Thank you to Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) and all the Clubs listed below for their contributions.
SIGBI offers numerous avenues to support women and girls in achieving their lifelong learning goals.
The Diamond Education Grant
This grant initially called the Golden Jubille Fellowship was started in 1972. It is open for any non Soroptimist woman from any country within SIGBI Federation to apply. The money is raised through donations and fee payments from UK members.
In 2023-2024 the charity gave out grants of £28,000 and has enabled 26 women aged from 27 years to 61 years to undertake further education, pursue new career paths or gain relevant qualifications in their chosen professions. The grants covered course fees, equipment, supervision and materials. The subjects varied from STEM based activities, health related, technology and pure sciences to finance, film and media studies, human resources, art and fashion. Many of the courses will enable the women to work in fields where they can continue to help other women and girls. This year the applications were all from women living in the UK.
The second way SIGBI is helping women is by the funding through Lend with Care and Kiva by donations. Although most of the loans go to women entrepreneurs to help run their businesses, including sewing, farming, fishing and grocery stores, many of the recipients also receive training and business help through the local development partners in their countries. This being an additional benefit to the women concerned.
Finally, Soroptimists across the Federation also undertake work with their local communities. Many Clubs have run literacy, financial literacy, English, sewing and cookery courses for the most vulnerable members of their societies.
Here are some examples of how SIGBI Clubs are supporting women in life-long learning:
Financial literacy:
SI Leh (India)
The Soroptimists in SI Club Leh ran classes in 2021 helped a group of women aged 27-65 in Pyang to carry out basic tasks such as operating bank accounts, dialling phone numbers, writing numbers and alphabets and signing their names. Through this project, they have been empowered to become self-sufficient and have been able to encourage other women to take part as well.
Digital skills:
SI Southport (England)
Many older people have not had the opportunity to learn how to use IT, yet many systems rely on it as a prime means of communication. They can feel isolated as a result and unable to benefit from the advantages that the technology can bring.
Soroptimists at SI Club Southport decided to carry out a pilot project on members of their own Club, some of whom have difficulty with the technology. This was so that they could check that the exercise was beneficial and how best to take it forward. Initially they carried out a training needs analysis involving members with experience of IT and those who wanted to learn. This resulted in several targeted training sessions, which proved to be highly informative and received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
SI Bombay Chembur (India)
A Computer Literacy and Skills class was held for women living in severely economically deprived communities in Mumbai. Most of these women are dropouts at school level and have never undertaken technology training. A three week basic computer course was held where the women were taught MS Office, usage of the internet and how to avoid cyber crime.
The women acquired essential skills in basic computer usage and mobile banking. This will help them to support their children who are in school and are first generation learners. Out of these 40 women, three women have expressed interest in doing further courses, which the Club plans to sponsor.
Professional Leadership Skills Training:
SI Chaguanas Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean)
SI Club Chaguanas Trinidad and Tobago has provided professional young women with hands on training in leadership skills.
The Club targeted professional women aged between 25 – 40 years in leadership roles and those who will move into leadership roles. The session was advertised via social media and participants registered using a Google form. The local university was identified as a venue and it agreed to waive the fee to its training rooms and facilities for the session. In the workshop held in October, 15 young professional women were provided with a training session by facilitator Maxine Attong, a career and leadership coach at the University of Trinidad and Tobago Chaguanas Campus.
Sewing and Crafting:
SI Manchester (England)
SI Club Manchester has helped to enable residents of Manchester Women’s Aid refuges to learn a skill which is useful to them on a personal basis but also has the potential to provide a livelihood.
The Club has a long term partnership with Manchester Women’s Aid and has supported them in a variety of ways over the years. The aim of this project is to provide a skill which is useful on a personal basis but also has the potential to provide an income. The participants come from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities. They are encouraged to work together as a team, allocating roles and taking responsibilities. It is hoped that some of the participants will go on to train others.
The project is still in its pilot stage with one refuge but the Club aims to continue the training with each of the other four refuges. Club members’ participation so far has included – setting up the project, writing risk assessments, providing the training, and providing general support and encouragement at the training sessions. More than £500 was raised toward the purchase of the sewing machines. The Club hopes that the model may also be used in other refuge groups around Greater Manchester.
SI Chester (England)
SI Club Chester obtained fabrics that were destined for landfill disposal and donations of fabric from other sources. A member of the Club sourced three free sewing machines. These were serviced, electrically (PAT) tested and donated to Tomorrow’s Women Chester (TWC) Also, a member of the Club purchased an iron and donated it to TWC. Two members of the Club organise and run the sewing classes at the premises of TWC. A member of staff, from TWC, has joined the class as a participant/observer.
The members of the group chose to make draught excluders, for the winter project, to help keep rooms warmer and energy bills lower. The second project has been to make tote bags to cut down on the use of plastic carrier bags.
SI St Vincent and the Grenadines and SI San Fernando (Caribbean)
SI Club St. Vincent partnered with the Barrouallie Technical Institute and SI Club San Fernando to launch a sewing project geared towards women on the Leeward side of the Island who were affected by the volcanic eruption in 2021.
