We spent months in Nepal working with our partner on business and program plans, but in April the first of two devastating earthquakes struck and we responded to the immediate needs of women and their families.
In Cambodia, we looked for new business opportunities.
Nepal
2014-15 was a year of significant upheaval in Nepal, with two earthquakes in April and May devastating the country, killing nearly 9000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands displaced. Briony, Co-Founder and CEO, had moved to Nepal in August 2014, and had been working with WFN on a social business designed to engage and benefit female small agricultural producers across Nepal. We had conducted months of ideation, market research and product testing, and had been growing WFN HQ's small commercial organic farm. But when the earthquakes struck, we put these programs on hold and responded immediately to the needs of women and their families.
Our team of volunteers in Australia, led by one of our founding members and leaders, Carmen, mounted a fundraising campaign that raised almost a quarter of a million dollars, while Briony reported back from Nepal where she continued to support the relief effort.
With the support of our global community, we were able to provide over 65,000 Nepalis with relief supplies, prioritising the needs of women who are so often disproportionately affected by disaster. We provided food, clothes, shelter, water, oral rehydration salts, and sanitation and hygiene packages including products for women and girls to manage their menstruation.
We supported WFN to facilitate community meetings, ensuring that women's voices were front and centre in conversations about how to respond to the earthquakes. We organised helicopters for WFN to take supplies to remote regions that hadn't received aid. And we later hosted an event in Melbourne, The Disaster Agender, to share our learnings with our community back in Australia.
Cambodia
In Cambodia, at the request of our partner, we engaged a local expert to conduct a preliminary feasibility study into a new social business in Stung Treng - a restaurant providing training in hospitality and tourism, as well as employment, to local women. We're excited to explore this opportunity further next year.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to everyone who generously donated during the Nepal earthquake campaign, to our volunteers, and to the following media outlets who supported our efforts: ABC Radio National breakfast, CBS Boston, ABC News 24, Joy FM, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
We are ever grateful to our generous community of supporters and donors, our volunteers, our international partners, and to everyone else who has made a contribution to our work during the year. Special thanks to members of the corporate community who have generously supported us in-kind: One Ledger Accounting; Platform Advisors/Altmann Legal; 99designs; and Thoughtworks.
