September has been another busy month for us at Represent Women. After a relatively calm August with the team enjoying time off and making the most of the last of the Summer, we are now back together and ready to share with you everything we have been up to throughout September.
Starting with our women’s sector leader residential, the first of its kind!
Soothing, wholesome, inclusive, regulating, inspiring, joyous, calming, connected, refreshing and relaxed were all words used by attendees to describe the two days we spent in Northumberland. But this trip wasn’t just about calming our nervous system (all though we felt amazing after), it was about connection.
Part of our mission at Represent Women is to build a more connected women’s sector. We regularly hear from leaders of women’s organisations that finding time to step away from day-to-day pressures, connect with peers, and learn from one another can be incredibly difficult.
The retreat provided exactly that space. The agenda was packed with inspiring activities, from sheep walking and needle felting our own sheep keyrings to learning survival skills and exploring the remarkable flora and fauna of the beautiful College Valley. Most importantly, it gave us the opportunity to learn from one another, share experiences, and strengthen the relationships that underpin a thriving women’s sector.
We are very grateful to Bridie, who is the Education and Access Programme Manager at College Valley, for arranging this experience for us. If you would like to know more about what is on offer get in touch!
Whilst sheep walking may have been the most unique activity we partook in this month, we still have many more exciting updates to share with you, such as the North East Charity Awards which Erin attended at the start of the month.
This was a fantastic evening full of celebration and Represent Women were there to cheer on all of the amazing women and girls organisations who were up for awards.
There are so many dedicated organisations, trustees, young activists and volunteers in the North East, and it was brilliant to see so many women and girls organisations sitting amongst the line up.
To all of our members who were finalists, despite a win or not, this is something to be genuinely proud of, it’s a recognition of the impact you make every single day!
This month Erin also attended a roundtable hosted by Tees Valley Combined Authority centred around the Government’s call for evidence on National Lottery funding. This was an important opportunity to influence how good cause funding is distributed in the future and to ensure the voices of communities and grassroots organisations are at the heart of decision-making. It was great to connect with colleagues from the voluntary sector and Tees Valley Combined Authority at their base at the airport which is always a windy affair.
Represent Women also submitted a formal response to the Governments call for evidence with some of the following points that have been taken from previous conversations with women’s organisations. Here is a brief overview of what we shared in our response:
- Continue investing in early-stage and innovative women’s organisations through flexible, trust-based funding.
- Continue to fund what works- projects don’t always have to be shiny and new.
- Improve consistency across the different funding programmes, including applications, guidance, communication, and reporting.
- Embed trauma-informed funding, including support for staff wellbeing, supervision, and counselling.
- Introduce more flexible and proportionate reporting requirements to reduce the burden on small organisations.
- Better recognise and invest in women’s organisations as essential community infrastructure.
- Work with the women’s sector to develop funding models that strengthen services and improve outcomes for women and girls.
It was important for Represent Women to respond to this call for evidence because we know how integral effective funding is to the sustainability of women’s organisations and their ability to deliver life-changing support to women and girls.
A few other events we have attended this month include a VAWG external panel at Northumbria police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, a roundtable hosted by Northumberland Domestic Abuse Service exploring data sharing. Erin also continued her conversation with Kai, Women’s Safety in Public Places Programme Lead at the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, about the important work underway to develop a Women’s Safety Charter as well as attending an in-person leaders connection space which was hosted by us.
Erin also attended an event hosted by Insights North East, bringing together people committed to using evidence to improve policy and practice. During discussions, she highlighted the barriers to data sharing faced by women’s organisations and emphasised that the women’s sector already holds a wealth of valuable data and insight and that connecting the data is key.
Not only have we been busy attending events and speaking at roundtables, Livv, our Sector Engagement Officer, has been out and about meeting with some of our member organisations.
This month we have visited: East End Futures, formerly Building Futures East, to learn about how they rebuilt the organisation from scratch, a true testament to Dawn, Fiona and Susan’s determination to keep going, Be Kind, No Excuses, to learn more about Rie’s work and how Be Kind, No Excuses and Represent Women can support one another, WWiN Domestic Abuse Services, to meet the team and learn about the services they provide, WHiST to meet not only the staff team but also the volunteers as the organisation celebrate their 40th anniversary, Apna Ghar for the AGM, and Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland to congratulate them on their successes at the North East Charity Awards.
Alongside these face-to-face visits Livv also attended online meetings with Women Empowering Wellness Network, Women’s Health Hub Hartlepool, Coloured Hearts CIC and Women Today NE. Whether in person or online we are always love getting to catch up with our members.
Another big achievement for Represent Women in September was launching our Become the Bridge Action Plan and attending the Become the Bridge welcome meeting, which you can see on our social media or in full here
Back in March we became early adapters of the North East Anti Racism Coalition’s Become the Bridge Campaign, fighting for an anti-racist North East. Our Action Plan details how Represent Women will actively commit to challenging racism through our work.
This is a campaign we are incredibly proud to be a part of and thank you to everyone who has supported our Action Plan so far, particularly to our Management Group for your guidance when creating this plan. This is just the start of our Become the Bridge journey, a journey that we continuously plan on being on.
Lastly, we have focused a lot of our attention this month on updating our online directory. This is an ongoing project that is now in the final stages of completion. We would like to say a quick thank you to Bryony Rawson, freelance communications specialist for your support, you made a challenging project much more manageable, and your guidance has been invaluable to us going forward.
As you can see this has been a month full of connection from a countryside residential, a leaders connection meeting and multiple visits to our member organisations both in person and online, we have spent September carving out time to build a women and girls sector that is well connected not only to us but also to each other.