Teaming up for greater impact


At the initiative of the late Evi Wunder, Austrian Soroptimist and Programme Liaison 2001-3, SI/E introduced a Project Exchange Pool to allow Clubs, Unions and individual Soroptimists to “share” the sponsoring of worthwhile projects. Christine Cromwell-Ahrens reports:


In 2007 the database was posted on the website – www.soroptimistsgoforwater. nl establishing itself as a forum for Clubs to ask for support in realising projects. A Club, let’s say in Africa, proposes a project on the website, inviting other Clubs to contribute to the financing.


To qualify for PEP, the project must adhere to specific criteria, so participating Clubs can rest assured that the money is well spent! This includes information on the Club and the project, a description and problem analysis, measures required of the Club posting the project, target groups, details of financing and sustainability. The proposing Club is also responsible for the follow-up and final evaluation of the project.


Water projects most popular In line with SI/E’s two biennia themes “Soroptimists go for Water” (2007-2009) and “Safe Water = Safe Life” (2009- 2011), water projects have been the most popular in the past three years.


and France helped finance the €45,000 project.


SIE


Clubs or Unions have funded or are sponsoring 57 projects involving water or sanitation in 18 countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and South America at a total cost of €400,000.


To illustrate how the PEP functions, Club Antananarivo Mandrosoa in Madagascar proposed a project to restore a dam and an irrigation canal and construct a new canal for a 400 acre rice field.


In addition to their own donation and local sponsors, the Danish Union and Clubs in Denmark, the Netherlands


PARTNERSHIPS Electric self sufficiency


SI Jakarta Lucy Heffern, Publicity Officer and Anita Fenton, Membership Extension Officer report on a partnership with IBEKA to bring electricity to rural villages:


What do the village of Krueng Kala, Aceh, in Indonesia and US President Barack Obama have in common? Well, at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship which took place in Washington DC on 26 April 2010 Ms. Tri Mumpuni was acknowledged in President Obama’s speech as a great social entrepreneur for rural electrification. The Ashoka Fellow, Tri


Mumpuni is an activist who has helped countless numbers of villages in being electricity independent by building


community-based micro hydroelectric power plants. Her ultimate goal is for this self-sufficient supply of electricity to maximise the potential of these villages so that they may be comprehensively sustainable. Tri Mumpuni was also named as a WWF Climate Hero in 2005 and as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Asia named by GlobeAsia magazine. Tri Mumpuni is involved in


various areas of government policymaking in the electricity sector to further the cause and improve the lives of


the marginalised people of Indonesia. She is also the project partner of SI Jakarta, SISWP, which works to electrify rural villages through hydro electricity. Thanks to their partnership,


SISWP


and connection with an Indonesian NGO (IBEKA), SI Jakarta has provided US$38,000 for IBEKA to repair a defunct hydro-electric generator. The money will be paid back to SI Jakarta as the community earns income from selling the electricity to the local government electricity authority.


IBEKA and SI Jakarta aims to assist the Krueng Kala village become self-sufficient in the area of electricity power generation using renewable energy sources by focusing on improving the economic status of women through income generation activities. This project integrates


The partnership between


Another example is the project by Club Cotonou Gazelle to construct three wells in Dangbo in Benin. Among the generous contributors to cover the costs of €24,000 were an Italian Soroptimist and her husband and Club Lippstadt in Germany. The PEP also presents projects dealing with health issues (in excess of €40,000) and education (nearly €17,000).


an excellent inspiration The SI/E water website is an excellent source of information and inspiration, when it comes to biennium projects. Not all projects fall into the category of PEP because they have been completely devised and financed by Clubs or Unions. The original webmaster Ina


Stoppelberg and now Gerda Rosiers have done a brilliant job of documenting and presenting 187 water projects realised in the past three years for more than €875,000, bringing the investment in water and sanitation projects to nearly €1.3 million.


Beyond one Federation The PEP has been so successful that SI/E is taking steps to expand the concept to include other Federations. “Soroptimist Project Matching” is the working title of the network to match resources between all SI Clubs around the world – in other words, those that need assistance with those able to assist. This exciting prospect opens a whole new dimension to SI’s objective to improve the lives of women and girls!


energy services for poverty reduction activities through assistance in infrastructure, income generation and capacity building in an area that was devastated by the 2004 tsunami.


TIS June 2010 Page 7


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