16 Days of Activism Stories
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Women Leading the Way - SISEAP SI Convention Workshop
Climate Change - Women Leading the Way Workshop
SISEAP conducted two workshops on Climate Change at the Soroptimist International Convention held recently in Dublin.
Climate change is a pressing issue that affects different regions in varying ways; for instance, in countries like Australia, it can significantly alter the risk profile and vulnerability of populations. However, in some regions, climate issues can exacerbate existing challenges, leading to environmental degradation and a loss of basic services. Put simply, climate change impacts everyone, however it does not impact everyone equally. This makes the need for a resilience-based approach to climate action all the more critical.
Description: Women’s interconnectedness within the community shows that we are well placed to educate and inspire change needed for a sustainable world.
Women educate their families and their communities by example.
Do you know what climate change means?
Do you understand how climate change can impact your community?
Do you want to know how your actions can help address climate change?
You can make a difference!
The workshops presented by Programme Convenor Dr Donnell Davis and members of the SISEAP Programme Team.
Resource Toolkit for the workshop
Please document download the resource toolkit (3.77 MB) . The toolkit has resource links and further information about the workshop.
Powerpoint Presentation
SISEAP and the Programme team are pleased to present the powerpoint presentation used for the workshop this has been made available for download.
Soroptimist International Convention workshops
Each of the 5 Soroptimist International Federations presented workshops at the convention. An overview of each of the workshops along with outcomes and recommendations CAN BE VIEWED HERE
SISEAP Conference 2024
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Your Voice Our Future 3-5 May 2024
It will have been 6 years in May 2024 since members from across the South East Asia Pacific have met face to face. book your tickets come prepared for a friendship, laughter and learning, your voice is our future make sure you are there to contribute.
The conference centre will be Twin Towns, located in the twin towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads.
The theme of the Conference is ” Your Voice Our Future", building on SISEAP President Christine's biennium theme "Our Voice for Change". Her aim is that our voices are powerful and the belief that "Our voice will amplify our areas of concern".
The conference will bring together Soroptimists from the 13 countries of our Federation as well as Soroptimists from across the other 4 Federations.
The Convention programme will consist of seminars and workshops, in addition, we are planning an exciting social programme in the evenings including a Friendship Evening, and a Gala Dinner. Don't pass up the opportunity to visit the natural attractions of the beautiful Gold Coast and hinterland of Southern Queensland.
This is your chance to meet old friends and make new ones and we do hope many non Soroptimists will join us to help improve the world we live in.
SISEAP 2024 Conference Chair Ralda Forzin
Not since 2018 have the members of SISEAP had the occasion to come toghether and celebrate. We have much to celebrate, we not only survived COVID but challenged ourselfs and came our victorious, we celebrated 100 years of our organisation, re branded ourselves with a new name, new clubs, new members, and projects which have changed the lives of hundreds of women and girls,.
There is nothing like a conference to reconnect, network with members and speakers, speakers who will provide thought provoking and interesting takes on a diverse range of topics.
Soroptimists conferences provide an environment where you can be you, compasionate, strong, emotional and confident in who and why you are a Soroptimist.
Looking forward to seeing as many of our members from across the Federation as possible. Let our diversity and strength in cultures stand out on the Gold Coast in 2024.
Christine Johnstone
President 2022-2024
SI Moreton North
SI Moreton North IWD event, incorporate their Annual IWD Awards be Inspired Forum and also the launch of the Lead-HER-Ship empowering Women’s Mentoring Programme.
6 women were acknowledged and presented with their ” Be Inspired Awards”.
The day also launched – “The Lead-HER-Ship Empowering Women’s Mentoring Programme”, is a collaboration between SIMNI and Women’s Network Australia (WNA).
SI Moreton North, IWD event and Lead-Her-Ship luncheon
View the video of the Awards ceremony
Internationally renowned Aboriginal Artist Cody Bindi Nappangarttii Smith re-purposed this coat with intricate hand-felted images of special places around Australia.
Cody gifted this coat to SIMNI member Chris Knight as the custodian and is a symbol of Soroptimist International Sisterhood, Solidarity and Friendship.
