Real Futures Pty Ltd were proud to be amongst the Australian Delegation who attended the United Nations 67th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) in New York City. Australia’s Official Delegation was led for the first time in history by an Australian First Nations woman, Senator The Hon. Malarndirri McCarthy.
Delegates from Real Futures were invited to speak at various events to share the experiences & successes of the Second Chance Education (SCEprogram in partnership with UN Women.)
The aim of Real Futures – Women’s Business 2nd Chance Hub (WB2C) is to support First Nations women holistically with education, training, employment or the tools to start their own business. Support for their mental, physical & spiritual wellbeing is a foundation for each of these pathways.
Sonali Hedditch, UN Women & Christianna Cartwright, Real Futures CEO, addressed the delegation to highlight the unique gender-based model and outcomes achieved by the Hubs.
Real Futures CEO, Christianna Cartwright shared in her speech:
“Like so many of us, I am here today because someone gave me a second chance & believed that I was more than my circumstances. My story is not dissimilar to many of the women we work with at the Women’s Business 2nd Chance Hub. It is from these lived experiences that we have been able to walk shoulder to shoulder with our Aspirants to build a model that works.
The Hub is a culturally safe space for women to come together, to hope, to dream, to laugh, to cry, to heal & to succeed – this is the essence of Women’s Business 2nd Chance”
Sonali Hedditch, UN Women Scaling & Innovation Manager, Second Chance Education & Vocational Learning, added:
“It’s a very unique and special program. It is actually the first, and the only UN program to be delivered in Australia. There’s not anything else that is happening at our scale in terms of women, adult women who missed out on an education, didn’t get to go to school or had a limited experience at school.
Through the pilot of testing and trialling different methods, we have found a model that works and we’ve actually exceeded all of our targets. We now have huge demand for the program. We’re getting demand from across East Asia, North Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa & Latin America for us to expand. It’s been incredibly effective.”
Following the success of CSW, & the resoundingly supportive feedback, Real Futures and UN Women are continuing to partner in 2023 to explore options to expand the program in Australia as well as canvassing options to take SCE to the Asia Pacific region.
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