Three projects were shortlisted in the Best Practice Awards category Enable. The winner was SI Canterbury for their Migrant Women project, with the runners up being SI Sheffield and SI Poole, Purbeck & District. Full details of the Projects are below:

SI Canterbury – Chat and Coffee with Migrant Women

05/05/2023

Partner Kran – Kent Refugee Action Network

SI Canterbury contacted KRAN (Kent Refugee Action Network) to help support migrant women with their spoken language skills. They have been meeting women of all ages and from different countries for the last 10 months on a weekly basis. The meetings initially were at a local café, however when it was established that some of the women could not afford this, it was moved to the Hall where KRAN were running teaching sessions. The Club met with the women for the hour after the courses.

Part of the Activity was Healthy Walks, 8 volunteer club members were trained by the Mason Foundation this included information on how to safeguard, and how to be walk Leaders. For the chats they had a variety of 10 volunteers consisting of previous SI members, a young woman interested as well as their own club members. A weekly rota was established which worked well.

The project helped connect migrant women with local women and encouraged them to come for walks at different venues (i.e. cathedral, orchard, friars gardens) and local areas as well as encouraging them to talk about different subjects. The chats were about everyday happenings like children at school, holidays, cost of living, friendships and any other subject the women wanted to talk about. Conversations were often linked to what they had learned during the English lessons.

Activities included signposting the women to plan for their future financial security, connections with other community events, and with Social Enterprise Kent for energy information courses and local craft groups.

The project has worked well and the women have made fantastic progress with their language knowledge and self-confidence. Some of the women are volunteering in charity shops, others have joined courses for IT and English at College and Adult Education Centres, as well as a local craft group to help with integration. One of the women we met originally has now started her university course in London to complete her dentistry qualification and her children are settled in local schools. The women and their children came to our fundraising garden party in the summer and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In combination with their partner Mason Walk group they we were awarded the Kent Mental Wellbeing Award- Highly Commended 2023.

So far 10 women have been supported on a regular basis and at the end of year party they were joined by 25 women including some from other language courses.

SI Canterbury have a good friendship circle now with the women and encourage ad hoc meetups and use Whats App to facilitate this.

Beneficiary Quote “Really enjoyed meeting up and looking forward to next week”

26 people have benefitted from the project

SI Sheffield – Ongoing Social Action in Sheffield

Partnerships St John’s Church (Owlerton); Sheffield City Council, Tesco supermarket, King Edward VII School and S6 Food Bank.

Building on a past project, “Healthy Hampers”, started in 2019, which provided slow cookers, kitchen utensils, cool bags, recipe cards and food to women’s refuges and Winn Garden. The Club continue to support Winn Gardens, an economically challenged and very diverse estate in Sheffield, which houses many asylum seekers and women escaping domestic violence.

A club member is active as a community champion at the estate and the community pioneer spoke to club members at one of our meetings. The cost of living crisis has exacerbated the level of poverty and deprivation experienced by the residents of Winn Gardens.

Project Aim: to tackle food and fuel poverty in one of Sheffield’s most deprived estates, and educate families with regards healthy living.

The Club have continued to provide slow cookers, the most fuel economic way of cooking, to resident families, alongside recipe cards (developed by Sixth Form Girls as part of our “Share Our Skills” project) and one of the members delivered regular cookery lessons to educate the residents on nutritious and economic meals. Members also sourced and provided cookery equipment, food, clothes and household items which were delivered on a regular basis. They also provided the funding for community events and children’s parties. Members also helped with lunches during the school holidays (for children eligible for free school meals) and, with our partner Tesco, we provided back-to-school shirts for every child on the estate.

One of our members trained as a community champion and now supports the estate for at least 5 hours per week as a volunteer, for 50 weeks. It involves all club members as well as external partners helping women to start a new life.

Several members collect donations and make regular deliveries, two hours a week on average. The project supported on a weekly basis at least 40 large families (i.e. more than 5 family members), 60 small families, as well as 60 other individuals, including men and boys .

We are proud of this project because it empowers women to take care of themselves and children by enabling them to cook nutritious, economic and healthy meals through cookery classes.

The Project has been publicised through

• Local digital newspaper – Sheffield Star
• School newsletters (distribution list of 4000)
• BBC Radio Sheffield
• Sheffield Telegraph
• Talk TV

SI Poole, Purbeck and District – ‘Fresh Thoughts’ booklet to provide information for victims fleeing domestic abuse

Launched 27/10/2023

The initial aim of the project was to provide a response to questions that survivors in the refuge had about their situation. Individual members researched those areas of concern and consideration was given to developing a booklet. The front cover was designed by the club. The content was checked by experts and trialled with our Local Authority, Citizens Advice and the DA Forum. A member produced a bid for the PCC who funded the printing and two launches supported by all members.

The booklet is transforming lives by providing accurate, local information relevant to the needs of victims, allowing them to make informed decisions about their future. A survivor has stated they wished they had this booklet when they were in an abusive relationship. It is being widely used by professionals who report that the presentation and format of the booklet makes it user friendly. In addition, the booklet is being used as a training tool within advice services to improve understanding.

The Club designed and wrote a booklet to provide information for women who are fleeing domestic abuse. It provides practical information about online personal safety, going to court, financial assistance, housing advice and the contact details of support agencies. Then we organised a launch event which was supported and attended by the Police and Crime Commissioner, Michael Tomlinson KC MP, and the High Sherriff of Dorset.

The Club have regularly supported their local refuge and realised through discussions that victims had little information about what was going to happen next – particularly in relation to legal aspects of their situation. They subsequently researched what information would provide the most appropriate advice and who, in the club, would be able to provide that knowledge and experience. The overall aim of the booklet is to educate, empower and enable victims to move forward with their lives.

We identified members with expertise to ensure the content was accurate, members proof-read the pages, advised on language, and lobbied the Police and Crime Commissioner for financial support and subsequently worked with a local printer to design the artwork and print the booklet. We contacted providers of support to DA victims to review the content and confirm that it would be a valuable resource. We then had several thousand booklets printed. A suitable location was booked to hold the launch event, guest speakers confirmed, invitations designed and sent out and packs containing the booklets were prepared for each organisation attending. At the event roles were assigned to members of the club to ensure the event ran smoothly.

About 60 people attended the launch and approx 1200 booklets were distributed together with information about the club, a feedback form and an order form. The booklet was very well received and many of the organisations have already started using it. Other SI clubs have shown an interest in introducing a version adapted for their area and their feedback has been very positive.

Quote from a Beneficiary: Citizens Advice DA lead I have been using your booklet along with a colleague which we have found extremely useful. It is very informative and easy to read and refer to! Kimberley Wilson-White DAA supervisor at Dorset Police this is a very useful booklet I will certainly be referring to this with my victims.

The professional content of the booklet has strengthened working relationships between Soroptimists, local authorities, primary care hubs and charities providing domestic abuse services. The booklet provides ongoing opportunities to raise the profile of Soroptimism and the work we do in relation to Educating and Empowering women.