The Long Term Project Soroptimists … all over the world working together to achieve a common goal


Dawn Marie Lemonds, International Programme Director and Reilly Dempsey, Programme Director SIHQ discuss the plans for Soroptimist International’s exciting new global project.


DML: SI is embarking on the most adventurous journey for Programme that we have undertaken for years. We are creating and implementing a brand new SI Project that will be launched in 2011 in Montreal. This new project will replace the Quadrennial Project system that SI has used since 1975. I have asked our new Programme Director


at SIHQ to join me in this short dialogue to address some of the exciting aspects of the project that we are working on. For me, the most exciting part of


the new project is that it will truly be a partnered project with the partners being our 3000 Clubs around the globe working together toward a common goal. Each of these Clubs is


voting for the theme of this project and we will know what they have chosen in August 2010! Reilly, can you share


could be addressed by every Club in the world and represent an effort that worked toward transforming the lives of women and girls. It would be a project designed and implemented by Soroptimists – not through a partner organisation and one that would have clear and measurable outcomes. Soroptimists from around the world want


people to know “who we are and what we do”.


HQ in creating tools that will help us all to collect this information. Rest assured, this project will definitely


have the kind of measurable outcomes that we all want, and I’m here to make sure we can all partner together to collect the information! One more question for you, Dawn Marie.


In the spirit of collaborative working, is there a chance that we will have the opportunity to partner with other organisations or combine efforts to have one really big project in the future?


some of the aspects you have been working on toward developing the plan for our new Long Term Project?


RD: Sure, Dawn Marie! First, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has worked so hard and thought so long about this new project. This change will really give Soroptimists the opportunity to work together in partnership across the globe to achieve a common goal. As members will know, our first big step


DML: Partnerships will continue to be essential for the work we are doing. In these days of dwindling resources and economic crisis we have to work smarter and make our precious programme work valuable and meaningful. SI Clubs will want to continue to assess the community and global needs related to the Long Term Project and provide a service with their partners that is clearly a valued and necessary product/ service that


is to identify the overarching theme that members wish to address – either violence against women or education and leadership. Once we know which one of these topics our members want to adopt, we will then move forward in designing the various components of the project. We have also started to creatively


neighbourhoods over time. This project is designed to expand and last


In addition to advancing our mission we know that this project will advance our BRAND! Reilly- you have worked on some plans for


brainstorm a title for this project – one that will tell the world who Soroptimists are, what we do and, hopefully, inspire involvement! Now, Dawn Marie, we all know that I”m


still a bit new here – can you share some of the aspects of this project which were decided by the Board and others before I joined SI?


DML: The programme team received many great ideas from members around the world. Some of the most important requirements were that this would be a project that


TIS June 2010 Page 4 TIS June 2010 Page 4


ensuring that Clubs can easily reflect their progress. Can you give us some practical ideas on this?


RD: Absolutely! I think it’s really important for SI to adopt this new focused and clear common goal. What a wonderful way to unite Soroptimists from around the world in partnership! It will be very important that we have mechanisms for gathering information from Clubs about local achievements. Club projects are the building blocks towards achieving our new (yet to be determined) common goal. We have also been hard at work here at


RD: Thanks for that Dawn Marie! Please visit our website


that we will learn from and develop and replicate in more countries and


for an unspecified long period – perhaps 10 years or more. Reilly - where can people keep up with the progress of the project?


www.soroptimistinternational.org and the programme blog: http://siprogrammeblog.blogspot.com/ regularly for information, news, and, of course, inspiration. We will also soon be posting some FAQs


that will be updated on a regular basis to answer all of your questions – even the ones you don’t know you have yet! Our thanks again to everyone who has


been working on this new project and a very special thank you to all our members for voting on the overarching topic for the Long Term Project.


see Best Practice projects from Clubs around the world


advances that issue. I anticipate that we will


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12