Across the world, women and girls face major gaps in education, safety, health, and economic freedom. It’s a desperate situation.
While governments are often slow or reluctant to act, there are thankfully hundreds of bold organisations, bravely pushing through barriers and refusing to accept the status quo. These organisations, given the right support, are ones which achieve lasting impact. They’re also frequently led by strong and passionate women.
The work of five such organisations was celebrated last month, when Australian philanthropic charity 100 Women awarded five grants to facilitate women’s strength building initiatives globally, with leading Vitamin D and Bone Health brand^ Ostelin matching 100 Women’s member donations up to $90,000.
Ostelin partnered with 100 Women earlier this year as part of its mission to celebrate and empower the strength of all women from the inside out – a purpose-led commitment called, Project Strong.
Through a combination of more than 280 member donations and Ostelin’s impact matching donation, 100 Women was able to award $184,735 in funds to five grant recipients this year, which will have a direct and positive impact on more than 18,000 women and girls across Australia and globally.
Grant recipients include Midland Women’s Health Care Place, a critical family and domestic violence support program for victims; Sexual Health Quarters, a youth sexual health program for CaLD teen girls; AusCam Freedom Project, which is working to combat human trafficking in Cambodia; Living Child which will create five new birthing huts in Papua New Guinea; and School for Life Foundation Australia with 50 primary school girls funded and supported to go through high school in Uganda.
With grassroots charities often missing out on critical government funding, the grants have opened up a raft of new possibilities.
“This grant will allow us to identify 100 more girls who are at high risk of exploitation or re-exploitation, improve their health and relationships, and improve their self-empowerment, problem solving, advocacy, and skill-building”, AusCam Executive Director, Jessie Walker says.
It will also enable the organisation to create a safe online information centre – something currently unavailable in Cambodia. The online portal will include interactive resources and content developed by girls to prevent others from being exploited, as well as a safe channel for crisis support.
Started in 2012, AusCam eliminates opportunities for trafficking to happen through early interventions that are tailored to a girl’s individual risks, backed by a team of qualified and passionate social workers, educators, and mentors. However, Walker stresses the organisation’s bigger vision.
“Our work in child protection often overshadows our bigger vision, which is equality for women and girls,” she explains.
“Gender equality is the only way to systemically address our world’s most pressing issues — political stability, climate action and social justice all depend on a woman’s abilities to understand, engage, and influence the world around her. But she can’t do that when her fundamental right to be safe is taken away. She can’t graduate, advocate, or influence community change when she’s being abused or exploited. First, she needs to feel safe, then she needs to feel empowered.”
And it’s safety which also lies at the heart of Living Child’s mission-statement, another recipient of this year’s 100 Women grant.
A midwifery-led organisation operating in remote areas of Papua New Guinea, Living Child responds to the needs of pregnant women to improve critical healthcare services.
Founding CEO Sara David started the charity following a trip to a remote village in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea in August 2012. Invited as a midwife by male church leaders who were concerned about the high number of pregnant women dying in their villages, David describes her heartbreak at hearing the stories of suffering and death. “They feared childbirth”, she says.
“Papua New Guinea is our closest neighbour, and they have some of the worst birth outcomes in the world,” she adds. “Every day 5-7 women die just because they’re giving birth, and often these deaths take place in such remote places that they do not even get reported or investigated”.
Living Child works to combat this at a grass roots level, listening to and addressing the needs identified by locals. As a result, “lives have been saved and communities empowered to change their behaviours to healthier ones,” says David.
The 100 Women grant will support Living Child to go further by funding a two-year project to build five birthing huts in five different remote villages, equipped with solar lighting and basic quality equipment such as buckets, handwashing basins and rainwater tanks.
50 Village Birth Attendants will also complete the new training course which assesses VBAs in several basic competencies to ensure they can provide a safe level of care to healthy pregnant women and be able to identify those that need referral to a hospital.
Another critical health service funded by 100 Women, is Sexual Health Quarters (SHQ) led by CEO, Debra Barnes.
Operating out of Perth, SHQ offers a range of clinical services to support women and girls’ sexual health and relationship wellbeing including testing and treatment of STIs, contraception information and supply, unintended pregnancy support and cervical screening.
The organisation also works with young women from marginalised backgrounds who have experienced gender inequality and denial of their rights.
Barnes describes the 100 Women grant as “vital” in ensuring the organisation continues its delivery of award-winning HERS (Hura (Arabic for strong women), Empowered, Resilient, Sisterhood) Project.
A codesigned, peer-led education program for young women from migrant and refugee communities, HERS “aims to empower young women from these communities to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive rights, health and wellbeing with confidence and independence”, says Barnes.
“As the CEO, it is my mission to continue strengthening and growing our organisation. Ensuring we can continue making a meaningful difference in the lives of those that seek our services, respond to community needs as these arise, and increase our reach to ensure we are accessible to everyone who may require our support.”
When asked why women like themselves are often at the forefront of social impact, the response was shared by all three organisational leaders: women have a unique perspective on what it’s like to experience injustice.
“Personally, I think that women are at the forefront of social impact because we have experienced the many injustices that affect women, such as sexual betrayal, abuse and violence, oppression and marginalisation, and the denial of human rights,” says David. “Many women have experienced an injustice, and this motivates them to act.”
Barnes agrees. “Every day women are confronted by discrimination and inequality, whether at home, at work or in their wider community. The inherent empathy of women and our personal experiences of discrimination makes it difficult for us to stand back and leads us to advocate for change”.
One thing that’s clear in speaking with these leaders? The strength, passion and resilience of women and the impact they can achieve, should never be underestimated.
To learn more about how Ostelin is working with 100 Women to support grassroots women’s organisations, visit www.ostelin.com.au/project-strong.
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