SIE Announces the winners of the SIE Best Practice Awards and Donates Nearly €39,000 to the SI President’s Appeal Projects 

Image: SI President Yvonne thanks SIE President Maria Elisabetta de Franciscis and the SIE Board for the Federation’s support for the Nepal projects.

Soroptimist International of Europe (SIE) chose Sofia, Bulgaria as the venue for this year’s annual general meeting from 9-10 July 2016. In the presence of SI President Yvonne Simpson, SI President elect Mariet Verhoef-Cohen and SIGBI Vice President Susan Biggs, 225 Union and Single Club Presidents, Governors, Silent Observers and SIE Board Members representing 1250 clubs in 62 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean discussed Federation business and future strategies for its 34,000 members.  On this occasion, SIE President Maria Elisabetta de Franciscis reported that so far SIE has donated nearly €39,000 to the SI President’s Appeal 2015-2017, Educate to Lead: Nepal.

Image: SI International President Yvonne Simpson addresses the Governors’ Meeting of Soroptimist International of Europe. Yvonne says: "The
Governors’ Meeting for SI Europe held in Sofia was a celebration of Soroptimist
success and the launch of new initiatives. The warmth of the welcome, the additional flavour of
Bulgarian cultural, and the symbolic bridge connection between the
hotel and venue, with stunning publicity, were all highlights. My
congratulations to President Elisabetta and her team!"

Based on reported results, SIE national Unions and Clubs initiated, supported, fundraised for and/or implemented more than 4500 projects for some € 9 million last year. In Sofia SIE President elect Renata Trottmann Probst and the jury announced the winners of the SIE Best Practice awards, which are presented in the key areas of focus: Education, Economic Empowerment, Elimination of Violence against Women, Health and Sustainable Environment. The SIE Project of the Year award was given to SI Club Antananarivo Mandrosoa (Madagascar) and the Clubs of Luzern, Bad Ragaz, Vevey and Schwyz (Switzerland) for the construction of an education centre and orphanage for street children in Antananarivo.

 

Image: The SIE Project of the Year award was presented to the Union of Madagascar and the Clubs of Luzern, Bad Ragaz, Vevey and Schwyz (Switzerland) for the construction of an education centre and orphanage for street children in Antananarivo 

SI Club Uelzen (Germany) received the ‘Educate to Lead’ award for organising a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) camp for girls (MINT-Camp für Mädchen), inspired by the SIE biennium ‘Soroptimists Invest in Education’ with a special emphasis on the STEM disciplines.

For full details of all of the awards, please visit the SIE website at http://www.soroptimisteurope.org/programs/best-practices.

 

 

Image: Participants gathered on the bridge leading to the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, where the general meeting was held.

The Union of Bulgaria with its more than 120 members organised in eight Clubs hosted the event. ‘We feel very privileged to have welcomed our fellow Soroptimists to Sofia for such an important meeting,’ says Bulgarian Union President Vihra Grigorova.  At the end of the event, SIE President Maria Elisabetta presented €1300 to Vihra towards a special scholarship grant for Bulgaria.