity status in September 2025, reaches out to social service agencies and families from previous cohorts to refer neighbours or friends who want to be part of the programme. Families can also apply directly to EFI.
The criteria for qualification is S$800 per capita income (total household income divided by the number of members in the family). EFI meets families to understand their situation and aims, which could range from pursuing educational or vocational courses, starting a home-based business or saving a certain amount by the end of the six-month programme.
It delves into the plans a family has to improve their life and why it matters to them in the long-term. This helps determine the family’s suitability for the programme.
Once selected, families take part in three pre-engagement sessions. This includes vision boarding to chart their long-term aims. “These families don’t usually have the luxury of time to think beyond just the day or the month,” said Adriana.
With EFI’s guidance, families also set their targets, which must be realistic.
For example, they can’t aim to own a house in six months. They also come up with the steps needed to achieve their aim.
Finally, there’s an onboarding session, where the processes of the programme are set out and they’re grouped with other families for monthly group meetings.
These groups of families operate as a support network. At meetings, they share their progress, provide moral support and hold each other accountable to their plans. For example, they may offer to be the first customer to someone starting their business.
Families sharing their aspirations during an EFI vision-boarding workshop. (Photo: Aelvin/Project Obscura)
Financial support from EFI works in three parts. Families are first given a S$1,500 grant, disbursed in two tranches, at the start and midway through the programme.
The second mechanism is savings matching of 1:2. So if a family saves S$100 a month, EFI gives them S$200. The savings can come from their regular income or income they get from using the grant for a business.
This continues every month and if they don’t dip into their savings, they receive an additional bonus at the end of the programme. EFI wants to encourage families to inculcate the discipline of saving, as most live from pay cheque to pay cheque and may turn to loansharks in a financial emergency.
One unique aspect of EFI is its alumni volunteers from families from previous batches. They sit in when new applications are assessed and help families to create vision boards, facilitate group meetings and check on their progress.
EFI has helped 89 unique families so far – some are repeat participants who come into the next cohort as they have more aspirations.
Families from previous cohorts serve as volunteers for the next batch, to offer advice and serve as role models. (Photo: Jonathan Chia)
“These volunteers have lived experience and families will listen to people who have been through similar challenges, who understand the situation, rather than professionals who may come from a more privileged background,” Adriana said. “The families could aspire to what they have done and get strength from it.
EFI helped one participant, who lives in a rental flat and has seven children, to start a home-based business. With the grant, she managed to scale up and now also has a full-time job as a patient services associate. She has also saved enough to buy her own flat.
She is now mentoring other families in similar situations and sharing her experience with them.
Adriana and her husband with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the National Day Rally 2025. (Photo: Adriana Rasip)
Even though EFI is relatively young, its efforts have been recognised – even internationally. In 2023, its pilot programme was highlighted as one of 10 case studiesOECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI), which supports governments with innovative insights and tools that address society’s complex problems.
EFI was also mentioned by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the 2025 National Day Rally, which brought about opportunities for EFI.
“It led to some extra funding and also opened doors for us to have chats with MSF, to see if we can collaborate to support families in a different way,” said Adriana.
Adriana shared the story of Lina (not her real name), a mother-of-three caring for a child with medical needs, who turned to home-based work because full-time employment was not feasible.
She used her EFI grant as seed capital to grow her business selling children’s clothing, including purchasing stock for live-selling, which helped her reach new customers.
She also brought together fellow home-based entrepreneurs from her intake to organise a Ramadan 2025 bazaar, supported by EFI. The exposure helped increase her income from S$1,000 a month to S$1,000 a week.
“By reinvesting her earnings into future stock for her business, Lina has been able to sustain and grow her business,” said Adriana. “She is now working towards launching her own clothing line and, eventually, owning a physical store.”
Adriana (left) with an Empowered Families Initiative participant at a booth co-supported by the charity. (Photo: Empowered Families Initiative)
There’s also Alan (not his real name), who lives in a rental flat and wanted a more resilient livelihood. With guidance from EFI, he used his grant to fund upskilling courses in pest control so he could progress into a supervisory role. He also obtained a private hire car driver’s vocational licence to future-proof himself against potential job loss.
