Connector Media

Join the Society Profits campaign!

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:39:00 +0000

Social Enterprise Day is held each year by Social Enterprise UK during Global Enterprise Week, and this year’s day is preceded by the Society Profits campaign. The goal of the campaign “is to put social enterprises and the people who support them at the forefront of promoting a simple message to consumers: ‘Choose Social Enterprise and Society Profits’.”

You can help raise awareness of the campaign by distributing Society Profits publicity materials, hosting your own Social Enterprise Day events and generally raising awareness of social enterprise. Learn more from Social Enterprise UK.

Get involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week!

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:00:37 +0000

Being celebrated from 14 – 20 November, Global Entrepreneurship Week “is a celebration of the past 51 weeks, and sets the scene for the next year ahead. Global Entrepreneurship Week 2011 will address the concerns and anxieties of budding entrepreneurs; enabling many more people to create new opportunities and successful ventures that will continue to flourish all year round.”

There are many ways to get involved, including hosting an event, attending an event and contributing to the broader conversation about social enterprise in general. To find out more, visit the Global Enterpreneurship Week UK website here.

Social Enterprise Bill working its way through Parliament

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:00:51 +0000

A private members’ bill, the “Public services (social enterprise and social value)” bill proposes that public bodies take into account social value when putting a contract out to tender. Ideally, this would help local organisations, and social enterprises in particular, win more of the public sector contracts that they often lose out on due to lack of finances and ability to bid with the lowest price. A more in-depth examination of the bill is available from The Guardian.

Women make up nearly half of new UK shadow cabinet

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:00:47 +0000

Ed Miliband’s recent reshuffle of the Labour shadow cabinet brought additional women to the forefront of the UK’s political opposition. There are now 11 women in the 27-member shadow cabinet. The Guardian profiles the new appointments here.

Three women share Nobel Peace Prize

admin — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:11:17 +0000

As The Guardian headline put it – Nobel peace prize given to only 12 women in 110 years. Now it’s 15! Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, a social worker turned peace campaigner from Liberia and Tawakkul Karman, a journalist and pro-democracy activist in Yemen, share this year’s prize.

In lauding their work, the Nobel Committee said that the three women had been chosen “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” The committee went on to say that, “We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.”

UN calls on universities to promote women’s empowerment

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:00:20 +0000

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, at the Global Colloquium of University Presidents, that universities can play a significant role in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

“They can provide the training in critical thinking that a functional democracy needs,” he said. “They provide a foundation for the economic and medical research that is so essential to society’s well-being. And they supply graduates to the workforce.

“So it is essential that this issue of women’s rights and women’s representation is reflected in your curricula, your appointments, your practices and your partnerships.”

More information is available from the UN news site here.

Afghan Women’s Writing Project gives voice without censorship

admin — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:00:20 +0000

Founded by Masha Hamilton, the Project believes that the right to tell one’s story is a human right and “empowers Afghan women to share their voices with the world, despite a deteriorating security situation.”

“The Afghan Women’s Writing Project is aimed at allowing Afghan women to have a direct voice in the world, not filtered through male relatives or members of the media. Many of these Afghan women have to make extreme efforts to gain computer access in order to submit their writings, in English, to the project.”

The project is not-for-profit and more information is available on-line here.

Mali’s president appoints country’s first female prime minister

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:00:30 +0000

Reuters reports on Amadou Toumani Toure’s decision to appoint Cisse Mariam Kaidama as prime minister, the first female to hold the post.

The full Reuters article is available here.

Developing The Sewing Rooms

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:18:01 +0000

Connector Media is pleased to announce the development of an exciting new project called The Sewing Rooms.

The Sewing Rooms will work with women suffering from mental health problems to establish a route to recovery through vocational training and personal development. This will be done through the upcycling and remodeling of cloths and textiles.

We have already had an excellent response to the proposal, with Exsel CIC providing the space for the project to take place within Gladden House, their social enterprise office and development space.

The Sewing Rooms project will be contribute to the work already being done by Exsel CIC of collecting clothing and scrap material from local prisons and supplying good quality clothing to partner organisations.

Connector Media has recently finished running a Creative Writing Course with Skelmersdale residents that culminated in the production of book of poems. We also produced a series of short video documentaries recording the personal experiences of individuals who have suffered stigma and discrimination because of mental illness.

Connector Media is seeking the support of Awards for All to start The Sewing Rooms project. If successful, the new initiative will start in early September 2011.

Inspirational women

admin — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:00:48 +0000

Interesting lists from both the Guardian and the Daily Beast of inspiring women who shake the world, in categories ranging from activists, to medicine, sport, fashion and business.