IRIDA-A Safe Space for 500 Refugee women in Greece

Dear Supporter of Irida,

We hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy!

With pride and joy, we would like to share with you our Annual Report for 2021

2021 has been a year with a challenging start in terms of the unprecedented effects of the pandemic and the future of our community. However, it is proven that when we join forces, we are able to make a big difference.

We are beyond grateful for the extraordinary generosity and invaluable support of all our donors, allowing us to remain on the frontline of protecting, empowering, and supporting refugee, asylum-seeking, migrant, and local women and children. 

Thank you for embracing our mission and vision! Our community is thankful for your solidarity and generosity.

We appreciate and admire the determination and commitment of our partners, interns, volunteers, and supporters that helped us to deploy resources, contributing to our fight for establishing a more equal and inclusive society for socially and financially vulnerable women and children. 

Special thanks to everyone contributing to creating this report, including the unique women of the Irida community. Your courage, strength, and resilience have been sources of inspiration. 

Our team commits to continuing to work tirelessly and passionately to provide women and children with tailored, targeted, and timely solutions responding to their unique needs.

Apart from our Annual Report for 2021, we would love to share some further news about our project:

• In case you missed it, Irida Women's Center has been selected to be among the four winning projects for the Ockenden International Prize. We are very thankful for the recognition that Irida received
• Remaining loyal to our mission to protect, empower, and support the most vulnerable women and their children, we welcomed 55 Ukrainian single-parental families to Irida. We provide them with access to protection, legal aid, and skill-building services to alleviate the trauma they have suffered
• Our community currently consists of more than 600 women from 37 countries and we work passionately and tirelessly to continue providing essential humanitarian welfare support.

Thank you for your invaluable and continuous support of our work. We could not achieve much without you standing by our side

Stay tuned to find out more about our work.

With love,

Lydia 

Links:

• Read our Annual Report for 2021

Dear Friend of the Irida Community,

From the bottom of our hearts, the Irida Family wishes you a Bright and Creative New Year full of health and prosperity. 

With this report, we would like to THANK YOU for your invaluable and generous support during 2021, embracing our mission and vision for just and gender-equal communities where refugee women and their children have the right to live their lives safely and with dignity. 

Your generosity, solidarity, and love came a long way. In 2021, thanks to your support, we managed to:

• provide on average 2.160 refugee, asylum-seeking, and migrant women with access to protection services, including provisions of food items, personal hygiene products, and baby necessities like diapers, baby formula, baby wipes, baby bath foams, purchase of medication, and access to decent healthcare, provision of information, and psycho-social support
• support members of our community to access their legal and social rights by serving on average 550 legal cases
• offer 240 language classes for English, Greek, and German, including Farsi literacy classes for community members who are illiterate in their native language
• implement 75 recreational activities -arts & crafts & sewing lessons- led by active community members who donate their time and skills.

Moving forward to 2022, we are setting new goals to tackle new challenges. Among our top priorities is to re-establish our child safe space to support mothers and children to process their traumas in a trauma-informed setting. At the moment, we have 155 community members - including 70 single women - who have at least one child from one to five years old and are the only caregivers in their families. 

To find out more about our child-safe space, you can click here

Thank you for your solidarity! Stay safe and healthy until our next report.

With love,

Lydia 

Dear Friend of the Irida Community,

Since the last time we caught up, we have a lot to share with you.

First of all, we are all about and around - we achieved the transfer from a hybrid model to having activities exclusively on our physical space, following all the national precautionary measures against the pandemic. Our community members are thrilled to be back in the space, join language classes and other activities, and meet in person with their teachers, friends, and fellow students. 

Within a month, 69 face-to-face language lessons took place at Irida, marking high participation. At the same time, 36 community members participated in other activities, including arts & crafts, life skill sessions, and cultural outings around the city. 

Furthermore, we supported 217 women and children at risk. Specifically:

• we provided 167 women -including 85 single mothers - and their children with protection services: support with living costs, medical appointments to private doctors, and provision of medication and vaccines
• we supported 55 women with legal aid. 

