Initiatives For Women In Need Inc (IWiN)

Initiatives for Women in Need Inc (IWiN) is a Canberra (ACT) based volunteer led organisation that was established in April 2013 to support and advocate for women and children, who are coming from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and families experiencing domestic violence, gender inequality and discrimination at home and at work, including cultural and legal barriers.

Over time, IWiN’s work has expanded to include policy advocacy and research on other broader social justice issues affecting women and their families – such as, mental health and wellbeing, job market barriers for migrants, overseas skills non-recognition, workplace flexibility, racism and sexual harassment at workplace, culture sensitive services for women and youth etc.

IWiN has been the WINNER of the 2021 ACT Community Organisation (Multicultural Champion) Award for its impactful advocacy work on domestic violence.

IWiN developed the ACT Region’s first Collective Impact Action Plan (CIAP) in 2019, funded by the ACT Government’s 2017-18 ACT Women’s Grant. The CIAP was co-designed in consultation with ACT’s diverse migrant women groups for creating economic opportunities for low skill migrant women.

To implement its CIAP, IWiN launched a new social enterprise project, Her Kitchen Table (known as HKT) in July 2021, to create job/small business for disadvantaged women (upto 20 for the pilot) coming from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) background, in partnership with Social Outcomes Lab (SOULAB), local businesses and other peak community organisations from ACT.

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