Global women's group raises £1m for deprived women and girls

An international women’s organisation has reached its £1 million fundraising target for a Salisbury-based charity’s lifesaving work in West Africa.

Members of Soroptimist International celebrated surpassing the £1 million mark for Hope and Homes for Children at the Great Britain and Ireland annual Soroptimist conference in Brighton today (Friday October 28).

Soroptimist International works to transform the lives of women and girls across the world. Hope and Homes for Children works in ten countries across Europe and Africa, supporting the world’s most vulnerable children and families.  It took Soroptimists just four years to raise £1 million for the charity, with the funds being spent in Sierra Leone on a joint venture entitled, ‘Project SIerra: a Family and a Future’.

The hangover from Sierra Leone’s bloody ten year civil war in the 1990s – in which amputation and rape was the rebels’ trademark – has all but crippled the West African nation. A legacy of poverty is destroying thousands of lives, homes, communities and families every year.

More than 70 per cent of Sierra Leone’s population is unemployed and lives below the national poverty line - surviving on just 52p a day. Life expectancy for women is 48 and nearly a third of all children die before their fifth birthday.

By providing healthcare, counseling, education, vocational training and access to childcare, Project SIerra is improving the lives of some of the most deprived women and children in Sierra Leone. 

On presenting a cheque for £1 million to Hope and Homes for Children, Soroptimist International’s President Alice Wells said: “Congratulations must go to all Soroptimists world-wide for the dedication, time, money and support they’ve given to Project SIerra during the past four years.”

Alison Sutherland, the International Project Liaison for Project SIerra, lives in Sierra Leone.

She said: “I have seen firsthand how Project SIerra has made a real difference to the lives of so many women, children and their families in need.

“Reaching the £1 million target was an amazing innovative fundraising effort.”

Anne MacDonald, Project SIerra Project Liaison for Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland, added: “We have travelled an amazing journey during the last four years and we are thrilled that many thousands of vulnerable families are now able to live in a stable family environment.”

Thanks to support from organisations like Soroptimist International, Hope and Homes for Children had a positive impact on the lives of more than 26,000 people across the globe in 2010.    

Joe Glackin, who oversees Hope and Homes for Children’s work in Sierra Leone, said: “Project SIerra has enabled us to empower vulnerable young mothers, strengthen families at risk of breakdown and help young children living on the streets return home.

“The huge fundraising effort and practical support we’ve received from Soroptimist International has made an unquantifiable difference to vulnerable women and children in Sierra Leone.”

Find out more about our work in Sierra Leone or visit the Project SIerra website.