NPO Partner presentation: Standing up for Women’s Rights

The International Women’s Day is a symbolic day for the rights of women and calls to mind grievances that still need to be fought. Many non-profit organizations dedicate themselves to this fight all year round. Three of them are also represented on Social Held and offer opportunities to get actively engaged in the topic of women’s rights.

Child Destiny Foundation: For Disabled Children and their Mothers in Kenya

Bringing a disabled child into the world is often associated with social exclusion and financial hardship in Kenya. Affected families do not receive any financial support from the state and there is no access to adequate medical care and therapy. In addition, there is often the misconception that mothers are to blame for their child’s health. It therefore often happens that the mothers are abandoned by the fathers after the birth of their impaired child and are left on their own.

This is where the Child Destiny Foundation comes in. It aims to support affected mothers in Kenya. The Corona crisis hit such women all the harder because they had to put their work aside. The day center founded by the Child Destiny Foundation also had to close due to Corona, which meant that a childcare facility was no longer provided. However, this time was used to raise awareness and develop new programs in order to strengthen mothers with handicapped children in their independence in the future.

The non-profit organization primarily depends on donations. You can also support  by shopping in the Child Destiny Foundation’s online shop. They offer handmade jewelry from Austria there. The profit goes to the organization and finances their work, among other things.

If you would like to be active and volunteer either in Vienna or online, you will find all areas in which you can provide support on our platform. This ranges from tasks in the health sector to the creative sector and from working in Kenya to providing support from home.

More information can be found on Social Held, Child-Destiny-Website, Facebook or Instagram.

Free Girls Movement: Career Support for Migrants

The organization Free Girls Movement helps young girls who have found their new home in Austria with clearing up career prospects. Education and personal development are particularly important for the three young female founders, something that many migrant women have so far been denied for traditional reasons, such as lack of time or money.

The organisation offers mentoring and coaching, it wants to create a contact point for young women who suffer from starting difficulties and poor career opportunities due to intersectional discrimination and lack of support from teachers and institutions.

You can either help with donations or you can take action yourself. For example, as a buddy in the Girls Help Girls Project. This exchange platform is for girls between the ages of 15 and 25 and brings together schoolchildren with a good knowledge of German and young girls with refugee or migration experience. Free Girls Movement organizes a student-buddy meeting every week to lead its participants to a self-determined life within Austrian society.

Or you can spend your next lunch break in their restaurant Ois.In.An. Here, women with a refugee or migration background can gain their first work experience and thus better enter the Austrian job market.

You can find Free Girls Movement either on Social Held, Free-Girls-Movement-Website, Facebook or Instagram.

HeForShe Vienna: Men for Equality

HeForSheVienna is an association in support of the UN Women HeForShe campaign. This campaign specifically aims to strengthen the role of men in the fight for gender equality in order to get everyone on board. They firmly believe that equality is not just a matter for women, but that men can and should be equally committed.

HeForShe is a solidarity movement that was launched by UN Women in 2014. Their message is: Gender equality is a human right and affects us all. By raising awareness and mobilising the masses, pressure should be exerted on organisations, government and society in order to effect systematic change.

The association is open to active and supporting members. Active membership includes participation in the association’s work in full – such as planning activities and projects – as well as a membership fee of 15 € per year. This membership offers the opportunity to take up positions in the association, to take part in meetings and free entrance to HeForShe events.

As a supporting member, you can promote or support the association in any other way – but without active association work, membership fees and free admissions. The association also benefits from monetary donations.

HeForShe Vienna is represented on Social Held, HeForShe-Vienna-Website, Facebook or Instagram.