Empower OneMama Health Clinic to Sustainability!

How are we creating global, social change?

Taking action from feedback on-the-ground from our OneMama community members in Uganda!

OneMama.org’s attendance at the United Nations is always an electrifying time. As a team, we feed this flame with promotions, networking events, and weeks of behind-the-scenes access to what it takes to share at the United Nations. We are proud of the work we do each year, this year was no different, but in the midst of the exciting energy surrounding the Commission in the Status of Women, we always have the bigger picture guiding us – the women of the OneMama village and clinic in Uganda. We all work around the clock each year to make these events happen for them, to insure their voices are amplified so they are heard from a world stage. They are the paintbrushes for the art that OneMama is creating. They are the music to the dance we dance each year at the United Nations.

It has never been, and will never be, us, stateside, deciding what the clinic in Uganda needs. That is what is so special about what we do here – we empower, we teach, we celebrate the voice they have and help get that voice heard on a global stage.

This year, these are the things the women of the OneMama village and clinic in Uganda shared, they, needed.

WE NEED CAPITAL

“Us OneMama women need capital to start small businesses in order to lift up our standards of living from our small rural village.”

ONEMAMA IN ACTION

For the past eight years, OneMama has been building economical suitability programs to teach the women skills for crafts, clothing, and agriculture, so they have more empowerment to create more capital. We are always finding new ways and building out more programs for economic empowerment in the village.

WE NEED SEWING MACHINES

“We wish of having sewing machines to tailor the clothes of our community and to create better clothing for OneMama collection and lastly, there are many girls who have dropped out of school and there are many women who stay home who need help in improving our incomes.” 

– OneMama Community Member

ONEMAMA IN ACTION

OneMama funds itself through teaching the community how to make clothing and create crafts to sell. We do all this with only one sewing machine. We are looking into ways to expand and buy more sewing machines and create a teaching centre for sewing, tailoring, and making crafts to sell. We are moving forward even though we don’t have funds or resources currently to buy sewing machines. If you want to help by donating a sewing machine, connect at info@onemama.org

WE NEED TO END DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

“Since most OneMama women do not have businesses, they rely heavily of their husbands for everything for their livelihood, things like petroleum jelly, knickers, sanitary pads, etc. These basic needs create fights and in a lot of cases the men will not provide these needs. Most men believe that every thing in a home belongs to the man, so women struggle to get things they need as women even though they do most of the work in the home. This is a huge cause for domestic violence in families. Therefore, there is a need to educate men on their roles and the rights of women in their homes. Since OneMama has started the domestic violence training and economical suitability programs I have had less violence in my family due to these resources.” 

– OneMama Community Member

ONEMAMA IN ACTION

In October of 2015, OneMama implemented a domestic violence training program and since its beginning the surrounding community’s are heavy in attendance, both women and men are learning how to communicate without violence. A big part of that breakthrough is helping women create their own income and the understanding that they have the right to do that. We are still building out these programs, we have a long way to go, but we have seen major changes in the community that we are all proud of.

WE NEED HELP WITH AGRICULTURE.

“Since all families depend on farming in our rural community to survive most of us don’t have enough food because of the prolonged drought. OneMama Women, we need help to irrigate our gardens on a small scale in order to grow food for our families.”

– OneMama Community Member

ONEMAMA IN ACTION

OneMama is continuing to bring forward training programs and partnerships to teach our community how to grow and create lasting crops that are more profitable for the rural community. We are working to expand these efforts to create more income for the families.

WE NEED ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER.

“Most of the families of the OneMama community are lacking safe drinking water and water for domestic usage. The water sources are very far from our homes and this has also increased domestic violence, family breakages, and a higher rate of girl dropping out of school. When women and girls go to fetch water in the evening, men rape them which leads to early and unwanted pregnancies. This has caused STDS, including HIVAIDS to many families.” – OneMama Community Member

ONEMAMA IN ACTION

Through our OneMama family planning training programs we also are teaching women how to protect themselves in these scenarios. We are looking to partner with a group who directly target clean water issues in Uganda.

WE NEED SHOLASTIC MATERIALS

“Our husbands have already abandoned their obligation of giving scholastic materials to our children. Our children have no school uniforms, books, pens, pencils, shoes socks, and sanitary pads. We want our children to have access to better elementary education.” 

– OneMama Community Member

ONEMAMA IN ACTION

While OneMama.org doesn’t officially work with traditional education, our economical suitability programs help the women fund and pay for school that the men in their families will not pay for. Our next step is finding partnerships to help provide direct solutions for some of these problems.

