Each year, Soroptimist Clubs and Regions are invited to nominate a project for the Best Practice Award. В The projects need to demonstrate their excellence in planning, administering and evaluating a project to transform lives for women and girls around the Federation, В This is a prestigious award, showcasing projects which have achieved results.

This is the 2022 Best Practice Award winners.

WINNER - SI Sydney 100 Backpacks for 100 Children
Report ID: 20211226124510

$100X100 backpacks for Asylum Seekers Center (ASC) project aligns with SDG 4 Education. We wanted a special centennial celebration for SI's birthday: a very special centenary project: “$100 school bags for 100 children”. ASC identified 100 children and requested a backpack for each. SI Sydney agreed and extended the target to include contents, so our project target was: 100 'loaded' backpacks which we costed at an average of $100 each.
The Project Timeline was managed with establishing short - term milestones/goals which were achieved through a teamwork. All members endorsed and promoted this project,seeking donations from their networks. ASC, MHN Design Union, Wilson cafГ© and Lithicaustralia were the project partners. Donations were managed by an external, trustworthy agency: Go Fund Me, ensuring transparency, secure money handling and independent monitoring and recording of all donors. The project was promoted through ASC website and social media Facebook and Instagram support groups.

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HIGHLY COMMENDED - SI Damanasara - Building Bridges Beyond Borders (BBBB) Online: Fun With English Project
Report ID 20191230044324

BBBB is an educational collaboration between Just Volunteers! (UK) and SI Damansara where international students from various universities overseas are placed in homes/learning centres under SID's support to provide teaching and mentoring support to local underprivileged children and refugees.
Malaysia went into a complete lockdown on in March 2020 as the Covid-19 Pandemic raged through the country. All schools, shops and businesses were forced to close and no international travel was allowed. BBBB volunteers from overseas were unable to travel to the country. SID had to adapt to the situation and convert the programme to an “online” programme so that children in our partner homes were not deprived of an education. The programme was launched starting with Rumah Aman a residential home for 65 children from impoverished backgrounds. Following this successful pilot run for 3 months it was then implemented in MRCLC, a school for Myanmar refugees in Kuala Lumpur. In 2021, 5 students from the University of Bath, UK, participated as teachers while another 14 volunteers from local universities were also recruited to teach online in 2021.

WINNER: SI Griffith - Educating Our Community About Coercive Control
Report ID20211207103115

Coercive Control is the “hidden in plain sight” form of domestic violence. In early 2022 SI Griffith advocated for legislation to criminalise coercive control in our state. After discussions with workers in the domestic violence space and our local Member of Parliament we decided our next step would be a public education campaign to help people understand exactly what coercive control is. We decided that at social media campaign would reach the largest number of people and that we would produce 16 videos to be uploaded each day during the UN 16 Days of Activis Against Gender Based Violence.
A small committee was formed. Each member prepared suggested scripts and graphics for the 16 videos which were then workshopped by the group. All SI of New South Wales clubs were contacted to see if they would like to be involved and we had input from SI Brisbane Water. One member took on the task of preparing the final scripts and videos. The completed videos were sent to SI of NSW and all New South Wales clubs, our Australian Friendship Link clubs, our local Member of Parliament and SI Australia before the start of the 16 Days of Activism. They were also used by SISWP. One video was uploaded each day from 25 November to 10 December. We were very pleased with our Facebook page statistics in terms of organic reach, visits to our Facebook pages and engagements. As with our previous videos “Always on Alert”, these videos will be used again.

HIGHLY COMMENDED: SI Penang Webinar on Gender-based and cyber violence
Report ID: 20211226051213

In accordance to UN's 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence from Nov 25 to Dec 10 2021, SI Penang organized a zoom talk to advocate change by inviting highly experienced speakers to address this issue. Guest speaker Zarizana Abdul Aziz is a pre-eminent speaker/human rights lawyer from Washington. She has trained 600 judges in Pakistan 200 in Afghanistan on the above topic. In 2022, she will train judges in Timor Leste and Fiji. Judy Cheng-Hopkins - ex-UN Asst Secretary-General for UN Peacebuilding, ex Asst High Commissioner of World Food Bank, "10 Most Powerful Women at the UN" (Forbes). Mediator Joanne Yeoh (SIROM/SISWP) Approx 100 attendees/viewers attended this zoom talk QA from Australia, NZ, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Fiji, Mongolia, USA Indonesia. Local women's groups Women's Crisis Centre and WomenBizSense also attended. As we had amongst the viewers 46 SI Club Federation Presidents, Past Presidents National Reps, 25 SI Members, besides others, we are confident the shared recording of this talk has and will continue to reach many more women and girls. Members of GWL (Global Women Leaders' Voices) were also aware of this talk.

