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Latest news
Do you think you are worth your weight in gold?
Want to demonstrate the economic, social and environmental impacts of your work to funders, commissioners, policy makers and your supporters?
WRC, supported by the City Parochial Foundation and the new economics foundation (nef), is starting a new project with five front-line women's organisations in London on measuring their economic, social and environmental impacts. Organisations will learn new and important skills and be able to demonstrate the full value of their work - essential in an increasingly competitive funding environment. Read more about the project. Interested organisations should complete our very brief application form and return it to policy@wrc.org.uk by Monday 1 June 2009 at 12 noon.
News from the women's sector
New funding for women's projects
As part of their commitment to fund work on Women’s Safety, Rosa, in partnership with City Parochial Foundation and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation have announced a new initiative to strengthen community-based prevention work on FGM in the UK. For more information including how to apply, go to the Rosa website. Closing date: 24 July 2009.
The Ministry of Justice will be investing £15.6m to prevent and reduce offending by women. The funding will invest in the provision of additional services in the community to build capacity of one-stop-shop services at women’s centres and other specialist provision for women in the community. For the one-stop-shop services, the process will begin on 5 June with an information seminar. Contact womenspolicyteam@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk for a place. If you can't attend, a full information pack will be available after the event. See more here.
Consultations on tackling violence against women
The government is consulting on their proposed national violence against women strategy until 29 May 2009. It seeks to take a cross-government approach to violence against women, and encourages discussion on what more can be done to end violence against women and girls.
WRC will be responding and we want to include the expertise and experience of our members. Please email
darlene@wrc.org.uk by Tuesday 12 May with your key points e.g. case studies of your experience (for example, about funding for services or how well your local area is dealing with it) or your response. We will be developing a template response to support members to respond quickly and easily. You can look at the government's consultation paper or go to a regional event. The End Violence Against Women Coalition has published a briefing.
The Mayor of London is also consulting on his programme of action to tackle violence against women. The Mayor is seeking the views of Londoners, community organisations, practitioners, the voluntary sector and the statutory sector. See more here. You can fill in the online survey, or email or post your comments. The deadline is 20 July. WRC will be producing a briefing and responding. Contact charlotte@wrc.org.uk for more information.
Training for women's organisations
Building the future of your organisation
Thank you to everyone who completed our members' survey. From the results, we know that training events focusing on diversifying your funding are important to you, especially commissioning, partnerships and strategic planning. That is why we are now tailoring our training programme to meet these needs. Contact Samantha, WRC's Development Assistant (samantha@wrc.org.uk or 020 7324 3031) for more information about our training for women's organisations.
Want to know how you can use human rights in your work?
The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and WRC are holding a one day training course in Manchester on 8 June 2009. The training will provide essential human rights knowledge and skills to support women’s organisations in their work with and for women in the UK. The training will cover the origins, principles and development of human rights and how they relate to the women’s sector, an overview of human rights law and will explore the articles of the Human Rights Act and how they relate to women’s issues in practice. To find out more or to book your place, visit www.bihr.org.uk/open-training-courses, or contact training@bihr.org.uk or 020 7848 1879.
The Equality Bill is launched
Last week the government launched the Equality Bill. The single bill will replace the 116 different pieces of equality legislation in force, including 35 acts, 52 statutory instruments, 13 codes of practice and 16 European Commission directives. It will apply to England, Wales and Scotland. One of the key objectives of the Bill is to make discrimination legislation easier to understand, thereby improving equality. The government will be consulting on various parts of the Bill over the summer and aims for the Bill to become law in Spring 2010.
WRC will be publishing a full briefing soon. In the meantime read more here.
What do you need to know about the budget?
While neither women nor charities were headline items in the government's recent budget, there are some items of interest. The government announced a new Hardship Fund for third sector organisations providing front line services that have been hit by the recession (e.g. an increased demand for their services or cash flow difficulties). This is in addition to the recent Modernisation Fund and Targeted Support Fund, also aimed to help third sector organisations weather the recession.
The Women's Budget Group were disappointed with the lack of gender analysis in the budget and lack of support for women's organisations (read press release). Other charities have produced their own summaries and opinions of the recent budget. NCVO's initial reaction (and discussion on the Third Sector Foresight site). Directory of Social Change summary. The accountants Horwath Clark Whitehill have also produced a briefing of the Budget as it affects charities.
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