Economic Empowerment and Environmental Sustainability Programmes

YWCA of Guyana Makes Girls Education a Priority

With over 60 years of achievement in providing girls with vocational training, the YWCA has demonstrated the power of the old adage that when you educate a girl , you educate a nation.

The YWCA of Guyana’s programme to educate girls has not only helped the girls to gain productive skills, it has contributed to poverty reduction and placed the issue back onto the government agenda.

YWCA of Guyana General Secretary Glynis Alonzo-Beaton explains: “It’s important we address the issue of women and education in Guyana as over the years women and girls were never on the agenda of those in authority. With the YWCA constantly keeping education a priority, it slowly caught on and crept back on the agenda of those in decision–making positions.”

Offered to girls 14 to 18 years who dropped out from the traditional education system, the two-year programme provides an opportunity to learn skills and gain economic independence. Over 70 students participate annually, usually in rural areas and the course has included HIV positive girls.

The programme has had an “amazing impact” on the lives of young women participants and has “changed many lives.” Alonzo-Beaton says that, “More than 95% of young women who completed the course have gained a skill and become productive. If they did not have this opportunity, they would have remained uneducated and unemployed, increasing the poverty in Guyana.”

The training includes design, entry-level administration, cosmetology, plumbing, dancing and life skills with sexual and reproductive health education and physical education.

YWCA of Korea: Job Training Help Migrant Women Build New Lives

Single women who migrate to Korea generally come for employment opportunities. However, married women are often “trailing spouses” following their husband’s career path. They may arrive in Korea without any job experience or their own life plan. Therefore, economic empowerment of married migrant women through job training is one of the YWCA of Korea’s main priorities.

According to recent statistics, there are approximately 128,000 married migrant women in Korea. The YWCA of Korea, supported by Lotte Homeshopping, offers them financial education and vocational training. Based on the result of research on job development for migrant women, ten job areas including Clothes mender, Nail artist, Counsellor, Folk artist, Barista, Multicultural education instructor, English instructor, Hair stylist were selected as vocations.

The women also receive career information and an employment fair was held for them. The Ministry of Gender Equality provided women who had finished the training programme with a job practicum in a social enterprise industry or local YWCA cooperative.

The program requires basic Korean language skills which means some of the newer migrants may need to participate in the YWCA of Korea’s language study courses first. The programme is advertised both through these courses and by local newspapers and broadcasters, flyers, banners, etc. In 2009, 109 women participated.

The YWCA of Korea plans to extend this project to enhance the social participation of married migrant women and raise their status and self-confidence through economic empowerment.

YWCA of Hamilton walks climate change journey with a clean and green ecological footprint

In a country famous for being clean and green, the YWCA of Hamilton, New Zealand is ensuring the reputation remains for years to come. The association has started a climate change journey that has been awarded in major regional and national sustainable awards in recognition for the dynamic initiaves implemented by the YWCA of Hamilton staff, board and volunteers.

“We are very committed to reducing our environmental footprint,” says Anne Bennett, Manager of the YWCA in Hamilton. Some of the initiatives include:

• replacing an old boiler and installing interior thermostats, time switches and exterior temperature compensators that reduced gas heating consumption by 25%
• installing movement sensors for lighting in public areas which reduced the power bill by 10%
• worm farms that have resulted in close to zero waste with scraps from preparing 21,000 Mobile Meals , and 7000 desserts
• a yearly recycling programme has halved the amount of rubbish bound for the landfill
• a recently installed solar hot water system is having a huge impact on water heating bills
• installed insulation, energy efficient light bulbs and efficiency awareness programs with residents also hep with climate change activities

To add to their already impressive projects, their next goal is a water tank to capture rainwater that often floods the carpark, which will then be piped into their toilet systems.

“There's always more to do, and it's not easy to retrofit old buildings, but we've been part of this change since we installed our first eco bulb in 1999, “ says Bennett.

YWCA of Hamilton is proud of what their commitment to sustainability is achieving now many of the changes such as worm farming and energy efficiency are evident. “It’s just an everyday part of our life and work, says Bennett. ‘We've started this sustainability/climate change journey, but there's always more we can learn too.”

YWCA Malaysia: Girls just wanna have jobs

They may be poor, but they’re rich with hope — of earning a living and making something of their lives. Meera Murugesan writes of YWCA’s vocational centre for underprivileged young women.

