News from the LWNMEW
Newsletter - Issue 79
Please click here to download the latest edition of our newsletter in PDF format. (File size 2MB.) It includes details of a recent exchange programme through which staff spent 3 weeks in Oman, working within similar organisations in Muscat and meeting with many successful women in senior positions within government departments and other sectors. There is the usual regular update on progress with the Widening Horizons project and a report about the new LWNMEW sustainability strategy.
Also featured is a farewell message from Robina Kauser, who has accepted a new permanent position as a project worker in Blackburn. Summarising her experiences at LWNMEW, she says "For me, the best moments have been seeing women achieving success at all levels, through accessing training, volunteering, gaining employment and developing skills and confidence."
Everyone at LWNMEW wishes her the very best for the future.
Preston's
annual Health Mela took place this year on 17th April at its usual venue
- the GHS Centre on South Meadow Lane in Preston.
Chief Guest this year was Dr Mike Cheshire, Medical Director of NHS North West. The event was supported by NHS Central Lancashire, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the North West Ambulance Service, with funding support from Grassroots Grants.
Now in its ninth year and nationally recognised as an example of best practice in community healthcare engagement, the Health Mela featured a wide variety of displays, activities, health checks and workshops.
Key features included:
- Fun competitions
- General health assessments
- Height & weight checks
- Advice about exercise, alcohol and smoking
- Holistic medicine
- Reflexology
- Alternative medicine
- Blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol checks
Winter 2009/2010 Training Programme
The Winter training programme, launched as part of the Widening Horizons Project, is now available. It features courses developed specifically for BME women, which will be held at venues across Lancashire. Subjects include ESOL, employability workshops, counselling, food hygiene and others.
To see the full list, please download our poster, here. (PDF document - 84k.)
Preston Women's Refuge - Anniversary Celebrations
Preston's Women's refuge recently celebrated its 15th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion, it hosted a special event on 2nd December 2009 at St. Johns Minster, Church Street in Preston.
The Chief Guest Speaker was Dr Aisha Gill from Roehampton University and the topic of her presentation was ‘Violence Against Women, Crimes of 'Honour' and Forced Marriage: Is there a link?’ Other speakers included Chief Superintendent Tim Jacques and Lorraine Norris, Chief Executive of Preston City Council.
Highlights included exhibitions and displays about Preston Women’s Refuge’s work over the past 15 years and the launch of the organisation's new name. The celebration also included a short formal AGM.
Newsletter - Issue 78
Please click here to download a copy of our newsletter (issue 78) in PDF format. (File size 2.2MB.)
Routes to Solidarity Newsletter
A
new newsletter has been launched for everyone involved in fighting the
poverty and discrimination experienced by black and minority ethnic women
and their organisations, particularly in the north of England. Issue one
of Routes to Solidarity contains the latest project news, updates on coming
events and useful resources.
The overall project goal is to create a stronger BME women’s sector, with increased strategic and influencing power, particularly in the north of England. The project, funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government, offers a unique opportunity for ethnic minority women and their organisations to collectively share their experiences, and to act on the needs and issues they experience.
Issue one can be downloaded here. (PDF file - 570K.)
Members Invited to Take Part in Leadership Programme
Business owners and managers from BME communities are being invited to take advantage of a £9.5 million business support programme funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency. LEAD is a 10 month leadership development programme that was originally piloted by Lancaster University but which is now being delivered by 13 different providers across the North West.
One
of these organisations is the not-for-profit business support company,
Enterprise4All, which is delivering the programme in association with
Blackburn College and which is particularly keen to see greater levels
of attendance by women from minority ethnic backgrounds.
"Women from BME communities are currently under-represented on the programme," says E4All's Mubarak Chati. "This is a real shame because it's clear that LEAD has a very positive impact on the companies that take part in it. Previous delegates reported, on average, improvements in turnover of around £200,000 with a corresponding rise in profits. That's obviously an enormous improvement for many companies and it demonstrates the value of the programme. We don't want BME businesses to miss out on the benefits of LEAD and so we're doing all we can to encourage eligible business people to come forward."
