Our Structure
OUR STRUCTURE
There five levels to Soroptimism in this country.
The Club
There is the Club level. We are one of eleven clubs in the London Anglia Region.
The Region
London Anglia Region, which covers an area from the Wash to the Thames, is one of 17 Regions in the UK. The other clubs comprising our Region are:
Sudbury, Halstead and District
The UK Programme Action Committee
Representatives from all 17 Regions (as far apart as Scotland North Region and South West & Channel Islands Region) serve on the United Kingdom Programme Action Committee (UKPAC), which provides help and guidance to Soroptimist clubs in the UK in devising, planning and carrying out their project work (known as Programme Action).
Every month the UKPAC Chairman, Sue Biggs, writes a column for the website. This is also produced as a newsletter and emailed to every club in the UK, to be cascaded down to every member, either by forwarding via email or by hard copy for those members who do not have internet facilities. In this way the entire membership of the UK has direct and current information, each month, on the work of this Committee.
It holds a Study Day every two years, the next one – on the national theme of Violence Against Women, will be held in Reading in July 2010.
For more information on the UKPAC, which covers all on which the UK Soroptimists are working, please visit their website.
The Federation
Our Federation, one of four around the world, is Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland (known as SIGBI). It draws together the work of clubs in 28 countries – all the UK clubs, plus those in, amongst others, India, Uganda and ZImbabwe. For more information, please visit their website.
Soroptimist International
Soroptimist International, headquartered in Cambridge, is the umbrella organisation for Soroptimists worldwide. It has General Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council, (ECOSOC) and has representatives at many meetings of its agencies in UN Centres throughout the world.
Soroptimist International has permanent, volunteer representatives to the major United Nations centres in New York, Geneva and Vienna, UNESCO in Paris, the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) in Rome, and UNEP (UN Environment Programme) in Nairobi. It also has representatives at the UN Regional Commissions in Western Asia (ESCWA); South America (ECLAC); and Asia Pacific (ESCAP).
These Representatives attend a broad range of meetings and committees, reporting back to the membership and making recommendations for the Soroptimist Programme of Service. Soroptimist delegations to the major UN meetings and forums advocate for policies and actions which support our aims and objects.
So you see, even concerns that we may have, here in the Chelmsford club, might well be brought to the attention of the United Nations. It’s incredibly powerful machinery; singly, we are each just one voice, but together we are strong!