· InAfghanistan, women have endured unimaginable hardships in a 23 year war. The Taliban demeaned women with repressive laws, public humiliation and beatings, and denial of basic dignity and human rights.
· In Bosnia and Herzegovina, mass rape, women's concentration camps, forced impregnation, forced prostitution and sexual slavery were weapons of war.
· In Rwanda, an estimated 500,000 women and girls - some as young as 5 - were systematically tortured, physically abused, and raped during the genocide.

It Takes Women Working Together to Make a Difference

Through Project Independence: Women Survivors of War, Soroptimist International and Women for Women International are combining the forces of thousands of individual women to support women survivors of war in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. Over the next four years, Project Independence will raise at least $1.2 million to provide nearly 2,000 women with the skills they need to rebuild their lives after war.

· Through the Sponsorship Program, Project Independence will provide at least 1200 women with direct aid and emotional support.
· Through the Renewing Women's Life Skills Program (ReneWLS), Project Independence will provide at least 1200 women training in vocational and leadership skills.
· Through the Microcredit Lending Program, Project Independence will provide at least 600 women with loans they can use to start their own businesses and income-generating projects.

Today, thousands of women in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda are survivors of war and violence. They have lost their homes, their security and their livelihoods. They are exhausted and living on the margins of hope. Together, we will amass the resources needed to reach out to these women - women who have nothing today.