LEAD is open to North West companies (including social enterprises and community interest companies) with between 1 and 20 employees and requires between two and three days' commitment per month on the part of all delegates. The programme emphasises leadership and strategy and comprises a mixture of interactive workshops, management exchanges and inspirational masterclasses presented by high profile business leaders. These and other elements emphasise the importance of senior managers being able to step back from the day to day routines and to give thought to how best to grow the business - rather than simply how to run it.
Working with cohorts of up to 25 businesses, the programme will be delivered mainly from Blackburn College's prestigious new University Centre.
More details about the programme and the funding support that is available can be found on the Enterprise4All website or by calling Mubarak Chati on 0845 607 0786.
Newsletter - Issue 77
Please click here
to download a copy of our newsletter (issue 77) in PDF format. (File size
1.19MB.)
New Outreach Officer
The
LWNMEW would like to welcome Robina Tariq, its new part time Outreach
Officer, who has started recently with the Widening Horizons Team. She
will be covering the Pendle area and some areas in Preston.
Robina has worked in the community field for many years and will offer a highly competent service to the clients in her allocated areas. We hope you will all make her feel welcome and support her in her work.
Widening Horizons - Achievements
The Widening Horizons Project is now in year two of its operation. We
have provided full details of year 1 delivery to the Big Lottery Fund.
A summary of the key delivery in year 1 is as follows:
- 156 women have been given assistance from the team
- 32 women have attended capacity building programmes
- 39 women have attended an employability programme
- 10 women have achieved employment
- 12 women have taken on work placements
- 39 women have enrolled on literacy courses
- 20 women are working towards a Level 2 award
Additionally:
- 11 women have achieved a Level 3 in Community Interpreting and 14 women are currently working towards this qualification
- 20 women have achieved a First Aid certificate.
- 68 women have been taken on social outings.
Capacity Building for Women Leaders
Twenty two women have successfully completed the Leadership course delivered
in partnership with Lancashire County Council across Lancashire. Feedback
has been very positive with women stating that the course has been a very
enjoyable experience that has helped them improve their leadership skills.
Further inspirational sessions will be delivered for those who have completed, with the possibility of further leadership units.
First Aid
Basic
First Aid courses have been very successful! Women found the courses extremely
enjoyable enabling them to learn and develop confidence in dealing with
emergencies especially resuscitation (CPR), different types of injuries,
bandaging etc.
They particularly found practicing on each other was very useful and able to use the knowledge and practical learning in their employment, voluntary work and community.
Other News:
The current edition of the newsletter contains details of forthcoming
courses, trips, awards, workshops and other opportunities.
Previous News:
Newsletter - Issue 76
Please click here
to download issue 76 of our newsletter in PDF format. (File size 445kb.)
Annual General Meeting
The 2009 AGM was held on Wednesday 20th May at the Spring Hill Community
Centre. The event considered the re-election of the management committee.
Widening Horizons Project
The LWNMEW would like to announce that Farhana Musarat, one of the part
time Outreach Officers has now left the Widening Horizons team and moved
onto pastures new. We hope you will join us in wishing her the best in
her future. Robina Kauser Tariq (not to be confused with Robina Kauser,
our Learning & Employment Officer) has been appointed as Farhana's
replacement.
Capacity Building for Women Leaders
Following the successful course run late in 2007, in partnership with
Lancashire County Council through the PVE funding budget, three new courses
have started across Lancashire in Pendle, Altham and Preston this week.
A phenomenal thirty six women were selected after application. This has
been due to the hard work of all staff and the community reach of the
Lancashire Wide Network for Minority Ethnic Women. However, there may
still be a few places available to late ‘drop outs’ from the
course
Femocracy Course
The LWNMEW is working with the Fawcett Society on a project concerning
ethnic minority women’s political empowerment called 'femocracy'.
The project aims to help ethnic minority women engage in politics and
use their political voice.
“Ethnic minority women are one of the most excluded groups from formal political decision making processes and they are not accessing the tools of political power,” explains Joella Hazel, who leads on the project. "They are less likely to be registered to vote and also tend to be less engaged with mainstream politics than white women and ethnic minority men."
