Making a Difference

Our special structure ensures that the projects, research and lobbying our clubs undertake contribute directly to international policies through our representatives at the United Nations.

Our Links with the UN and other NGOs

Soroptimist International holds General Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). We have representatives at UN Centres in New York, Geneva, Vienna, UNESCO in Paris, and FAO in Rome.

Soroptimist International has accreditation with the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and works in partnership with other United Nations agencies as an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).

SI is proud of its official relations with the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is also a board member of CONGO.

The organisation can automatically, upon request, be given accreditation with ECOSOC's non-specialised agencies and commissions. Thereafter, Soroptimist International has the option of joining any NGO committee set up to consult directly with the governing board of non-specialised agencies and commissions.

SI delegations to major UN meetings and forums advocate for policies and actions that support our aims and objectives, and reflect agreed position statements on the issues under discussion.

Club Projects

The Assistant Programme Directors propose strategies for working towards the Programme Focus goals. Clubs use these as guides to help them devise their own projects, which are appropriate to their communities and which make the most of the skills of their members.

All clubs regularly complete Programme Focus Report Forms on their service work. The Assistant Programme Directors collate this information, and send reports to the Federation and to SI. This ensures that reports quickly reach our representatives at the UN centres across the world.

Federation Projects

In the Millennium Street Children Project, members all over the Federation worked to a common theme, but in very different ways:

• For awareness
  – to discover if there are street children in their local communities. If so, the size of the problem, and what was being done already.
  
• For advocacy
  – networking; telling their citizens, NGOs and governments about their research; discussing what can be done, by whom, with whom.
  
• For action
  – working as a club, often in partnership with other NGOs, sometimes "hands on work" – in hostels, schools, workshops and clinics – to enhance the lives and future prospects for such children. Perhaps involved with fund-raising to support their local project, or to co-fund another club's project.

It is through this project work, and the special reporting of it, that Soroptimist International retains its General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).

International Projects

Every four years at the International Convention, Soroptimist International adopts an international joint service project which involves all clubs worldwide. During the recent past we have:

• Worked in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross on our joint project Limbs for Life. Soroptimists worldwide raised over £1million for the victims of landmines in Afghanistan, Angola and Georgia.
• Helped prevent the spread of AIDS in Thailand by giving young women occupational training and scholarships so that they do not have to enter the commercial sex trade.
• Built eye clinics in Bangladesh in collaboration with Sight Savers to prevent pre-school children going blind
• Helped the poorest women and children in the highlands of Peru
• Provided safe water for many villages in Senegal

Read more about the current SI Quadrennial Project.

Money keeps rolling in for the 1999-2003 Quadrennial Project!

7th November 2004

President Ann Garvie's conviction that the SI Limbs for Life project would raise £1m has been proven.

The SI office today confirmed that the monies raised have reached £1,136,343!