In a simple, seven-storey building on the grounds of the YWCA in Jalan Hang Jebat, lives are being turned around and fortunes changed. Here, young women from poor families all over the country are finding hope even when the odds seem stacked against them.

Arriving in the YWCA anxious and unsure about their surroundings, they enrol in its Vocational Training Opportunity Centre (VTOC) and leave a year later confident in the knowledge that they have better options in life.

The centre, which is funded by the YWCA through donations, offers training in various skills, plus room and board, for impoverished girls of all races. Here, they learn not only income-generating skills, but living skills as well.

When 18-year-old Fauziherni Herman from Segamat, Johor, first set foot in the centre, the teenager was apprehensive about fitting in. The daughter of farm labourers and one of seven children, she grew up in an oil palm plantation and the move to Kuala Lumpur was a huge step for the shy teenager. She worried about her lack of fluency in English and living in a dormitory with strangers. But it didn’t take her long to make friends and find out that the other girls were just like her.

“We’re all from poor families but want the same thing, a chance to make ends meet,” said Fauziherni.

Hardship was part and parcel of growing up for the teenager. Her parents each earned between RM200-300 a month and struggled to provide for their children. Higher education was out of the question for Fauziherni, who aspired to be a teacher.

But now, through VTOC, she is hoping to make her dream come true. Enrolled in the centre's kindergarten teacher training course, Fauziherni has taken the first step towards realising her ambition. After her one-year course she hopes to start working as she pursues further studies in the field.

“I love teaching children but never thought I would have the opportunity to train for it. Every day, I remind myself of how lucky I am. And my parents are so proud.”

Poverty has also scarred the lives of 23-year-old Lee Lai Yee and 18-year-old Kavitha Esther Thanislass. Yee, from Cheras, who lost her father when she was 10, saw the daily struggle her widowed mother went through to provide for her and her two other sisters.

Her mother sold beancurd at a market and did other odd jobs to support her girls, and when Lee’s oldest sister finished Form Five, she started working as an accounts clerk to support the family.Lee herself became a salesgirl after Form Five to supplement the family income before learning about VTOC. “I wanted to continue studying but we didn't have the money, and when I heard about the centre I could hardly believe they would take in girls like me — girls who couldn't afford to pay,” said the soft-spoken young woman.

Lee enrolled in the centre’s computer, secretarial and basic accounting course and graduated in 2007. It proved to be an eye-opener for the girl who had never been apart from her family or owned a PC. "For the first time I realised I could make something of myself," said Lee, who now works as a clerk at the VTOC office.

Kavitha, from Petaling Jaya, recalled how her security guard father had to resort to borrowing money several times to provide for his family. The youngest of seven children, Kavitha decided to stop schooling after Form Three so as not to further burden her parents. She described how her parents had to slog for long hours despite their poor health to raise her and her siblings. She worked as a supermarket salesgirl after dropping out of school to help ease her family's financial situation. It was Kavitha’s aunt who suggested she enrol in the centre.

The teenager is now enrolled in a course that's training her to become a beautician."I used to observe the hairstyles of celebrities on TV and try to copy them with my family members as guinea pigs!" she laughed. Kavitha is planning to take up a diploma in the beauty field once she’s completed her training and hopes to open her own salon one day. "I know I’ve big dreams for someone who’s just starting out but I feel like anything is possible."

YWCA’s Vocational Training Opportunity Centre (VTOC) was set up to ensure that girls aren’t ensnared in poverty forever, said Datuk Ramani Gurusamy, co-chairperson of the centre. VTOC started operations in September 1998 with 50 girls, and as of December 2008, 654 girls had passed through its doors, equipped with employable skills. While it costs the centre about RM5,000 to train and provide food and shelter for each girl for a year, the girls only pay what their families can afford. It’s free for those who cannot afford to pay anything.

Many of the girls arrive at the centre with low self-esteem and find it difficult to cope with their new environment. “There will be much weeping and all but they learn to adjust in time — indeed one year later they leave very much transformed,” said Ramani.

VTOC started with three courses but has since expanded to include training in tailoring, baking and healthcare. In 2006, the centre received a grant from Microsoft, through its Unlimited Potential Programme, to equip women and girls from marginalised backgrounds with ICT skills and bridge the digital divide in Malaysia.

