Soroptimist International – A Global Voice for Women

Soroptimist International – A Global Voice for Women: Lifting Women from Poverty Through Lifelong Learning.

Presenters: 

Mariet Verhoef-Cohen, President.

Elizabeth Nyadwe, Vice President Advocacy. 

Hafdis Karlsdóttir, President’s Appeal Chair.

Soroptimist International’s aim is to educate, empower and enable women all over the world and ensure that their voices are being heard. SI have a network of clubs in 122 countries, with each club administering their own projects. Projects that were highlighted were educational programs in Nepal with focus on female leadership, women’s groups, gender equality training, menstruation hygiene, emotional healing, and more. The STEM field in the UK is another project where Soroptimist International encourages girls to pursue a career within engineering, math and technology. 

Long Life Learning for Women is an important project led by Soroptimist International Europe (SIE). Three projects were highlighted involving young women who were empowered in the work field in Italy and Turkey. Female prisoners got work training while in prison, while another project provided job placements for women who had never worked before.

Two other projects that have an ongoing education component is the SPOT project in Malaysia and the Ger project in Mongolia. The SPOT project seeks to fill gaps in Malaysia’s sexual health and education of young people, especially young girls. Despite over 18,600 cases of underage pregnancies per year there is no formal sexual health and education program in Malaysia. The Ger project enables women to grow their own fruit and vegetables and be self-sustainable.

Women, Water and Leadership is a program where women learn how to store, obtain, irrigate, plant, sell their products and manage their business. By managing water resources, and learning water leadership, women gain social and political power.

For more information about SI's work, please visit their website:  https://www.soroptimist.org/