Stories That WOW!
Women's Welfare fights for the rights of women and girls across the globe, and we're 100% committed to creating innovative programmes to empower our sisters!
The welfare of women and girls is extremely important to us, and with your donations we can carry on making positive changes for women everywhere.
Have a look at a few of the amazing projects we’ve been able to carry out thanks to your generous donations!
Women Friendly Spaces in Bangladesh & Indonesia
Our Women Friendly Spaces provide a safe space for thousands of displaced women in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled their homes in Myanmar due to deadly violence, and in Indonesia thousands of people have been internally displaced due to an onslaught of natural disasters. Many of these displaced women have been victims of sexual violence and abuse.
We support numerous Women Friendly Spaces inside refugee camps in Bangladesh and Indonesia to give thousands of women and adolescent girls the access they need to health information, protection services and counselling support. We’ve also given over 2,000 women and girls Dignity Kits, including sanitary towels, underwear, clothing, soap, a solar torch and sandals.
Many of our Women Friendly Spaces also provide life skills training to support women’s livelihood and create financial independence. This is central to the empowerment of women, helping them to build brighter futures for themselves and their families.
Women’s Empowerment in Palestine
We’re protecting the educational, economic, social and legal rights of widowed women in Palestine.
Through this programme, Palestinian women who have lost their husbands to war and illness were given psychosocial and legal support, as well as employment skills training. Many participants have indicated that these sessions marked their turning point in life, with around 70% telling us that they experienced much more self-esteem thanks to our training. In our legal awareness sessions, we were able to inform women about challenging issues as deferred dowry, share of inheritance, and guardian accountability, so that they can take control of their own lives and are less at risk of exploitation.
One woman we provided with training, Amal, said, “I benefited a lot from employability skills training, and I learned how to create an account on freelance sites. I also had the opportunity to work in a MAAN centre where I gained the practical experience during my work as a field coordinator, which increased my self-confidence, courage and improved my income."
Mobile Health Clinic in Syria
Our Mobile Health Clinic has been operating throughout six different remote villages in the Raqqa area of Syria, brining free healthcare to women and children in need.
Ongoing conflict in Syria has severely impacted their health care sector, with many hospitals being destroyed or damaged. People living in Raqqa and the surrounding areas are suffering from a severe shortage of health services and medicine, as well as witnessing an increase in health problems, especially related to mental health and issues concerning women and children.
Our Mobile Health Clinic is currently providing health services for women and children living in refugee camps around Raqqa city. We provide patients with full initial paediatric and maternity care, referrals to other available health facilities for critical cases and psychosocial support and specialised psychological care for the victims of war-related trauma.
Reducing Poverty in Brazil
In Brazil, we’re helping women start and run their own businesses!
We’ve been helping empower female entrepreneurs in Brazil to dream bigger and expand their small businesses in ways that will make a long-lasting, meaningful difference. Our WOW intervention in Paraíba, Brazil is geared towards productive groups and co-operatives of women. We have been working to help women improve their business management, their marketing, and the quality of their products, which will all contribute towards the building of sustainable and lasting livelihoods. We also provide any equipment and materials that these women need to further their businesses. In this way, the women themselves can remain in control of their own economic development.
One of the women we helped, Ana, had this to say, “We used to be isolated, now we’re better known. We expanded our business and received support to improve our products. We improved our production by 100%”. We have so much to thank you for. Today I was talking to the other women, saying that if it wasn’t for this project, we wouldn’t even have 10% of what we have today. Thanks to the project we have reached a much higher level and we intend to go further; we intend to grow wings and soar. So thank you very much Penny Appeal.”
Supporting Women in Iraq
This project is dedicated to addressing the gap in support services for women who regularly face the threat of gender-based violence.
We support women by providing psychosocial support, legal awareness-raising workshops, job opportunities and entrepreneurial training to women interested in starting their own small businesses.
More than 130 women and girls have received psychological care from general practitioners and over 226 have had counselling sessions with community-based workers, providing a safe place for them to find a voice.
The programme has also reached more than 900 people in the community through awareness events, meaning that more people can identify abuse and protect women in their communities.
Domestic Abuse Support in the UK
At Penny Appeal, we believe that every woman deserves to feel safe and loved. But with over 1 million women suffering from domestic violence every year here in the UK, this is sadly not always the case.
Domestic abuse is a matter of great prevalence in Muslim communities and carries much stigma. We want to break the silence and offer support and care instead.
Penny Appeal is working to reduce domestic abuse in the UK by preventing and improving early intervention, protecting victims, developing a strong workforce, and increasing service capacity for those in need.
We always do our best to meet your requests!
Penny Appeal will endeavour to use your gift as requested, wherever possible. If for any reason we cannot use your donation as you have indicated, we will use it to fund similar projects in other countries or other projects in the relevant country. Penny Appeal’s strategic overview and on the ground experience means it is in the best position to decide how to meet need as it arises.