Upon graduating from VTOC courses, the girls are some times given new clothes and shoes to help them stride confidently into the working world.

And to improve their self-esteem, the girls are also enrolled in recently-introduced character-building courses, said Sandra Simon, a VTOC board member and YWCA first vice-president. In these classes, the girls learn the importance of being positive, having self-confidence, dealing effectively with people, and time and money management.

“We don’t want them to just be armed with skills for a job. We want them to cope well with life as well.”

Rooftop Food Garden of YWCA Vancouver a model of environmental sustainability

In a world where McDonalds has become part of a staple diet for many, the YWCA Vancouver, Canada has initiated a Rooftop Food Garden that provides healthy and nutritious food to women at YWCA Crabtree Corner, a family resource centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

This innovative project began in the summer of 2006 when YWCA Vancouver staffers decided to experiment with growing produce on the roof. Staff gradually transformed the rooftop garden from an ornamental location into a fruitful community garden that yielded over 150 kilograms of organically raised produce in its first summer.

The success of the first year encouraged YWCA Vancouver to expand the project. “In 2007, we completed the conversion of the remaining 80% of the garden through a core of 15 community volunteers and a number of corporate groups who donated a day’s labour. We planted about 70% of the available space and grew about 450 kg of vegetables, trying new varieties and grouping the plants according to water needs,“ says Ted Cathcart, Facilities Manager of YWCA Vancouver.

Young people have been part of the core volunteers of the Rooftop Food Garden. “We worked with Environmental Youth Alliance Interns to source and plant soft fruits; strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and kiwi. University of British Columbia students designed and built cold-frames so we could start our planting in early March and they also designed and built a trellis system for the berry bushes.”

Environmental conservation has become an important feature of the rooftop garden. “We have developed educational programmes in food sustainability/urban agriculture, bird/insect habitat and environmental conservation, “ says Cathcart. “We also built compost bins out of recycled material and had university students work with the women at Crabtree Corner to determine what types of produce would be most appreciated.”

While Crabtree Corner often receives donations of canned goods and other non-perishables, it is less common to be offered fresh produce. The Rooftop Food Garden provides much needed nutrition to supplement the diets of women and children on the Downtown Eastside, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Canada. “Many of the women and their families who make use of the Crabtree Corner food programme are severely needy’ says Cathcart. ‘By providing them with the highest quality food, rather than cast-off produce that no one else wants, we hope to raise their self esteem to show that they are truly appreciated for who they are. We are also considering skills development, whereby some of the women will be trained in preserving the produce and perhaps associated entrepreneurial aspects.”

The long-term aim for YWCA Vancouver is to produce 1 tonne of fresh organic food on the rooftop but along with this goal, is their dedication to use the garden as a model of environmental sustainability. “We hope to influence others with the possibility of growing food in urban settings and ultimately convince architects and planners to design urban rooftop gardens to be accessible to the public, and to plant food instead of ornamental plants, “ says Cathcart. ‘By making people aware of the carbon cost of importing fruits and vegetables, we hope to change their buying habits toward locally produced foodstuffs. Once we work out the issues of growing food in urban settings, we plan to act as a resource for others so they can reduce their environmental impact.”

As the YWCA increases its focus on environment, the Rooftop Food Garden promotes awareness about sustainability and community health while helping to reduce their ecological footprint. This month, the YWCA began taking the food to Crabtree Corner by bike, using a specially designed bicycle and cart donated by PEDAL, a non-profit that develops and promotes the use of pedal-powered technology. “The cart, traveling through the heart of downtown Vancouver helps raise awareness of our commitment to sustainability,” says Cathcart.

YWCA Vancouver believes there is a good reason for associations to start promoting the environment and issues of sustainability. “Dealing with the core issues of YWCA requires so much effort that environmental sustainability can easily be lost in the shuffle. However, if recognised as important and properly supported, this fits very well with the mandate of the organisation, “ says Cathcart. “ I would like to see a common web-site set up where all YWCA members could review sustainable projects and add comments from their own experiences. Successful programmes would help other YWCAs to develop their own initiatives. Building on other’s success and failures would speed up the overall attainment of sustainability, “ says Cathcart.