July
was a month packed full of Soroptimist projects. Themes included human trafficking and domestic violence. These
topics were the main focus of many educational outreach activities in schools
and the wider global community. All Soroptimist projects have
educated, empowered or enabled women and girls to pursue opportunities that may
otherwise be unattainable. Here are just a few of those projects:

SI Moreton North Inc
(Australia) held
a book launch for the release of ‘Human Trafficking around the World’.  In addition, a virtual interview was held
with the club on the subject of human trafficking in order to raise awareness
of this topic. The virtual interview showcased the work of
Soroptimist International at the local and global level on projects that keep
women and girls safe from violence and sexual abuse and provide education and
training so they can get good jobs.

SI clubs in Cheshire,
North Wales and Wirral (UK) collaborated on a joint venture associated with the LIME festival (Llangollen International Musical
Eisteddfod). The SI Eisteddford
committee comprises of club members from the districts of Cheshire, North Wales
and the Wirral and involved members staffing a tent to promote SI Clubs and the
current projects that they run. They
displayed examples of their SI project work, collected signatures for the
‘Purple Teardrop Campaign against human trafficking’ and recruited new members.
Associated with this, the Regional President and other SI
members from the district delivered the signed petition against human
trafficking to the Secretary of State for Wales.  The Global Ambassador from SI Runcorn also
spoke on local radio about the campaign and the wider scope of SI work that the
clubs are involved in. Not only did this promote SI clubs in the local area, it
aided in recruiting new members.

SI
Club di Conegliano e Vittorio Veneto
(Italy) hosted a one day conference on domestic violence, entitled
‘Women United for a Concrete Help’. The conference was held in response to an increase
in domestic violence cases in the local area. Attendees at the conference
included doctors, psychologists, public and private health specialists, social
assistants and members of the police force. The training given at the
conference was intended to provide attendees with up-to-date knowledge about
domestic violence and stalking. It is hoped that through this training,
professionals become more alert and astute when recognising the cases of
violence. A professional support network has now been established in order to help
victims overcome trauma.

Domestic violence was also the focus of another SI project
this month, as SI Nadi (Fiji)
raised awareness in local schools. Due to an increase in gender violence and
child abuse cases found in Fiji,
the group decided to embark upon a campaign to raise awareness of this topic
within local schools. SISWP President, Siew Yong Gnanalingum collaborated with
SI Nadi by visiting a local school in Fiji to speak about
gender violence.

Educating girls on serious, social matters was an issue
highlighted elsewhere across the world this month. SI Bangalore (India) launched a gender sensitisation project with self-defence aimed at
younger children. Girls were educated on how to defend themselves if they were
victims of attack. Training included what protection items they should carry with
them and how best to defend themselves if the attacker approached from behind.

In addition to the gender sensitisation project, SI Bangalore (India) launched Project 20-20
which aims to give girls body confidence and assert their self-esteem. The
target group of these educational sessions were girls aged 16 and above. The
programme was conducted by Jitender V Joshi from Prasanna Wellness
Academy and included topics
such as how to respect your body and gender sensitisation.

SI
Pune Metro East (India)launched the ‘One Billion Rise, Gender Sensitisation’ project
across local schools. This involved conducting sessions on gender issues in
every class within local schools, covering a variety of ages. Sessions ranged
in subject matter, appropriate to the age group. These sessions on gender
equality and abuse were launched in response to rises in rape and sexual abuse
cases within India.
Two expert counsellors were invited to speak to the children on body changes,
gender differences and gender equality.

SI
Bangalore (India)
provided a number of educational sponsorships for girls to pursue further
education. These sponsorships are intended for girls that come from lower economic
backgrounds, who would otherwise be denied access to higher education.

SI
Vicenza Club (Italy) organised and hosted golf and putting green competitions to
raise funds for educational opportunities tailored to women and girls. All
funds raised will go toward assisting Butare women and children gain access to
educational opportunities and improved job access.

To
encourage and support female participation in sport, SI Nadi (Fiji)
sponsored the uniforms of a local all-girls netball team. Many of the girls in the
team could not afford to buy the uniforms nor could the club itself. Without uniforms, the team would have been excluded
from entering tournaments and so SI Nadi met this need. The uniforms are set to
last for 10 years and include the name of their sponsors.

SI
Apapa (Nigeria) also worked to encourage female participation in sport, by
hosting the 1^st Inter-House sports competition at the Soroptimist International School.
The competition saw both girls and boys competing against each other in a
variety of sporting events. The competition gave girls a boost in their self-
confidence, knowing that they were capable of competing against members of the
opposite sex in sport; the girls won just as many medals as the boys.

SI
Antananarivo Mandrosoa (Madagascar)
held an educational session for farmers on different
vegetables to plant and grow, that bring more added value compared to
conventional crops they currently sell. Soroptimists also gave farmers a short
training session on making their own natural fertiliser.

SI
Walsall (UK) manned a stall displaying their project work at the Aldridge
Community Show, in order to raise awareness of Soroptimist international and
raise funds for the Haydn Saunders mother & baby unit. The mother and baby
unit provides safe living conditions for young single women, who are otherwise
homeless. The centre educates young women on parenting skills and household
management; it also empowers them to continue their own educational and
vocational training whilst living independently .

SI Karratha &
District (Australia) reported on the
celebrations to mark their 30th Anniversary. The Charter for this club was
established on 11th June
1983. In order to mark the event, the club held a variety of
activities including a ‘Saturday of Service’. This event involved both club
members and women in the community making birthing dolls for the Birthing in
the Pacific project and beanies for Nuns of Bhutan.

ACTION, ADVOCACY AND AWARENESS RAISING

There are around 3000 Soroptimist clubs around the world,
all working to educate, empower or enable opportunities for women in
their local communities and beyond through action, advocacy and
awareness-raising.  Working across the world in over 120 countries, clubs
undertake a huge range of projects depending on local need. However, all serve
the following objectives:

·        
to increase access to formal and non-formal learning
opportunities.

·        
to improve access to economic empowerment and sustainable
opportunities for the employment of women.

·        
to eliminate violence against women and girls and ensure women’s
participation in conflict resolution.

·        
to ensure women and girls have food security and access to the
highest attainable standard of health care.

·        
to address the specific needs of women and girls by improving
environmental sustainability, and mitigating effects of climate change and
disasters.  

These actions were all reported by clubs on the Project Focus
Report database, which enables SI to track club activities across the globe and
monitor the collective impact of Soroptimists worldwide.