He now has a more stable income and clearer career pathways, so feels more secure about his future, and is taking concrete steps towards buying his own home.
“Across these journeys, EFI’s role has been to act as a catalyst, helping families move from short-term survival towards longer-term stability and aspiration, in ways that fit their realities,” Adriana said.
Adriana still has a day job as a director of a family service centre but sits on EFI’s board and is involved as a volunteer in facilitating meetings and conducting organisational development work.
She hopes social service practitioners see families as agents of change who are not passive receivers. She wants their voices to be heard and for them to play a greater role in co-designing these processes.
“At the heart of it, it’s really about dignity. You’re not just receivers, you’re also a person,” said Adriana.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
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“Someone believed in me, in my potential, and invested in me,” she told CNA Women. “I want to do the same for other families, to invest in people.”
As a political science student at the National University of Singapore, she wanted to be a policymaker. But a three-month internship at the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) turned those plans around.
While doing outreach to families living in rental flats to raise awareness of the community resources available to them, she realised that “you can’t make policies without knowing what’s the lived reality” of the people affected by them.
“I had the misconception that policymakers are the experts and that you can create programmes on your own,” she said.
“Being on the ground and really understanding what families are facing is when you know their real needs, as compared with their perceived needs.”
That led her to become a community worker in the social services sector after she graduated in 2016.
Adriana speaking with a family to find out about their aims during an Empowered Families Initiative workshop. (Photo: Aelvin/Project Obscura)
While working with lower-income families, she noticed a gap – assistance was focused on basic needs, with little support for long-term aspirations.
“I saw that a lot of them have the motivation to upskill themselves or to have their own home-based business; some have caregiving duties so can’t go for full-time employment,” said the 32-year-old. “But they lack the financial resources to start something or just get a head start.”
SEEING THE POTENTIAL IN LOWER-INCOME FAMILIES
Adriana decided there was a need to shift how people see lower-income families. This led her to co-found Empowered Families Initiative (EFI) as a development initiative in 2022,
“We knew about the problems and challenges, and our values were very aligned,” said Adriana.
(From left) Empowered Families Initiative co-founders Sonia Jalal, Palvindran Jayram and Adriana Rasip. (Photo: Nur Nazurah Jamadi)
The goal of EFI is to reimagine how social assistance can be given to families. Instead of looking at their needs, EFI starts on the premise that families have potential, so it invests in their plans and aspirations.
“They just need someone to invest in them and in their plans so that they can move towards their goals,” she said.
In 2022, the three friends tested their concept at a competition. A local charity, =Dreams Asia, was looking for creative solutions to eradicate poverty in Singapore. Teams were given seed funding to test their idea for six months and the results were then evaluated by a panel of judges.
Empowered Families Initiative won the =Dreams Asia Breakthrough Prize of S$500,000 in 2023. The co-founders are pictured here with families from the pilot intake. (Photo: Dreams Asia Breakthrough)
The trio used the grant to work with seven families – EFI’s pilot intake – and won the =Dreams Asia Breakthrough Prize
INVESTING IN ASPIRATIONS AND GOALS
EFI, which obtained charity status in September 2025, reaches out to social service agencies and families from previous cohorts to refer neighbours or friends who want to be part of the programme. Families can also apply directly to EFI.
The criteria for qualification is S$800 per capita income (total household income divided by the number of members in the family). EFI meets families to understand their situation and aims, which could range from pursuing educational or vocational courses, starting a home-based business or saving a certain amount by the end of the six-month programme.
It delves into the plans a family has to improve their life and why it matters to them in the long-term. This helps determine the family’s suitability for the programme.
Once selected, families take part in three pre-engagement sessions. This includes vision boarding to chart their long-term aims. “These families don’t usually have the luxury of time to think beyond just the day or the month,” said Adriana.
With EFI’s guidance, families also set their targets, which must be realistic.
For example, they can’t aim to own a house in six months. They also come up with the steps needed to achieve their aim.
