On Friday 8th March many people around the globe will be collectively celebrating International Women's Day. The campaign theme for 2019 is #BalanceforBetter to advocate for and drive action to build a gender-balanced world. And of course this campaign runs all year long - March 8th reinforces the theme and galvanises continuous collective action throughout the year. How will you celebrate women's achievements? And what will you do to contribute to a more gender-balanced world?
Here at Allegra we continue to promote gender-equality in all that we do and support organisations that work hard in this space. One such organisation is SisterWorks, a non-profit social enterprise that supports women of migrant, asylum seeker or refugee backgrounds to develop handmade food or craft products in order to become financially independent and happily settled in Australia.
Women with migrant, asylum seeker and refugee backgrounds are the community's most vulnerable and disadvantaged newcomers. They face social isolation, domestic violence, long-term unemployment and are often dependent on government welfare. SisterWork’s mission is to support these women in taking their first steps towards employment so they can ultimately empower themselves and overcome the barriers they face in seeking meaningful employment. They firmly believe that ‘Work Empowers Women’. Therefore, rather than becoming beneficiaries the women become our business partners, and together we develop and sell marketable products with 50-75% of the profits going to them and the remainder going back into the organisation for reinvestment. Through this approach, they believe we can work together to create a better future for Australian society.
SisterWorks evolved from a group founded by Luz Restrepo, a political refugee from Colombia. Luz arrived in Australia in 2010 with her life in tatters and spoke no English. "I felt like a nobody; frightened, isolated and disempowered." She soon discovered that she was not alone. Along with a group of 25 women experiencing similar challenges, she began to make and sell crafts around Melbourne. They understood that to support each other is also to strengthen each other. SisterWorks Inc. was born in May 2013 when a committee of volunteers joined them with legal, fund-raising, marketing and administrative skills to give support and structure to the project. Today, SisterWorks Inc. is a grassroots social enterprise based in Greater Melbourne and Luz is the Executive Officer and main voice of the organisation.
The organisation thrives on the help and support of others, individuals and other businesses. There are many ways we can support an organisation like SisterWorks – through donations to help support their business operations, or by committing to and volunteering your time, or through purchasing products crafted and made with love by their entrepreneurs.
If you would like to show your support in the way of a monetary donation go here https://www.sisterworks.org.au/pages/donate.
If you would like to support through volunteering go here https://sisterworks.org.au/volunteering/.
If you would like to visit their online store go here https://www.sisterworks.org.au/collections to check out their range of handcrafted products.
Supporting an organisation, such as, SisterWorks, is a great way to give back to the community.
Source: Sisterworks https://www.sisterworks.org.au
About the authors
Clare Davy
Clare’s background in corporate, education and the NGO space has provided her with opportunities to demonstrate her…
