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HUISHAN ZHANG is thrilled to support Women for Women International and the ‘Sponsor a Sister’ programme. Women for Women International is a charity that supports marginalized women living in countries affected by war and conflict helping to rebuild their lives, and more recently, during the global COVID 19 pandemic.
‘Lessons we’ve learnt in Lockdown’ celebrates women across different cities globally to provide insight and a moment of reflection on their past year. The women, including friends and collaborators of the brand, were photographed and interviewed, in various cities including Djuna Bel, Natalia Bonifacci, Natalie Joos, Ramya Giangola in Los Angeles, Chloe Gosselin in Las Vegas, Taylor Tomasi Hill in Dallas, Linda Rodin, Frances Aaternir, Luisana Gonzalez, Alessandra Codinha in New York and Hikari Yokoyama, Gala Gordon, Anna Vitiello and Alessia Pasin in London.
HUISHAN ZHANG is supporting Women for Women International by sponsoring women survivors of war through their twelve-month holistic training programme, with the aim of helping them transform their lives and inspire hope for the future.
“After such a challenging year globally, it gave us a chance to pause and to take a moment as a brand and think about how we could do something to support women who were living in marginalized countries affected by war and conflict during these unprecedented times. We have long admired the incredible work that Women for Women International has done over the years. We wanted to collaborate with our global community of strong women to hear from them about their journeys this year and what has proven to be important to them, with the aim of inspiring wider audiences to provide hope and positivity as well as a sense of global community during this time. We wanted to celebrate these women, their individual lives and stories while supporting Women for Women International. Being involved in the Sponsor a Sister programme is a way of helping those in war-torn countries and we hope this is beginning of a long-term partnership.” - Huishan Zhang
Women for Women International’s year-long programme equips women with the skills and resources to earn money, regain their confidence and actively participate in their communities. When a woman joins the programme, she comes together with 24 other women, forming a tight support group that helps to break the isolation caused by war and insecurity. The women on the programme learn a marketable job skill - such as tailoring, bread-making or poultry-keeping, as well as business training to turn her chosen skill into a stable income so she can support herself and her family. She can begin to save money and receives support to establish a savings group so she and other women in her community can make the most of their earnings. As well as this, she learns practical knowledge about her health, including reproductive health, stress management and the importance of good hygiene and nutrition so she can protect herself and her family from preventable disease.
Alongside these skills, the women on the programme also learn about their rights on key issues like voting, access to land, divorce, custody of her children and domestic abuse. Once she learns her rights, she is empowered and equipped to stand up for them and can share her knowledge with others in her community.With over fifty brutal armed conflicts across the globe and unprecedented levels of violence against women, there’s never been a greater need to support women survivors of war. Since 1993, Women for Women International has supported over half a million of the most socially-excluded women survivors of war in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Naomi Gyang Chap, Women for Women International programme graduate, Nigeria: “The programme has picked me up from the dust and placed me on a pedestal of hope and economic strength. It has enhanced my life beyond my wildest dreams and I am so grateful.”
About Women for Women International:
