Established in 2014, PurpleLily Kuching is an organization formed to inspire and empower women & girls to thrive and shine by providing life skills training and financial education. Currently chaired by Mdm. Suraya binti Bujang, The PurpleLily are conscious of the role of women in different parts of the society. Some have limited income and hence have little decision making for their family or community.
Accordingly, they believe that showing them how to manage money and develop financial literacy will give them the knowledge and power to influence decision making. They also include life skills education in their program so they can fully equip women to be more confident, motivated, and positive minded in their life. Besides that, they also cater their program to teenage girls that covers topics such as assertive communication, goal setting, healthy relationships and many more. They have faith that such programs will help to reduce social problems among young girls.
They are very grateful that their works are supported by their funders. For 2019, PurpleLily received funding from The Edge Kuala Lumpur Rat Race 2019 which enables them to travel to 3 rural areas in Sarawak in 2020 to reach a total of 125 participants. Whilst their ‘Girls Camp’ program in 2019 was supported by Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS) which had accommodated 92 teens.
Their works were also supported by the Sarawak government through Jabatan Wanita & Keluarga Sarawak (JWKS). With JWKS support in 2019, Purplelily managed to connect with 50 predominantly disadvantaged women in Sibu and Bintulu. Although PurpleLily is given the opportunity to collaborate with JWKS, for 2020 they had to reduce their outreach programs due to the pandemic. They hope to collaborate again with JWKS and other government agencies and non-governmental organizations in the future.
Again, despite the pandemic that has affected their programs as an NGO, they are very grateful that their efforts are recognized by the government. In 2020, they were privileged to receive a generous grant of RM20,000.00 from the Ministry of Welfare, Community Well-being, Family, Women and Childhood Development Sarawak. In addition, PurpleLily was honoured to receive the Excellent Organisation Award in conjunction with Hari Wanita 2020.
Although 2020 was the year of pandemic and their work was delayed, they are determined to do more outreach programs in the future to inspire and empower women as well as girls.
Once again, they would like to thank their funders for their support. Without them, they may not be able to reach as many women and girls as they are able to now. Consequently, they envision to be the best-practice NGO that delivers soft skills training to women in Malaysia.