SIMNI and WNA, collectively have an extensive number of outstanding women with great life experiences and professional backgrounds who are willing to support the next generation of business and professional women, women from indigenous and culturally linguistic backgrounds, women living with a disability and refugee and asylum seeker women who are seeking to enhance their skills and careers.
The program will include assisting Mentee’s to find relevant information and advice and to ask professional questions, the session may be beneficial for the Mentee to gain the relevant qualifications and skills needed to pursue their careers.
SI Mackay
SI Mackay partnrned with Better Together Housing team, to create a series of videos, these videos cover conversations where a range of initiatives and questions were answered around the housing crisis for older women in Mackay.
The report by SI Mackay
International Women’s Day event 2023
SI Mackay is always keen to identify local needs in our community, and we often invite guests to our business meeting so we can hear about issues from a different perspective.
Lauren from Better Together Housing was one of our speakers at a meeting last year, and raised our awareness of the growing need for older women specific to homelessness. She gave us some statistics and facts on the growing rate of homelessness, and the cost of housing shortages, especially for women over 55, and how the issue is impacting local women.
We discussed the lack of knowledge about this rising problem for older women, both in our club and among our members, and explored with Lauren, just how to get this information circulated within the community. The purpose of raising awareness was two-fold, firstly to reach out to women where they were at risk of homelessness, but secondly, engaging with women who had additional space in their home due to changes in their circumstances.
SI Mackay members at the University filming the videos
The videos can be viewed from the SI Mackay facebook site,
The launch of the videos at the IWD event
We felt that a series of short videos, could be the best format and that our members were ideal candidates to ask a series of questions in order to extract information from Lauren. And so our next project was borne – to create a short video series that would launch on International Women’s Day, but then be used by both the Better Together Housing team, and SI Mackay as a tool for advocacy and activism. It was a great joint initiative where we explored a range of questions to be answered, and with the support of Central Queensland University, used their library space to film the series.
6 videos are on our website for you to view - https://www.facebook.com/simackaynq and use the search function to find the ‘BTH videos’.
SI South Perth
International Women's Day Event
SI South Perth celebrate #IWD2023. Guest speaker, Suzy Urbaniak was a powerhouse of passion and common sense. Suzy an ANU Earth Sciences alumna who has won the 2016 Prime Minister's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools.
Suzy was a dynamic speaker, she even did the splits for us, at the request of a former student! (Context? - you had to be there!) 10 girls from local secondary schools attended, sponsored by member The Hon. Kate Doust, MLC. We heard from Rosemary Cant, President of SIWA, and the Hon. Mia Davies, MLA was inducted as our newest member. We honoured Jean, who has ministered to our culinary needs at the Royal Perth Golf Club for many years, and finally we heard some wonderful acapella singing from some of the ladies from Perth Harmony Chorus
SI Bangsar
International Women's Day Celebrations 2023
SI Bangsar members celebrated IWD in 3 different locations: Malaysia, Japan, and Australia.
On 4 March, ten SI Bangsar members and friends met at the Royal Lake Club at 7am to celebrate IWD with a walk around the Gardens near the Lake Club. Some carried placards on the IWD 2023 campaign theme: #EmbraceEquity with impactful messages, ‘Be a change agent, Be fair, Be impartial, Make your presence felt etc. They walked for an hour and adjourned for breakfast and fellowship at the Lake club poolside.
On 7 March, Sim Chan, Programme Convenor, SI Bangsar, met up with members of Friendship Link club SI Kyoto-Toka in Japan for dinner to celebrate IWD. It marked a significant reunion of SI Kyoto-Toka members with SI Club of Bangsar after more than a decade. In 2005 both clubs collaborated on Janda Baik Goat Rearing project which won the Overall International Best Practice Award.
On 10 March, Indira Naidu, Friendship Link Convenor, joined members of SI Torrens in their IWD Breakfast event in Adelaide, South Australia. She felt it was a great privilege to have had the opportunity to watch the presentation from prominent speakers. Senator Penny Wong, Australian Foreign Minister, was the Host and Convenor of the Adelaide International Women’s Day Breakfast supporting UN Women Australia. She spoke on ‘Cracking the Code, innovation for the gender equal future’. And was proud to announce that currently in the parliament among 103 members 54 are women.