In the run up to the European Elections, femocracy will be working in partnership with ethnic minority voluntary and community groups to deliver several free workshops in and around Lancashire on politics and democracy for ethnic minority women. The events will build ethnic minority women’s understanding of how democracy is organised, how to take part and influence decision making through exercising their right to vote, the relevance of politics and how politics impacts on their lives.
Newsletter - Issue 75
Please click here
to download issue 75 of our newsletter in PDF format. (File size 1.2MB.)
Widening Horizons Project
The Widening Horizons project is progressing well with the full complement
of staff now working with women in the key target areas for the project
of Pendle, Preston, Accrington and Great Harwood. Capacity building and
employability workshop schedules for the different areas in Lancashire
will be available, as soon as we have venues and times agreed. Anyone
interested in further information should contact the Widening Horizons
Team. Employability workshops have started in Great Harwood and Accrington
and have received some very positive feedback. For details please see
Robina’s report in the newsletter.
You can download the latest Widening Horizons Project leaflet here. (PDF format: 424k.)
Enterprise4All
We are in the process of establishing a working partnership with Enterprise4All
to ensure that women who are interested in starting their own business
have full support and information. We will ensure that we communicate
activities that are taking place across Lancashire and your opportunity
for engagement. If any of you are in the process of starting your business
please do not hesitate to contact us and we will try to ensure that you
are fully supported through this process.
Please click here to download issue 74 of our newsletter in PDF format. (File size 1.05MB.)
‘Bring a friend' event’
Great Harwood Youth & Community Centre, January 2009
Fatima Shah is currently in the process of arranging a ‘Bring a
friend’ event in Great Harwood. The event will be held in the New
Year and will be aimed at Minority Ethnic women. The aim of the event
is to bring together women from the local area and give them an opportunity
to highlight their needs and voice their opinions about what services
and support they require. The event will include prizes and raffles, Health
awareness as well as refreshments.
Outreach Areas
The LWNMEW would like to advise everyone that Fatima and Farhana are part
time outreach officers and have now been allocated their working areas
for the project. Fatima will be covering Accrington and Great Harwood.
Farhana will be covering the Pendle district and both will be sharing
Preston. Robina will be covering all four.
Preston Community Network - a Departure
Steven Dickson, PSP Liaison Officer at Preston Community Network, leaves
his post at the end of October 2008, following a change in funding arrangements.
His colleagues and the Executive would like to thank Steven for all his
efforts during the last four years and to wish him well in the future.
Women Mean business
Following the success of the ‘Women Mean Business’ pilot project
that took place earlier this year, in Hyndburn, we are now working with
the Enterprise Trust to look at launching courses in Accrington, Burnley
and in the Blackburn area. The pilot course received positive feedback
and was beneficial in developing women’s confidence and capacity
to consider self employment as an option. The courses will be open to
residents in the areas highlighted and dates and venues will be available
shortly via email and posters.
Capacity Building for Women Leaders
Initial discussions are also taking place with Lancashire County Council
to look at running some further capacity building courses for women leaders
in the coming months. This, once again, follows the successful course
run late last year which worked with women leaders from new and emerging
groups. The course had 12 women starting and 12 women successfully completing.
Feedback from the attendees was very positive and they recommended the
course for other women in a leadership role. For more details, please
contact us. However,
please note that the course will have eligibility criteria that will need
to be met.
Focus Group for Lake District
A focus group was arranged by the Widening Horizons team giving the ladies
of Accrington a chance to express their opinions and views on what barriers
were preventing them from visiting Lake District. This focus group was
arranged to work in partnership with Lake District National Park Authority
(LDNPA). It was great to see the ladies from BME communities engaging
in the session with the team and each other and the evaluations of the
session indicated that the women found the focus group to be very useful
and were keen to take an active role. The ladies who attended reported
that they were glad to have been invited. The stars of the session were
two children who drew lots of pretty pictures as well as completing the
quiz very enthusiastically.