From reading, you can tell that there is a common theme scattered throughout each need of the community – women creating actionable plans to better their lives and the lives of their children. Aligned with the OneMama model of grassroots empowerment, we are asking the individuals in the community to directly voice their most immediate needs. Through this process, we can find the most direct solutions to take action on these high-priority issues. We are building community, enacting actionable solutions on-the-ground, and strengthening the foundation of social change that is OneMama. This is the OneMama way. We love partnering with powerful women, even in the midst of their struggles; they commit to working hard to better the community for themselves and future generations. That is what is at the heart of this OneMama community and all the future OneMama communities

We are all OneMama.

If any of the specific needs of our community resonate with you, we would love to partner with you. Email our team directly at info@onemama.org

Links:

• electrifying-solutions-from-the-onemama-community-in-uganda

OneMama team has made an easier way to support our clinic and the Onemama programs With the New OneMama.org Website. With this new site Community Members Experience the Breadth and Depth of Global Social Change

In San Francisco, California January 6th – Nonprofit organization, OneMama.org, announced  the launch of a newly designed website. OneMama brings maternal care, localized health and family service, as well as economic sustainability to women and their families in rural communities where people survive on under $1.25 a day. With the expansion of OneMama.org, the completely redesigned site provides community members with a comprehensive understanding of programs, partnerships, and the impact of their donations. The site features updated information about ongoing projects, upcoming events, partnerships with UN Women, and how to get involved with the organization.

A few key features include a new donation page allows a variety of options to support active projects, including expanded donation options to the OneMama Clinic in Uganda, direct staff sponsorship, and clinic sponsorship to reach the organization’s goal of building 250 clinics around the world. A new shop provides the entirety of the OneMama Collection for direct purchase. Dresses accessories featured on the runways of New York Fashion Week and UN Women can be ordered or custom made, with 100% of proceeds going directly towards on-the-ground operations in Uganda and future clinics.

The chief goal of the new OneMama.org site is to illustrate the breadth and depth of the organization’s impact in transforming lives. Unlike many nonprofits in which only a portion of donations actually reach individuals on-the-ground, 100% of every contribution through OneMama.org reaches beneficiaries in the communities served.

Visit OneMama.org’s new site and experience global social change in action.

About OneMama.org

Founded in 2008 by Siobhan Neilland, OneMama’s mission is to bring prosperity and health to people all over the world by empowering women as caregivers, mothers, businesswomen, and agents of change for their rural communities.

By creating a pilot program in Uganda that can be replicated in rural, impoverished communities around the globe, OneMama ensures that midwives, mothers, fathers and children receiving assistance, also receive the opportunity for education in pre/postnatal care, family planning, and financial stability. The recipients, whether they are mothers, fathers, midwives, or volunteers, must contribute back to OneMama, creating a unified support system.

Links:

• OneMama Website

OneMama.org Confronting The Global Issue of Domestic Violence at New York Fashion Week
Contributor - Guest | September 15, 2016

Sometimes in all the flash of New York Fashion Week and high profile OneMama.org Charity Red Carpet events, it can be easy to forget why we do all of these events and that this OneMama collection funds birthing, medical, domestic violence, and family planning programs in impoverished communities.

I interviewed founder Siobhan Neilland of OneMama.org to hear more about the story behind the new OneMama Collection items, to be showcased at FALL NYFW September 2016. What intrigued me was the story behind the new Red Carpet necklaces and how they are funding a newly added sector of OneMama.org, a domestic violence program.
It all started with her Siobhan’s team of on-the-ground OneMama Clinic Directors, a clinic Siobhan Neilland founded in 2008. It was a trip that was planned the same as years before, executed the same. Though she was now in the arms of her friends and colleagues, expectant for the weeks to come in Uganda, she was also met with sadness that would play out for her over the next weeks.

Behind a metaphorical door most don’t dare to open or even discuss, Siobhan, is a woman who is not just taking care of U.S operations to OneMama.org, but also a women who devotes every spare second and resource to keeping the clinic running in Uganda. These operations also include the future planning for the clinics yet to break ground. Even Siobhan was not aware of what was happening behind closed doors–even between the staff of her clinic. This is sadly not a unique circumstance. This is a culture hidden behind closed doors. This is a culture of out of sight and out of mind…but brokenness and broken bodies anguish their reality at home. Until this trip, when the door flew open in Siobhan’s face, she was faced by an issue that could go undressed no longer. This adversity sparked a motivation to change things. “I would not know when I started this investigation that it was like a loose string of an old sweater. With a light pull, it unravels an issue that is much bigger than a few people—even bigger than the OneMama Clinic and community. This is a global issue that I know all too well from my work with OneMama.org, and the work with UN Women. However, it is different to hear about it, and experience the gritty reality firsthand. When you are in the trenches and see people almost dying in front of you, those statistics you hear take on a new meaning. I must admit, I knew things could be bad here for women, but I had NO idea that how bad,” Siobhan says in a heartfelt letter to her social media following after she arrived back home in the States.

