SO Resi, the shared ownership brand of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association, has celebrated a month of fundraising success for global women’s rights charity Womankind Worldwide, raising a total of £4200.

More than 380 members of the SO Resi team, including a number of Directors and senior employees alongside their friends and colleagues, took part in an ‘Around The World in 21 Days’ challenge which required the team to collectively walk, run or cycle 40,075km. Throughout the 21 days, the SO Resi team surpassed their target and covered a total distance of more than 55,376km.

SO Resi launched its challenge on International Women’s Day on Monday 8th March, and selected Womankind Worldwide as its chosen charity due to its partnerships with women’s movements globally to transform the lives of women and girls. The charity’s goals aims to end all violence against women; provide women with equal economic rights and control over resources; and ensure women’s equal influence in decision making alongside the ability to exercise political power.

Diana Alam, Head of Sales at SO Resi, comments: “Womankind Worldwide is a charity close to our hearts, working to improve the lives of women and girls across the globe including here in the UK. There has never been a more fitting time to challenge the daily inequalities that women face both in and outside of the workplace, and we are thrilled that so many of our SO Resi team got involved to help fundraise.

“We set an initial fundraising goal of £3000, so are blown away that we surpassed this target thanks to the efforts of our SO Resi team and the support from colleagues, friends and family.”

SO Resi also launched its first Podcast ‘Home Truths’ on International Women’s Day, which can be viewed on Spotify and Apple. The episode saw the panel discuss diversity in the workplace and what it means to be a woman in housing, with Geeta Nanda, CEO at Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, sharing her own personal experiences of rising through the ranks as a woman of colour.

Diana adds: “There is still a lot more to be done to address the issues of diversity in the workplace, but we are pleased that SO Resi is taking steps to lead the charge within the housing industry. We hope that by opening this dialogue that we can encourage other companies to think about ways in which they can improve their own company diversity and ensure access to equal opportunities.”

To donate to SO Resi’s Womankind Worldwide fundraiser visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/so-resiiwd.