Six MonthsProgress Report 2015– 2016
We have tried to make this form as accessible as possible however if you need further assistance please contact your VAF Development Officer
Please refer to the Guidance document before completing the form
Project InformationContact Person / Eileen Keith, Manager
Funding Programme / Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Fund
Amount of Grant received / £22,780 from April to September 2015
Project Website (if applicable) / n/a
1 / About your organisation Please see guidance note 1
Creating Space is an organisation run by women for women in the Cauberdale area of Scotland. We started out in 1995 as a group of volunteers organising coffee mornings and weekly outings to address social isolation in our predominantly rural community. We believe that through providing opportunities for women to connect to one another, to learn new skills and to become more active in volunteering we can build greater resilience in our community and create a space which contributes to women’s increased wellbeing and empowerment.
Over the past twenty years we have grown into a team of 7 staff members and 19 volunteers, including our 6 Directors. We offer a range of services including therapeutic groups, advocacy support, befriending projects, lifelong learning opportunities and playgroups for children. In 2014/15, 263 women and their children accessed Creating Space.
2 / About your Funded ProjectPlease see guidance note 2
Funding from the VAWG Fund has enabled us to appoint a full time Coordinator whose job it is to develop activities which address social isolation amongst older women (aged 60 +) affected by gender based violence (GBV). Some funding is allocated towards the running costs of these activities and a proportion is allocated to organisational overheads.
The project is a partnership between Creating Space and the local Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis who undertook consultation with women who access their services. The consultation found a gap in opportunities for older women to build social networks, learn new skills and become more active in their communities. As well as a lack of opportunities, the consultation found that older women affected by GBV in Cauberdale frequently face additional barriers to overcoming social isolation including financial, health and mobility issues and loss of contact with family and friends.
The project is now halfway through its third year.
- 3
- What Fund Outcomes are you working towards? Please see guidance note 3
Fund Outcome 1:The harmful effects of violence and abuse against women and girls are minimised due to an increased focus on prevention.
Fund Outcome 2:The harmful effects of violence and abuse against women and girls are reduced due to the provision of early interventions.
Project Outcome 1:Older women affected by GBV in the Cauberdale area have more opportunities to build social networks, learn new skills and become more active in their communities.(links to FO 2)
Project Outcome 2:Older women affected by GBV in the Cauberdale area feel less isolated, are more confident in themselves and more optimistic about their future.(links to FO 2)
Project Outcome 3:Older women affected by GBV in the Cauberdale area have more opportunities to educate and raise awareness of GBV amongst the wider community, leading to an increase in community awareness of the issues and a reduction in social tolerance of GBV.(links to FO 1)
4 / How much progress has been made towards your project outcomes?
Please tell us about each of your outcomes separately:
Project Outcome 1:Older women affected by GBV in the Cauberdale area have more opportunities to build social networks, learn new skills and become more active in their communities.
Indicators:
- Number of referrals by referring organisation, geography and experience of GBV
- Number of different activities and participation in these activities
- Women report learning new skills
- Women report becoming more active in their community
What you actually did Please see guidance note 4
The last six months have been a very busy and exciting period. We have taken forward the following activities:
- Fact-finding: This is an ongoing activity which aims to map leisure, socialising, sport and learning opportunities for older women in the Cauberdale area, making it easier for us to signpost our clients. In late August 2015, a new Lottery-funded multi-purpose community hall and swimming pool opened in Portanalsh (north Cauberdale). With great excitement, we will be piloting a Senior Women’s Swimming Group starting in October, after the school break.
- Volunteer recruitment and training: We have two recruitment drives a year and offer an induction and ongoing training programme to our volunteers depending on the projects they wish to be involved in. Our Volunteer Development Worker, funded through the Robertson Trust, has worked with the local Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis to embed GBV awareness in the volunteering training programme. Creating Space staff and Directors have also participated in this training. In June 2015, we successfully completed the recruitment of 5 volunteers, at least two of whom will be active contributors to the Senior Women’s Project.
- Promoting our Senior Women’s Project: Our Coordinator has steadily been building awareness of the project amongst local organisations through conducting agency visits and delivering presentations at local multi-agency events. In April 2015, we also launched our new leaflet (see below) which was designed by the participants of our Senior Women’s Group. To-date most of our referrals are via Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis and we wish to expand on this (see next section “what difference we made” for full analysis).
