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Federation Project�

Christine Johnstone Immediate Past President

Federation Project Liaision

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Brilliant Futures �Fund

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Brilliant Futures Fund

Implemented 2022
Eleven (11) rounds of Nominations
Delivered 7 Club Projects

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Brilliant Futures Fund Overview

SPOT Online Talks and Workshops �(Malaysia)
4E’s Scholarship Program (PNG)
Stitching Dreams (Australia)
Ovarian Cancer Awareness Campaign (New Zealand)
East Timor ‘24 (East Timor)
Murik Lakes Seeds of Friendship Community Garden (PNG)
EmpowerHER Futures (Indonesia)

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Clubs and projects which have been successful in receiving funding for their projects in the past 5 years

SPOT Online Talks and Workshops Project SI Petaling Jaya

SPOT is an ongoing puberty education project that educates and empower young girls aged between 9 to 16 years old in Malaysia.

4E's Scholarship Program (Educate, Empower, Equality & Equity) SI Port Moresby

This project provided vocational training such as sewing, cooking and basic literacy to the grassroots women and girls who have had nil to minimal English or vocational skills to gain employment

Stitching Dreams SI Hornsby

SI Hornsby in partnership with Afghan Women on the Move and Host International provided migrant women in Sydney with skills in sewing, financial literacy, English lessons and mentoring

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Campaign SI Rangatahi Wellington,

this project was to raise public awareness to the early detection of ovarian cancer, through videos and publicity in movie theatres, airline TV advertisement, and social media and paper publicity material.

East Timor ‘24 SI Joondalup

East Timor '24 project this project brought two two qualified professional young women, Pascoela Bareta and Maria Guterres, from Dili to Perth for vocational training, mentoring and introduction for profession partnerships, in education and health.

Murik Lakes Seeds of Friendship Community Garden SI Moreton NOrth

Project coordinator - Kylian Kenni the aim is to improve food security and financial independence through the building of a elevated platform to house community gardens, training on seed raising and vegetable growing, financial literacy. And how to market your product

EmpowerHER Futures SI Piskander Puteri

EmpowerHER Futures: Providing Digital Literacy & Entrepreneurship for Refugee Women, producing course training material, in person 12 week training course, and a train the trainer course to enable this project to be ongoing.

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Brilliant Futures Fund Review

Encourage Grass Roots Club based Project
Project will thrive locally or
Have lasting impact
Broad scope of influence beyond health or education.
We do not provide funding for 3^rd party organisations, it has to be a community project
Partnerships are encouraged to multiply impact
11 Rounds of Nomination Funding
7 Rounds have received Funding
Mentoring to unsuccessful Clubs

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During 2025 a review of the Federation Project was undertaken.

The fund

Encourages grassroots initiated projects which advance gender equality and justice for all women and girls.

Grassroots means that the project will thrive locally. We encourage a broad scope beyond health or education or a band-aid for violence. We do not duplicate what is already available in that community, nor be a bank account for another organisation. However, we seek partnerships which multiply impact to move the dial towards innovation.

There were 11 rounds of funding nominations.

Funding was provided in 7 of those rounds, Only worthy projects were accepted by the judges where the matrix system has weighted questions in the application forms.

Mentoring was provided by the programme team to the clubs who nominated but were unsuccessful, encouring them to elevate and improve their deliverables and re apply.

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Brilliant Futures Fund Impact

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Project	Objective	SDG	Impact
EmpowerHer Futures SI Iskandar Puteri	Education Economic Empowerment	4,5,8,10	30 women (20 trainees and 10 mentors)
Murik Lakes Seeds of Friendship SI Moreton North	Education Climate Change Food Security	1.2.3.5	Local Community
Stitching Dreams SI Hornsby	Education Economic Empowerment Health Care	4.5.8	30 Migrant. Refugee women in Sydney
East Tmor ’24 SI Joondalup	Education Economic Empowerment	4,5,17	2 women initially, improved Timor community through their enterprises
Ovarian Cancer Awareness SI Rangatahi Wellington	Education Health Care	3,5	Multiple women across New Zealand
4E’s Scholarship Program SI Port Moresby	Education	4,5,8	Up 100 women and girls
SPOT online Talks and Workshop SI Petaling Jaya	Education Elimination of Violence	3,4,5	100’s of girls and boys

The projects have met 6 of the 8 objectives, and delivered against 9 of the 17 SDG’s