Guest speaker Caroline Kennedy, the US Ambassador to Australia, spoke on connections and values for a healthier world and closing of the gender gap After the event, Indira spent the day with SI Torrens President Sing Ting who assisted a friend with her shopping. They later lunched together and had tea at the President’s idyllic home in the Adelaide Hills.
SI The Hills
International Women’s Day Breakfast - 10th March 2023
As has become the tradition, SI of The Hills District hosted an IWD Breakfast event to conclude the week of celebration and advocacy work. Over one hundred members and guests joined the event at Rydges Norwest and enjoy a morning of fine food and outstanding presentations.
Aarya Sambyal (Castle Hill High School) and Mia Fogolin (Our Lady of Mercy College) spoke brilliantly and with passion. Aarya shared a poem from her HSC English Extension 1 portfolio entitled Who is She? and spoke passionately about how her mother was her inspiration. Mia presented on the topic of refugees and challenged the audience to question both the myths and realities associated with people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and who are looking to find safety in Australia.
Our Keynote speaker, Rosanna Barbero the CEO of Addison Road Community Centre raised our awareness on how the increased cost of living has made food security a real issue for an increasing number of people across many communities. Guests to the event were encouraged to donate a food staple and large collection of food staples were packed up to support the vital work of The Addi Road Food Pantry.
Julia West, Rosanna Barbero, Aarya Sambyal, Mia Fogolin, Mayor Dr Peter Gangemi
The SI of The Hills District Members Shot
The Addi Road Organisation played a supportive role in the evacuation of fifteen Afghanistan girls who were being chased by the Taliban, after the allied forces departed the country in 2021. Rosanna spoke of her organisation’s role in raising awareness of the girls’ struggles and introduced her colleague Julia West to the stage. Julia spoke of the support that Barker College has given to one of the Afghanistan girls and she also explained the Humanitarian Support Program that she has established for after-school tutoring at the College.
Our club had the opportunity to celebrate the support that it was able to provide to one of the Afghanistan girls via an educational scholarship in 2022. In addition, the club excitedly announced the formation of a SI School Club in 2023 at Barker College, that will support Julia’s Humanitarian Support Program.
The morning was a great success. People left well fed, more informed and many with impressive raffle prizes.
Rosanna Barbero & some of the staples
Whistleblower Reporting
Soroptimist Internatioanl South East Asia Pacific Whistleblower Policy (Policy) is an important element in detecting corrupt, illegal or other undesirable conduct.
At SISEAP our people are our greatest asset and, as such, we are committed to providing a safe and supportive environment where our people can be confident, transparent and safe. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical behaviour and conduct at all times.
SISEAP strongly encourages you to speak up if you suspect or witness any matters of concern. SISEAP will take all reports made under this Policy seriously. This Policy describes the protections available to whistleblowers, what matters are reportable, how you can report your concerns without fear of Detriment, and how SISEAP will support and protect you.
Policy
SISEAP have developed a Whistleblower policy and a process.
Please download and read the policy document, (Insert link to policy document)
Who is an eligible whistleblower
An eligible whistleblower can be:
- a current or former employee of the company
- a current or former position holder of the company
- a contractor, consultant or service provider (current or former) who has supplied goods and services to the company
- a volunteer (current or former) who has supplied goods and services to the company, or
- a spouse, relative or dependent of any of the people listed above
How to Report
There are two ways to report:
Option 1 Form via Website
To report the complaint please click on the whistleblower link
You will be redirected to a google form to complete and submit. This form will be emailed directly to the Whistleblower Protection Officer (WPO). On receipt of the form the WPO will remove the complainant's email address (if requested) before directing it to the Whistleblower Investigation Officer(WIO).
Option 2 Via Mail to Registered Office
To make a complaint, write a letter with details of the concern to the Registered Office of SISEAP.
SISEAP Whistleblower Protection Officer
C/ LNP Audit and Assurance
L14 309 Kent Street
Sydney NSW 2000
An individual may remain anonymous throughout this process; however, this may make it more difficult to investigate the issue which has been raised.