SI Club St.Vincent supplied the Barrouallie Technical Institute with 10 sewing machines that were provided by SI Club San Fernando. They also supplied fabric and $10,000EC dollars to the Institute. This monetary donation was to assist women with financial constraints who weren’t able to pay the registration fee, purchase files and materials for their portfolio, and also aid with transportation costs as many students dropped out due to lack of funds to travel to school.
There were seven female graduates receiving full Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) Garment Production Certificates for the year 2023, while one student received a unit award. The most outstanding student of the garment production course currently has her own sewing shop and is writing a sewing book.
In September 2023, a new cohort of six students started, with Clubs also incorporating the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) programme. This initiative now includes 13 secondary school students, maximising the use of the sewing machines.
SI Cockermouth (England) with SI Kathmandu (Nepal)
Both Clubs aimed to raise £3,500 to allow RUWON (Rural Women’s Network Nepal) to run a third Sewing and Tailoring Course.
The money raised allowed a number of disadvantaged women from rural areas of Nepal to attend a six month sewing and tailoring course in Kathmandu. This provided underprivileged rural women with the chance to acquire skills that empower them to lift themselves out of poverty and improve the well-being of their families.
To date, 11 women have completed a six month course for which they will receive a certificate of training. This will allow them to gain employment, set up their own business or move onto further training.
SI Yorkshire Region (England)
HMP/YOI Askham Grange, is an open prison located in Yorkshire, it delivers a national service to women prisoners (residents) and young offenders. It facilitates a comprehensive resettlement regime for long and, increasingly, short-stay residents.
SI Yorkshire region Clubs have supported the project which initially refurbished the portakabin used by the residents for their craft activities as the present craft room was tired and unkempt and not a pleasant space in which to work, relax and be creative.
The Clubs have continued to donate vast quantities of craft materials and generous funds. In addition to donating money for the project, new and refurbished sewing machines were given. The portakabin was painted, chairs reupholstered, curtains hung and new storage boxes provided. Craft materials were sorted and placed in the boxes. The staff and residents are delighted that they now have a space that is fit for purpose which allows the residents to make things to sell in the garden centre or the prison shop and residents enjoyed learning new skills. The Clubs continue to support the project every year with new equipment and resources. The women can use their newly learned skills on release from prison to help them re-start their lives.
Cooking:
SI Canterbury (England)
SI Club Canterbury has been working with the RISING SUN refuge and the staff who work there. One club member worked with the refuge staff to run a pizza making master class. Recipients of this support are learning to cook healthy meals, which helps them in living independently.
SI Dunfermline (Scotland)
The members of the Club invited local Syrian refugees for a cookery evening to teach them some Scottish recipes and help them with making connections to the local community.
The evening was a very relaxed and natural way for women from different cultures to do something fun together. There was lot of laughter and sharing of different cooking techniques. Some of the Scottish women also made scones or flapjacks for the first time!
SI Rhyl and District (Wales)
SI Rhyl and District organised and delivered ‘ one-pot’ cookery courses (4.5 hours per week) over five weeks during November and December 2023 for eight women at the North Wales Women’s Centre. This initiative also offered hot meals to women at the centre,who were participating in other courses, seeking advice, or attending rehabilitation sessions for issues such as domestic abuse or minor criminal offenses.
The project was agreed following meetings with the manager of the Women’s Centre and funded from the Club’s charity account. Eight club members were involved in the project which included:
- Setting the menu for the week in conjunction with the women
- Providing a detailed recipe for the women on the course
- Purchasing the ingredients for the meals
- Setting up the lecture room with four slow cookers and soup makers (1 session) plus ingredients as the women worked in pairs
- Teaching the women to weigh the ingredients and how to operate the slow cookers and soup makers
In partnership with the Women’s Centre they produced a recipe book for the eight women plus others at the centre.
The eight women completed the cookery course with others benefiting from the meals provided. The Club also donated eight slow cookers, one for each of the women who completed the course, to take home and cook for their families
SI Lisburn and District (Northern Ireland)
In 2018 President Beverly McClean identified further need within the local Foodbank, cooking classes and she trained to become a tutor. The Club then raised £1000 to provide 13 cookery stations for the Foodbank Cookery School, which she established and clients were invited to attend sessions participating in easy cooking tasks using donated items from the Foodbank. Beverly continues to provide tuition at the Foodbank and during Covid-19 made several videos so that clients can access them online.
The Project is growing. In the beginning about eight clients took part but others have now attended through word of mouth recommendation. Clients are mostly women, but men are now participating in the classes. Participants are learning, sometimes for the first time, to cook meals more economically and with better nutrition for themselves and their families. Their confidence has grown and friendships and support have been created amongst the clients. Additional interaction is provided and clients learned that dishes could taste differently even with the same recipe. Some clients did not speak English and had been reluctant to integrate because of this. These classes gave them confidence to also take up English classes and accessing budgeting tutorials which were provided at the Foodbank. This helped to empower clients to regain further control in their lives.
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