SI Griffith - 100 Bikes of Kindness

As part of the SI Centenary's 100 Acts of Kindness project, 110 bikes were donated by SI Griffith members and the Griffith community to send to our friendship link club SI Samoa. We worked closely with SI Samoa to develop project goals and work out logistics. A practical plan was developed that would support women and children with the bikes being used for transport, access to services and generation of an income stream. The local Griffith community got right behind us. One young man in Griffith donated his time to repair all the bikes to near new condition. Local businesses donated spare parts, storage venues, the container and transport to Melbourne. A Go Fund Me campaign was set up to raise extra money for shipping costs which had risen significantly during the pandemic. SI Griffith members also donated soft goods suggested by SI Samoa (clothes, towels, sheets, pillows and kitchenware) for packing and donation to the Samoan community. Monetary and in kind support exceeded $AUD 85,000.

SI Bangsar - Bank Runcit Project (Food Bank Project)
Report ID:20211210084500

The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the Malaysian economy, mainly caused by the full and various stages of lockdown (Movement Control Order) which were imposed since 18th March 2020. The primary objective of this Project is to feed the hungry. Many families' income was affected because of the lockdown in Malaysia. For example: the income of a taxi driver was hugely reduced because of the Movement Control Order imposed by the Malaysian Government to curb the spread of virus. Our aim was to provide basic essentials like rice, noodles, bread, cooking oil, flour, beans, sugar, biscuits, eggs, canned goods, milk powder etc, to offer short term relief to those affected by the pandemic. We raised AUD10,500 in cash and AUD9,500 in kind which enabled us to sustain the food bank for 6 months to tide these families over until they get alternative sources of income.

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SI Bayside - Demystifying Menopause Forum
Report ID:20210831052629

Hosted an educational forum on Menopause. The forum featured a range of leading Doctors, Naturopaths, Nutritionists and exercise professionals to present and answer questions. To set the scene a harpist played as guests arrived and during afternoon tea to provide a relaxing atmosphere, the format of the event was planned to ensure attendees felt comfortable, and there was the opportunity to network, attendees were seated on round tables to encourage interaction, during the forum an online Question and Answer program was utilized so attendees could ask questions as they thought of them and could remain anonymous. Questions were then dealt with by the speaker at the end of their session.
Information packs were provided to each attendee with brochures, information and samples. Post the event the main powerpoint presentations were emailed to attendees.

WINNER: SI Brisbane Water - Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
ID 20211215085412

Members were challenged to commit to reducing their carbon footprint in their daily habits. Members shared ways to reduce, repair, reuse and recycle. Speakers were sourced on various topics such as composting, eco friendly cleaning, club members introduced meatless Mondays to their families and the CO2 emission reduction was monitored with over 212 kg reduction for the Month. Recycling of items increased. Awareness and knowledge increased. Members shared their knowledge and experiences with each other. A bonus outcome has been the influence on family and friends as a result of the action taken by our members during the project. We will continue to impart any more ideas and innovations as they come to our notice with club members. Our club passed a motion that "SI Brisbane Water members commit to using eco-friendly utensils and decorations where possible when holding a function"

HIGHLY COMMENDED:В  SI Queensland South - Project Lead SI Bayside - Recycling- Advocacy, Awareness, Action
ID 20211231094459

Reducing our Carbon Footprint Project was devised as a response to Climate Change. It was designed to educate all of our members, their families and friends in a project that would encourage all members to reduce their carbon footprint both in the home and at their workplace by engaging in incremental change in their lifestyle and daily habits. Research was done and goals set for 12-month project. The project concentrated on FOOD, TRANSPORT, ENERGY and RECYCLING, identifying realistically attainable goals. We provided a list of 59 suggestions and 30 were actioned by one or more of our members. Members recorded their changes and we measured/evaluated our success. e.g. In one month the members saved 212kg of CO2 emissions by introducing at least one vegetarian meal per week. In addition, we planted 300 trees in our local area. We engaged the members by using videos, guest speakers, and member presentations on their research and action.