October has been an incredible month for events across the women and girls sector and we feel incredible lucky and humbled that we have not only been able to attend a handful but also hosted a successful discussion with local decision makers in which people were engaged with and excited to support the women’s sector.
Attending events and being able to show physical support for our member organisations is one of our favourite parts of the job, it reminds us how powerful the sector is when we all show up and support one another.
Events are also a great opportunity to connect with and learn from one another, which we did plenty of throughout this month. Each event we attended was well thought-out, considerate, informative, inspiring and a safe space to open up and encourage meaningful conversation that creates change.
Starting with our decision makers discussion event. A few months ago, we sent out a survey to our Tier 1 members asking for their input to showcase the value and impact of the women and girls sector. The latest development in this ongoing project between Represent Women and Community Foundation North East came a few weeks ago. After reading the survey responses we noticed three key themes kept cropping up; Early Intervention and Prevention, Hidden Labour and Support Beyond the Individual, so we brought together our Tier 1 members for an online meeting to discuss these themes in greater detail with real examples of how they affect our members.
We listened as our members shared first hand stories of how dedicated staff members work overtime to ensure every woman who walks through the door is supported, how their support prevents social isolation, mental health deterioration and unsafe relationships to list just a few, how often their needs led support structures mean they are providing more than they are funded to and how their endless support extends beyond just the individual but also to service users families, other women and girls and the wider community. A moving example of this came from WHiST who explained the impact of their community choir. By regularly performing in a care home this choir was able to bring a resident out of his room to sit and watch, this is a man who prefers to spend time alone and doesn’t tend to leave his room for anyone or anything. This incredibly moving story highlights perfectly the positive impact of the women’s sector, often the unseen impact.
Following on from this we also used our survey responses to mould two key questions that we would present to local decision makers at our Decision Makers Discussion. These questions were ‘What barriers do you face within your role or organisation when trying to support the long-term sustainability of women and girls organisations?’ And ‘We’ve heard throughout our research project that women and girls organisations are a lifeline, what concerns would you have if these services no longer existed? What impact would that have on your organisation, the wider system and the work that you do?’
The discussions that emerged from these questions were thought-provoking and highlighted the important role decision makers can play in research, helping to ensure findings and recommendations are relevant, meaningful and actionable.
Decision Makers Discussion Event
Thank you to everyone who attended both our online meeting and decision makers discussion, we are incredibly grateful for your time and input, your expertise and experience is invaluable to our research. We would also like to thank Laura McIntyre who is working with us on this research project, as well as Community Foundation North East for your support and for co-facilitating our decision maker event. We are looking forward to continuing working on this project and feel more inspired than ever after this month’s conversations.
Represent Women with Laura McIntyre at the Decision Makers Discussion Event
Some of the most impactful events that Represent Women attends are those planned and facilitated by women’s organisations and the events our Tier 1 members put on throughout October were no different, the first being ‘It Starts with Survivors.’
A collaboration between the three North East rape crisis centres; Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland (RCTN), Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (RSACC) and ARCH Teesside, ‘It Starts with Survivors’ was filled with inspirational speakers, useful insight into statistics and campaigns and overall powerful messages of strength and resilience. Spaces such as these are so important as they show how the work of the women’s sector is kind, considerate and non-judgemental. It always has been and always will be vital that women have spaces they feel seen and comfortable in. To read about this event in more detail, click here.
This wasn’t the only event we attended this month that gave survivors a platform to speak about their experiences, Livv also attended the Findaway conference which was a day dedicated to listening to and learning from survivors of domestic abuse and Erin attended the NDAS roundtable to discuss development proposals for a major regional research project to address gaps in domestic abuse data across the North East.
Livv at the Findaway Conference
Another important event we attended this month was ‘Celebrating, Connecting and Sharing ‘What Works’ to Create Opportunities in Middlesbrough.’ Centered on tackling gendered poverty, a key takeaway from this event came from Yasmin Khan, CEO of Halo Project, who reminded us that women’s organisations need to be at the centre of the solution. When we proposed the question of how we ensure women’s organisations are recognised as a valued and essential part of the ecosystem when tackling gendered poverty, Yasmin called for a focus on “prevention instead of crisis peddling.” Too often, systems respond once women and families reach crisis point rather than investing earlier to prevent harm and inequality from taking hold.
She also shared a simple but powerful reminder: investing in mothers is investing in children. If we are serious about tackling gendered poverty, creating opportunities and improving outcomes for families, then women’s organisations must be recognised as a vital part of the infrastructure that makes this possible.
Being in a room full of people who not only have the ability to influence change, but who are genuinely committed to addressing gendered poverty was inspiring, to read more about the event click here.
Erin with Women Today NE at the What Works Event
The last of our members events that we attended this month was the WHiST AGM. Livv spent a wholesome afternoon listening to poetry written by members of WHiST and hearing stories from women they have supported. Hearing directly from service users is a humbling and moving conversation that reminds us exactly why we do what we do.
Livv with Corinne from WHiST at their AGM
As well as attending numerous exciting events this month, we were also part of some exciting meetings and conversations. Firstly, Erin met with Thiago from the Regional Refugee Forum North East who have similar aims to Represent Women, only they support Refugee Charitable Organisation’s. Then she met with Reverend Sarah Moon and Positive about Inclusion to explore some possible future collaborations! Erin also joined a meeting with the OPCC of Northumbria regarding Women’s safety to carry on the important conversation about a women’s safety charter, as well as attending a VAWG panel meeting at the office too. Lastly, Erin attended the Civil Society Policy Leads meeting hosted by VONNE to discuss any key policy events or updates and to share themes and emerging trends. We also carried on further discussions with the women’s sector regarding strengthening partnerships and Liv also attended the Women’s Homelessness Alliance Steering Group Meeting where the women’s homelessness consensus was discussed in detail.
Our last update for this month is relating to our progress with Become the Bridge. As we have shared in previous monthly updates we have been working on our Become the Bridge Action plan, and whilst we created this in September, our Action Plan is just the start of our journey and we are committed to continuing to learn from this campaign.
Both Grace and Erin have attended learning sessions this month and we would like to end this blog with a quote from Jennie Pitt, Head of Diversity, Equality Inclusion and Colleague Experience at Newcastle Building Society and guest speaker at the NEARC Turning Insight into Action webinar. She simply stated that “good intentions don’t deliver change,” and whilst this is something we have probably all heard before it’s important to be reminded from time to time that action is what delivers meaningful change and it takes courage and commitment from us all to be the change we want to see, in all aspects of our life and work.