GWI's Hegg Hoffet Fund assists graduate women (and in special cases tertiary women students) who have been displaced as a result of war, political upheaval or other serious emergencies. The Hegg Hoffet Fund provides short-term grants for refresher courses for re-entry into the candidates' professional field (or if that is not possible, training courses leading to some other employment), and for language training and other courses to assist with integration into their new countries.
The Fund was established in 1936 as the IFUW Emergency Fund (later called the Relief Fund) to help women at the graduate level and above who had been deprived of the right to work, and in many cases, the right to live in their native countries. Arriving in a new country, most face complex challenges to integration, among them language difficulties, unemployment, rejection of foreign qualifications and the need for retraining.
GWI's Hegg Hoffet Fund provides short-term grants for refresher courses for re-entry into the candidates' professional field (or if that is not possible, training courses leading to some other employment), and for language training and other courses to assist with integration into their new countries. In addition to financial assistance, GWI's national and local groups also provide the graduate refugees with moral support to help them to adjust to life in a different country.
By providing these women with financial support through the Hegg Hoffet Fund, donors will be giving them the opportunity for a better future. Displaced women will be able to integrate into their new communities and pursue educational opportunities necessary for completing their post-graduate degrees (and above), obtaining new certifications and entering a new, competitive job market.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