Project

Objective

SDG

Impact

EmpowerHer Futures

SI Iskandar Puteri

Digital and Financial Literacy, entrepreneurship training for refugees

4,5,8,10

30 women (20 trainees and 10 mentors)

Murik Lakes Seeds of Friendship

SI Moreton North

Establishing a community garden in PNG, to improve food security and sustainable agricultural education

1.2.3.5

Local Community

Stitching Dreams

SI Hornsby

Partnership with Afghan Women on the Move, providing migrant women in Sydney with sewing and financial & digital skills

4.5.8

30 Migrant. Refugee women in Sydey

East Tmor ’24

SI Joondalup

Supporting two (2) professional women to travel to WA to gain vocational skills and partnerships for their community

4,5,17

2 women initially, improved Timor community through their enterprises

Ovarian Cancer Awareness

SI Rangatahi Wellington

Educate and awareness for early detection of ovarian cancer

3,5

Multiple women across New Zealand

4E’s Scholarship Program

SI Port Moresby

Providing literacy training and vocational training to women and girls without formal education

4,5,8

Up o

SPOT online Talks and Workshop

SI Petaling Jaya

Puberty education and empowerment for girls aged 9-16

3,4,5

100;’s of girls and boys

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Active Projects

Ovarian Cancer Awareness
Murik Lakes Community Gardens
EmpowerHER Futures

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Ovarian Cancer Awareness

Project Extended due to internal club difficulties
Project delivered on:
Developing Fundraising boxes and material.
Advertising in Airports
Brochures
Bookmarks
Awareness promotional material

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Murik Lakes Seeds of Friendship

Project extended due to cyclones, monsoon
Project delivered on:
Partial building of the platform
Education and training
Seeds, fertilizers
Financial training

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Murik Lakes Seeds �of Friendship

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Platform Progress

Poor weather conditions have hindered progress on rebuilding the platform
Typhoons and the strong winds have damaged a lot of houses and the school building in the village.
efforts and resources have been redirected to rebuilding the school buildings.
All the new gardens that were planted to replace the original 120 vegetable gardens have all been destroyed again and will need to be replanted.

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Murik Lakes Seeds of Friendship

Deliverables
Feb 26 – Plant out new garden beds and grow first crop
June 26 – Weed and maintain crops
August 26 – Harvest crops
October 26 – Prepare gardens for the Monsoon season and start the nursery for a new year of growing. training

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EmpowerHer

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Bridging Digital Literacy & Entrepreneurship for Refugee Women & Girls

This project will deliver

Training and capacity building.
Digital and financial literacy,
Vocational skills, and
Entrepreneurship.
A further 10 women mentors will be trained in �Train the Trainer,
Mentorship and skill development to continually empower further women.

Commenced in April 2026

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Unlocking new horizons

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Challenges

Unlocking new horizons

Uncertainty about personal vision
Migrant women aspirations are constrained by the legal, economic and social limitations
Effecting confidence, motivation and long term planning
Limited literacy skills in reading and writing
3 women have limited to no literacy.
Trainers face challenges in delivering consistent content .

Identified challenges during phase 1

Some participants remain uncertain about their personal vision and are still in the process of developing clear ideas for their future or business pathways.

Given the context of working with refugee communities, several participants perceive their aspirations as constrained by the legal, economic, and social limitations they face in Malaysia. These factors may affect their confidence, motivation, and long-term planning.

Out of the 10 participants in this first cohort, only 7 possess basic literacy skills in reading and writing, while the remaining 3 have limited or no literacy. This creates challenges in delivering content at a consistent pace and ensuring full comprehension.

However, peer support and additional guidance from trainers have helped these participants remain engaged and participate meaningfully throughout the sessions.

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Donations and Expenditure

Income $8096

Expenditure $5205

YOUR DONATION IN THE FEDERATION PROJECT IS A DIRECT

INVESTMENT IN THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF SOROPTIMISTS

The Brilliant Futures Fund remains the most vital mechanism for our Federation to bridge the gap between club ambition and community impact. By continuing to support this fund, clubs ensure a sustainable pipeline of resources for grassroots projects that do more than just provide temporary aid—they deliver transformative education and leadership opportunities. Investing in this fund is a direct investment in the collective power of Soroptimists to fundamentally improve the lives of women and girls across the South East Asia Pacific region

You have seen here the impact delivered by clubs who have benefited by this funding source. We ask that members and clubs consider the Brilliant Futures Fund when donating as the more funds we have the more we can contribute to implementation of quality projects.