Our Projects
‘We stand up for Women’
Improving the lives of women and girls is what drives us – in our local communities, nationally or globally. All of our projects contribute to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, mainly those relating to women and girls, and to the Planet.
Here is a flavour of some of the projects we have worked on this year – 2022/3.
Our Super Heroines
We invited people to nominate their local Super Heroines – women and girls who had gone ‘above and beyond’ in their local communities to support others during the time that the pandemic was affecting us most. We held a celebration event for the 11 women who were nominated in June, and they each received a gift and flowers, presented by Staffordshire Poet Laureate Mel Wardle . A wonderful day was had by all!
Toilet Twinning
We aimed to have Stafford confirmed as a Toilet Twinned Town by April 2023 – and we’ve achieved it! A celebration took place at Stafford Borough Council in April and a certificate was given to the Mayor of Stafford Borough. Businesses, shops, offices, community venues all over the town have joined with us to fund this project. Ensuring that people in developing countries have sanitary facilities is important for the whole population, but especially women and girls.
85 for 85!
The target for 2023/4 is even more stretching. In 2024 we will be celebrating our 85th birthday – so we are now aiming for 85 toilets to be twinned! We are well on the way to achieving that goal.
For more information, go to: https://www.toilettwinning.org/
Drake Hall Prison
Our partnership with Drake Hall Women’s Prison is now long-standing. Women who are imprisoned are rarely there for violent offences or major crimes and a prison sentence impacts very heavily not just on the women herself but also her children and family. We provide support by:
- Making donations of knitting wools, jigsaws, reading matter, puzzles etc, to help with diversionary activities that improve mental health. And in return the women crochet baby blankets and knit baby clothes, jumpers, hats scarves and gloves, and blankets, all of which go to the Salvation Army and to refugees.
- Helping the Chaplains to send gifts at Christmas to the women’s children, to keep the family together at a difficult time
- Providing refreshments at the prison’s Visitor Centre, where all the families and friends visiting the women have to report and wait.
The Visitor Centre is an ongoing project. There are 4 visiting times a week at present, and SI Stafford members are there for each of them, with the offer of a cup of tea and a friendly smile to visitors who may well be finding visiting their loved one in a prison very traumatic.
Climate Crisis
We believe that the people most affected by the climate crisis are women and girls, who suffer displacement from their homes, disruption of their economic independence, even earlier marriage, or simply making fetching water so much more difficult.
We have therefore
Planted 100 trees at the Riverway Link Project in Stafford
Go to their website for more information: Riverway Link
Produced a calendar aimed at raising awareness of the pollution caused by plastic waste, and how to avoid it
Made pledges to reduce our carbon footprints
Orange the World!
Every year we take part in the UN’s 16 Days of Action against Gender-Based Violence, 25 November to 10 December. Our plans for 2022 are exciting! For more information, go to
