WIZO NSW

The Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) is a non-profit women's organization of volunteers in over 50 countries working together to improve the lives of women, children and the elderly living in Israel. WIZO is vital to building and preserving a successful Jewish State. Next to the Israeli government, WIZO is the largest provider of social welfare services in the country. WIZO operates over 800 social welfare projects including child care centres, schools, shelters for battered women, homes for girls in distress and programs providing services for the elderly. WIZO Australia is fiscally responsible for 14 of these projects. WIZO is a powerful voice for all Jewish Women. In 1959 WIZO was recognized by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and was the first Zionist organization granted consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). WIZO Australia was established in 1935 to support the WIZO Australia projects in Israel. WIZO Australia’s Sponsor a Child in Israel initiative was set up in 2014 in response to the escalating poverty rate in Israel, and the statistics which show that one third of all Israeli children live below the poverty line. Utilising the extensive WIZO framework, Sponsor a Child in Israel, allows WIZO Australia to reach out to children who are at risk and living in sadly disadvantaged situations.