Domestic Violence affects close to 70% of women, ages 15 to 49 in Uganda, some of the highest rates in the world. Siobhan was standing looking over the silent and physical wounds and this was people she knew. Part of the 70 percent, standing in front of her, and taking up valuable space in the clinic they have all created together.

Flip the script to nearly a year later; there is a vast contrast to where Siobhan is standing today as you read this. She’s standing at a figurative crossroad to a world that you don’t generally connect to domestic violence, on one of the world’s biggest cultural stages of the world: New York Fashion Week. Though OneMama is taking the stage for the third year in a row as the official charity for the event, she and the team are arriving with new vision and new creations, celebrating the Ugandan communities she represents.

Though Siobhan will likely be decked out in couture pieces from OneMama Collection made in Uganda by the OneMama community, but her eyes will be set on the greater picture; using the proceeds from the line to develop Domestic Violence programs right in the midst of the 70%. During her show, Siobhan tells the story behind each of her pieces; the stories of the women who walk miles in the sweltering sun to deliver their babies at the OneMama Clinic with our midwife, Mama Jamira, and the women who now have a global voice through OneMama.org.

Every individual who walks the runway on September 14th & 15th is treading a new path for the men and women who are hidden, afraid, waiting for someone to open their door to freedom. Taking steps is the defining difference between looking away–like many before her–and creating opportunity for a better situation to rise. This is just the beginning; OneMama.org is opening the door to tangible change, starting with New York Fashion Week.

Links:

• Blog

Today we are celebrating Amazon’s program of supporting OneMama programs  with the second annual Prime Day!

As a Staffing Consultant, I have worked with many Fortune 500 companies to build successful teams within their organizations. My latest project included working to build the team for Amazon Prime Now. It has been wonderful to see the ways in which Amazon is dedicated to building a quality organization internally as well as externally in their ongoing work to give back to communities around the world.

Support OneMama.org by making your purchases through Amazon Smile. By shopping Amazon Smile and selecting OneMama Organization as your nonprofit of choice, Amazon donates a percentage of proceeds to building maternal health clinics in Uganda with every purchase.

Go to: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-1753153

This Week , also receive 40% off ShaBoom Products, all-natural cosmetics brand and OneMama partner, which donates a percentage of proceeds to OneMama.org. While shopping ShaBoom through Amazon Smile for OneMama, you’ll be gifting twice for your purchase!

Shop Now: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-1753153

Just reminder - all monies that are donated to OneMama go directly to the ground at the clinic and are not to support US operations. We use Shaboom as our programs to fund US operations.

We are truly grateul to all of you for helping us find long term sustainable ways to fund ths clinic and future clinics.

Thanks again for being a part of the OneMama world Family!

May we all treat each other as if we are LOVED and We Matter!

Siobhan " OneMama " Neilland

OneMama.org and Siobhan Neilland returend to the United Nations March 2016 for the UN Women Commission on the Status of Women 60 (CSW 60). Siobhan Neilland representd OneMama.org as a Women’s Intercultural Network (WIN) International NGO Partner Delegate.

OneMama.org's Siobhan Neilland with the 50 Women Project's Jessica Buchleitner at the CSW 59 in 2016
 OneMama.org and The 50 Women Project's Jessica Buchleitner hosted a parallel event, Global Funding Solutions From Social Entrepreneurs. We brought together social entrepreneurs from across the world to discuss how we will end violence against women with grassroots empowerment and creative, sustainable means of funding:

“After experience working as UN delegate last year, one of the things I realized was that a lot of talk was about the issues and not as many panels were on solutions. So OneMama.org wanted to facilitate a dialogue on solutions. We want to share the sustainable funding solutions we are implementing and other solutions being implemented by organizations and people we admire. We are excited to give a voice for women and social entrepreneurial programs across the globe combatting violence against women,” said Siobhan Neilland, OneMama.org founder.

Siobhan Neilland shared the personal tragedy that gave birth to OneMama.org. She also shared the “OneMama ecosystem,” which consists of The OneMama Collection and ShaBoom Products, two product lines Siobhan founded to fund maternal health programs in rural Ugandan communities surviving on under $1.25 a day.

Our incredible panel included impactful women creating social change through innovative means in their communities. Panelists include Regional Representative for the Secretary of Labor, Elmy Bermejo, Editor of Women News Network and 50 Women Project founder, Jessica Buchleitner, Founder of the SAMATATA Foundation, Bineta Diop, Political Activiest, New Oo, Award-Winning Producer Adryenn Ashley, and our very own Siobhan Neilland, founder of OneMama.org and Fortune 500 Consultant.

This event was held in the New York City area on March 14, 2016, Our Parallel Event, Global Funding Solutions From Social Entrepreneurs,  across the street from the United Nations Campus.