Refugee Women's Network, Inc. (RWN) is a national non-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. RWN works exclusively with refugee and immigrant women to enhance their strength, skills and courage through leadership training, education and advocacy.
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History
RWN was founded in 1995 by a group of women who went to the United States as refugees. They lived and worked in different parts of the country. They had experienced the refugee resettlement process and had worked in social service agencies that provided support to refugees. Through their collective experience, they knew that women’s skills, courage and experiences were not being adequately supported.
Xuan Nguyen-Sutter, a founding member and the first executive director of RWN reflects, "Women are the glue that holds family members together and yet when agencies resettle refugees, they put the men to work, the children in school and somehow the women are forgotten."
In 1995, a handful of thoughtful, committed women comprising a Vietnamese from Atlanta, a Laotian Hmong from Milwaukee, an Iranian from New York City and an Ethiopian from Los Angeles formed the Refugee Women's Network, Inc., with a vision to be the catalyst that empowers refugee and immigrant women to reclaim their collective voices and reach their full societal participation potential through active participation and taking leadership roles in their local, national and international communities.
Mission
Refugee Women’s Network is a national non-profit organization created by women, for women, that focuses on enhancing refugee and immigrant women’s strengths, skills and courage through its leadership training, education and advocacy to promote independence, self-sufficiency and networking among its participants.
Programs
The Leadership Program is one of the oldest programs of RWN. Since 1995, 300 women in 30 American states from over 40 countries of origin have graduated from the leadership program. After participating in RWN's Leadership Program, many women have started their own organizations supporting refugees and immigrants in their communities. The Leadership Program is based on ‘Training for Transformation’, an approach to community development which focuses on "responsible, ethical, inclusive" methods of engaging community members. The leadership training gives participants tools and skills to understand, motivate and bring changes within themselves and their communities and the world. The goals of the Leadership Program are three-fold: strengthen women’s leadership abilities; increase their capacity to access community resources; and assist women to identify their values and build allies across ethnicity for advocacy.
The Health Promoters Program recruits refugees and immigrants from the Atlanta metropolitan area to become bicultural, bilingual bridges between their ethnic communities and the U.S. health care system. The project started in 2004 as a partnership with the DeKalb County Board of Health, Women Watch Afrika and RWN. Health promoters participate in 40 hours of training on health issues pertinent to their communities. RWN uses the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health, which includes physical, social, spiritual and mental well-being. Participants learn about topics such as nutrition, hygiene, mental health, reproductive health, physical health and adaptation of ethnic food to meet their current caloric needs. Following training, health promoters provide 12 hours of health education within their own ethnic communities each month and meet monthly for three hours of continuing education where they share stories, discuss community concerns and learn new information. The goals of the Health Promoters Program are: train women to be community health educators; provide health promoters with the resources to be liaisons between their ethnic communities and the health care system; and strengthen women's leadership abilities.
The Microenterprise Program was created in April 2001 in response to recurring requests for professional training and assistance to help refugee and immigrant women start or strengthen their own businesses. In 2005, RWN added a micro-lending component to the program, which gives loans between $250 and $15,000 to women entrepreneurs. The Microenterprise Program provides business development training, microloans, one-on-one business consultation and technical assistance to refugee and immigrant women who are working to start or strengthen their businesses. The goal of the Microenterprise and Microfinance Program is to help refugee and immigrant women and their families attain economic self-sufficiency through self-employment.
The Advocacy Program consists of RWN's continuous efforts to advocate on behalf of refugees, immigrants and women on a number of issues pertinent to their experiences. RWN participates in advocacy efforts on several national, state and local policy levels, taking part in initiatives representing the interest of refugee and immigrant women. These include inter-disciplinary initiatives like health, economic empowerment, housing and community development; creating a platform for the voices of refugees and immigrants; and empowering refugee and immigrant women to find their own voices.