Awareness


Women and Climate Change in Kenya


In 2009, twelve Clubs in the Danish Union were involved in awareness raising climate change activities under the project: “Women and Climate Change”. A Climate Change Working Group, in the Danish Union, helped with the co-ordination of the project and was successful in receiving a grant of total Dkr 125.000 (US$ 22.500) from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Peoples Climate Action (PCA) Secretariat. Else Larsen reports:


The project fuelled innovative activities by members of the twelve Clubs, focusing on public awareness raising events and advocacy amongst local leaders, on how climate change affects women differently from men and how women deal with the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in their lives. Fifty Danish Soroptimists


took turns in managing the SI exhibition at the NGO Forum, which ran parallel with the COP15 (the 15th Conference of Parties) in Copenhagen in December 2009. international coverage The “Women and Climate Change” project has had excellent international media coverage. It has featured prominently on the PCA website and thousands of people from all over the world, visited the SI exhibition. This heightened the visibility of SI and led to new opportunities. The Danish Ministry of


Foreign Affairs approached the members of the Climate Change Working Group, asking if the SI Union in Denmark would be interested in implementing another, larger scale climate change project, in Kenya. The Danish Union accepted the offer and soon SI Climate Change Project Steering Committees were set up in Denmark and Kenya, each with five members, including the SI Presidents. rapid development By email, Skype calls and lots of creative thinking, the project “Women and Climate Change – SI Denmark and Kenya”, has developed over three months. The project, which will run for two years, is now ready for implementation with a grant of approximately Dkr 2 million (US$ 360.000) from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. aims oF tHe project


The aim is to strengthen the ability among Kenyan women


to handle climate change mitigation and adaptation through involvement of women, including Soroptimists. Members of the ten SI Clubs in Kenya will be active partners and ambassadors. They will be trained in skills including tree planting, the introduction of fuel saving/fuel less stoves, and other climate change activities suited to local needs. The project will also focus on the implementation of cleaner production practices in small scale textile and hotel businesses, which employ many women in Kenya. This aims to achieve measurable improvements in the reduction of usage of water, energy and chemicals, leading to financial gains for these small businesses as well as improved work conditions for their employees. This part will be implemented with the help of the Kenya National Cleaner Production Centre (KNCPC),


Memories of Sierra Leone


“Touching memories of the third SI Study Tour to our Quadrennial Project in Sierra Leone are fresh in my mind. The tours have enabled thirty Soroptimists from around the world to represent you and witness the impact so far of Soroptimist support for Project SIerra: a Family and a Future.” Alison Sutherland, SI Quadrennial Project Liaison 2007-11, reports:


Action


On the May 2010 Study Tour, Soroptimists took part in a live radio discussion, skilfully moderated by Tawo, the advocacy leader at our local partner Help a Needy Child International (HANCI). Local radio is the main medium for community information there. With Project SIerra’s support,


HANCI sponsors programmes to address negative attitudes to young single mothers and encourage family reconciliation. Teen mums and young people who had lived on the streets go on air and speak directly to communities that had once rejected them. Their


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confidence, communication skills and huge commitment to use opportunities obtained through the Project to help others in similar plight, have validated our partners’ professionalism.


the HANCI team and their care for the community. They are wonderful. They are doing so much with so little.” We saw this same encouraging spirit in remote villages, having driven through bush roads where we saw no vehicles for miles. By aiming to bring the most vulnerable households “up to community standard”


“I cannot say enough about


and SI Kenya will act as the facilitators/ambassadors and link between the KNCPC and the small businesses targeted under the project. ready to roll We are very excited about the project – it is a new adventure, not tried on such a large scale before. It is the first time the Danish Union has received a grant of this size and we are ready to learn from and share our experiences as the project develops. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has shown their trust in SI as a reliable international NGO and jointly, between SI Denmark and SI Kenya we hope to demonstrate that we can deliver the planned results and make a difference to the lives of many women in Kenya. We are now embarking on this two year project and we shall keep readers updated on the progress of the project and our learning experiences over the next two years.


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