Finally, there’s an onboarding session, where the processes of the programme are set out and they’re grouped with other families for monthly group meetings.
These groups of families operate as a support network. At meetings, they share their progress, provide moral support and hold each other accountable to their plans. For example, they may offer to be the first customer to someone starting their business.
Families sharing their aspirations during an EFI vision-boarding workshop. (Photo: Aelvin/Project Obscura)
Financial support from EFI works in three parts. Families are first given a S$1,500 grant, disbursed in two tranches, at the start and midway through the programme.
The second mechanism is savings matching of 1:2. So if a family saves S$100 a month, EFI gives them S$200. The savings can come from their regular income or income they get from using the grant for a business.
This continues every month and if they don’t dip into their savings, they receive an additional bonus at the end of the programme. EFI wants to encourage families to inculcate the discipline of saving, as most live from pay cheque to pay cheque and may turn to loansharks in a financial emergency.
One unique aspect of EFI is its alumni volunteers from families from previous batches. They sit in when new applications are assessed and help families to create vision boards, facilitate group meetings and check on their progress.
EFI has helped 89 unique families so far – some are repeat participants who come into the next cohort as they have more aspirations.
Families from previous cohorts serve as volunteers for the next batch, to offer advice and serve as role models. (Photo: Jonathan Chia)
“These volunteers have lived experience and families will listen to people who have been through similar challenges, who understand the situation, rather than professionals who may come from a more privileged background,” Adriana said. “The families could aspire to what they have done and get strength from it.
EFI helped one participant, who lives in a rental flat and has seven children, to start a home-based business. With the grant, she managed to scale up and now also has a full-time job as a patient services associate. She has also saved enough to buy her own flat.
She is now mentoring other families in similar situations and sharing her experience with them.
Adriana and her husband with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the National Day Rally 2025. (Photo: Adriana Rasip)
Even though EFI is relatively young, its efforts have been recognised – even internationally. In 2023, its pilot programme was highlighted as one of 10 case studiesOECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI), which supports governments with innovative insights and tools that address society’s complex problems.
EFI was also mentioned by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the 2025 National Day Rally, which brought about opportunities for EFI.
“It led to some extra funding and also opened doors for us to have chats with MSF, to see if we can collaborate to support families in a different way,” said Adriana.
“IT’S REALLY ABOUT DIGNITY”
Adriana shared the story of Lina (not her real name), a mother-of-three caring for a child with medical needs, who turned to home-based work because full-time employment was not feasible.
She used her EFI grant as seed capital to grow her business selling children’s clothing, including purchasing stock for live-selling, which helped her reach new customers.
She also brought together fellow home-based entrepreneurs from her intake to organise a Ramadan 2025 bazaar, supported by EFI. The exposure helped increase her income from S$1,000 a month to S$1,000 a week.
“By reinvesting her earnings into future stock for her business, Lina has been able to sustain and grow her business,” said Adriana. “She is now working towards launching her own clothing line and, eventually, owning a physical store.”
Adriana (left) with an Empowered Families Initiative participant at a booth co-supported by the charity. (Photo: Empowered Families Initiative)
There’s also Alan (not his real name), who lives in a rental flat and wanted a more resilient livelihood. With guidance from EFI, he used his grant to fund upskilling courses in pest control so he could progress into a supervisory role. He also obtained a private hire car driver’s vocational licence to future-proof himself against potential job loss.
He now has a more stable income and clearer career pathways, so feels more secure about his future, and is taking concrete steps towards buying his own home.
“Across these journeys, EFI’s role has been to act as a catalyst, helping families move from short-term survival towards longer-term stability and aspiration, in ways that fit their realities,” Adriana said.
Adriana still has a day job as a director of a family service centre but sits on EFI’s board and is involved as a volunteer in facilitating meetings and conducting organisational development work.
She hopes social service practitioners see families as agents of change who are not passive receivers. She wants their voices to be heard and for them to play a greater role in co-designing these processes.
“At the heart of it, it’s really about dignity. You’re not just receivers, you’re also a person,” said Adriana.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...