Last but not least, on a gloomy Wednesday of September, we had the sweetest surprise ever; a group of very kind women from our Turkish community prepared delicious traditional recipes and came to the space to have lunch with the Irida team.

Cooking and sharing food is the ultimate act of caring and nurturing. It creates all this beautiful stuff, laughs and conversation, warmness and appreciation. We are grateful to those fantastic women for sharing with us all this tasteful food. Their kindness and generosity blow us away, and they are sources of inspiration for us to continue providing women with a safe space and a community built on trust and mutual respect.

We know that this year has been challenging for all of us - but if you are able to give, your compassion will support more women to heal their traumas and rebuild their lives. Every action of love can go a long way and have a positive impact.

Thank you for your solidarity! Stay strong and safe until our next report. 

With Love,

Lydia Siapardani

Links:

• Facebook
• Instagram

Dear Supporter,

We hope you had a nice and resting August.

Although summer in Greece is usually slow and low in activity, August was a busy month for Irida. We are looking forward to sharing our news with you all.

First, in August, we helped 35 community members to book their vaccination appointment against Covid-19, while since May, we have supported 79 women to get their vaccine.

Refugee populations are at extreme risk due to lacking access to fundamental social services such as safe housing, hygiene facilities, decent health care, and medication.

At Irida Women's Center, we believe that all human beings should have equal access to healthcare systems. Ensuring that even the most vulnerable and marginalized group can access decent healthcare is the only way to protect human lives and put an end to this unprecedented health crisis.

Furthermore, at the same time:

• We did 116 interventions, providing refugee, asylum-seeking, and migrant women with children with monthly supermarket vouchers, aiming to cover essential living costs.
• We provided 17 cases with essential medication for chronic illnesses and emergencies, which otherwise, the women could not have accessed.
• We did 49 legal appointments, offering crucial legal aid to our members.

Last but not least, the GlobalGiving Girl Fund Cohort 2021 had its first meeting!

We were super excited to meet all our fellow organizations, get to know more about the significant work they do, discuss in-depth regarding Girl Fund Cohort’s future outcomes, and set our shared goals to increase our impact on supporting women and girls across the world. We are looking forward to our next meeting in October! 

We know that this year has been challenging for all of us—but if you are able to give, your compassion will support more women to heal their traumas and rebuild their lives. Εvery action of love can go a long way and have a positive impact.

Thank you for your solidarity! Stay strong and safe until our next report.

With love,

Lydia Siapardani

Links:

• Check Our Website
• Find us on Facebook
• Follow us on Instagram

Dear Supporter,

We are thrilled to announce that we have been selected as one of the five gender equality champions in GlobalGiving's Girl Fund.

The Girl Fund is dedicated to supporting community-led organizations, helping women and girls around the world. Out of more than 100 applicants, we have chosen for our work, protecting, empowering, and supporting more than 550 refugee, asylum-seeking, migrant, and local women from 37 different countries who live in North Greece. 

Furthermore, we would like to share with you the progress of our project and its impact on women's life. 

Within the first semester of 2021:

• We did 461 interventions, providing refugee, asylum-seeking, and migrant women with children with monthly supermarket vouchers, aiming to cover essential living costs. 
• We provided 99 cases with essential medication for chronic illnesses and emergencies, which otherwise, the women could not have accessed. 
• We did 297 legal appointments, offering crucial legal aid to our members.
  
  

Last but not least, in early July, we were able to kick off our new language cycle, offering a hybrid form of classes. In particular, we offer English & Greek lessons twice a week: one time, it takes place in our physical space and another via online platforms. During the physical classes, all preventative measures against the pandemic are strictly followed by our staff members and our community. The safety of our members is a top priority for us. 

We know that this year has been challenging for all of us—but if you are able to give, your compassion will support more women to heal their traumas and rebuild their lives. Εvery action of love can go a long way and have a positive impact. 

Thank you for your solidarity! Stay strong and safe until our next report.

With love, 

Lydia Siapardani

Links:

• Meet 5 Gender Equality Leaders Breaking Barriers For Women
• The Girl Fund - A GlobalGiving's Initiative