Kota Kinabalu: Soroptimist International Region of Malaysia (Sirom) has transformed the lives of hundreds of rural women across Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia through food and water security projects, winning an international best practice award in the process.
“Soroptimists can be powerful agents that have changed and transformed the lives of women and communities to achieve sustainable development,” said medical doctor with over 25 years, Dr Saradha Narayanan.
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Dr Saradha is among the invited plenary speakers at the Soroptimist International South East Asia Pacific (Siseap) Conference of Clubs, here, Saturday.
She has been a Soroptimist since 2008 and is currently the Assistant Programme Convenor 2 at Siseap.
“Sirom’s food security project won the Best Practice Award 2025 for food security. This requires a long-term commitment and multi-stakeholder involvement,” said Dr Saradha, who spearheaded Sirom’s project “Clean Water for Rural Communities” in 2018 to address the look of potable water in rural villages in Malaysia.
She is currently working on “Food Security and Economic Empowerment of Rural Communities”.
“The award-winning food security programme spanned three villages across Malaysia, two of them in Kota Belud,” she said.
“In Kampung Penempatan Baru, some 82 families benefited from the project, implemented in partnership with a Sabah non-governmental organisation Hopes Malaysia and sponsored by Singapore-based company Etos.
“Sirom also with SI Kota Kinabalu in that effort,” she said.
The second village was Kampung Tegudon in Kadamaian where 25 women were trained in growing leafy greens, tubers, yams and corn using organic compost.
“High-performing participants were further trained in fish rearing and the women now run a weekly market to sell their surplus produce. That project was undertaken with Hopes Malaysia and sponsored by Starbucks Malaysia,” she said.
The third site was Kampung Sungai Lebak in Bentong, Pahang, where 10 Orang Asli women’s families were trained in aquaponics farming.
“They grew rockmelons and leafy vegetables and reared tilapia fish, with nutrient-rich water from the fish tanks circulated to nourish crops planted on A-frames,” she said, adding that the project was sponsored by Spark Foundation, the CSR arm of Heineken Malaysia Berhad.
Dr Saradha said the food security work grew out of an earlier clean water initiative that Sirom launched in 2017 in a Penan village in Sarawak where residents had no clean water, electricity, sanitation or clinics. The river they depended on had been heavily polluted by logging and deforestation.
“Using funds from the SI President’s Appeal, Sirom installed a rainwater harvesting system and later a gravity-fed water system drawing from a mountain stream two kilometres from the village.
“Five women from the village were also sent for welding training, returning to help construct support frames for the rainwater system, breaking gender stereotypes in the process.
“Between 2021 and 2022, Sirom extended its clean water programme to three more Orang Asli villages, two in Perak and one in Pahang,” she said, pointing out that the initiative earned one of three Best Cities Incredible Impact Awards from the International Congress and Convention Association, as well as a grant for future projects.
Back in Sarawak, the food security phase saw six women and a man sent to Kuala Lumpur for training in organic farming and the System of Rice Intensification, a method of producing higher rice yields using less water.
“Those trained went on to teach a further 20 women in the village, building leadership skills and improving nutrition across the community,” she said.
Dr Saradha said Malaysia remains only 56 per cent self-sufficient in rice and other food crops and called for greater crop diversification and rotation to preserve biodiversity.
She cited figures showing global food insecurity rose from 25.3 per cent of the world’s population in 2019 to 29.6 per cent in 2022, driven by climate change, extreme weather, conflicts and disrupted supply chains.
“In 2025, the Siseap programme further strengthened food security by providing training and food to 1,680 women and girls,” she said.