- One-to-one introductory meetings with women who are referred to our project: One-to-one introductory meetings are designed to give women the opportunity to explore the type of activities they may be interested in participating in. They are conducted by the Coordinator and can be a home visit, a meeting at Creating Space or at the referring organisation, for example Women’s Aid or Rape Crisis. Most women prefer to have their support worker present during the introductory meeting and we have found the dynamic of this arrangement helpful to ensure women feel safe and comfortable to talk about any hopes and concerns they may have of their involvement.
- Individual Activity Plans: If a woman chooses to participate in our project we work with her over a couple of meetings to set up a tailored Activity Plan. This covers things like her interests, the skills she wants to gain, the activities she wants to take part in and any additional support she would like or need to access these activities. Activities can range from accessing a local coffee morning, swimming class or IT course to befriending (our befriending project is funded by the local authority and run by volunteers). The Coordinator or a volunteer will offer to accompany women to activities, at the very least ensuring the travel and covering the cost of activities (e.g. getting a Leisure Card or travel pass) are straightforward. Activity Plans are normally reviewed on a six weekly basis.
- Group Activities: At the request of the women (and with their help) we have set up a Senior Women’s Group which meets every Wednesday at 11am at Creating Space. A broad range of interesting activities are offered: games, trivia, book reviews, movies, computing, coffee mornings and outings. During the year there are also guest presenters who come to share various topics of interest with the group.
Indicator 1: Number of referrals by referring organisation, geographyand experience of GBV
From the table below, it is clearthat referralnumbers are steadily growing as are the diversity of our referral sources. Predominantly however, most of our referrals still come from Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis. This is likely to be because many women will present to other services in crisis or would benefit from trauma recovery support as a first step to eventually accessing Creating Space.Nevertheless, we still feel there is scope for better referral pathways from Social Work and Adult Mental Health Services, something our Coordinator will be focusing on building over the coming months. An additional point of interest is that two women who access the project have invited a friend or family member who has been affected by GBV to also join. In both these cases we explored whether the woman would also find a referral to WA or RC beneficial. One wished to meet with a Support Worker from WA and has said she is still seeing her on a weekly basis.Geographically, we are more successfulinreaching out to women in the south of Cauberdale where most of the population resides. Donations raised through our Race Night and Silent Auction (close to £1700 in total) helps pay for the travel costs of women coming from the west coast. We recognise however that more needs to be done to ensure women in remote rural areas do not face travel barriers to accessing the Senior Women’s Project.
Number of new referrals / Year 1 / Year 2 / First 6 Months
of Yr 3
By source:
- Women’s Aid
- Rape Crisis
- Social Work
- Adult MHS
- Invitation by friend
- Other
5
0
0
0
0 / 13
8
2
0
0
1 / 7
5
1
1
2
1
By experience of GBV:
- Domestic Abuse
- Rape, Sexual Assault
- Childhood SA
- Other (e.g. Forced Marriage)
- Multiple
3
2
0
3 / 10
6
5
1
2 / 6
5
4
0
2
By Geography:
- South
- East
- North
- West
3
2
0 / 15
4
3
2 / 7
5
4
1
TOTALS / 14 / 24 / 17
Indicator 2: Number of different activities and participants in these activities
We engaged with all 17 referred women for an introductory meeting. 15 women chose to take part in the project. The remaining two felt they were not ready to take on anything new. They have however agreed with their WA or RC support workers that they may wish to engage in the future.
In terms of engagement with activities, we are very pleased to report that out of the 24 women in the last financial year (2014/15), 19 are still involved in the project and many of them frequently or occasionally take part in the Senior Women’s Group, one now as a volunteer worker.
For this 6 month period, out of the 15 women who chose to take part in the project 11are still involved. Reasons for moving on for the remaining four include moving out of the area (1), completing the activities they wanted to complete (1), changes in health circumstances (1) and not known (1). There is an explanation for the ‘not known’ category under Project Outcome 2.
Activity / Number of Women (April- Sept 2015) Figures include women from previous years who are still involved. Some women participate in multiple activities.
Getting a Leisure Card or Travel Pass / 8
Senior Women’s Group / 17
Sport opportunities (walking, swimming, zumba) / 6
Lifelong learning (ECDL, cooking etc.) / 11
Complementary Therapy Groups e.g. Reiki, Yoga, Art Therapy (offered at Creating Space at different times to Senior Women’s Group) / 7
Volunteering for Creating Space / 1
Volunteering elsewhere / 2 (informal – have set up own local coffee morning)
1 (formal – volunteering for local gardening project)
Driving lessons / 1
Indicator 3: Women report learning new skills
Image 2:Our European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Graduates, September 2015 (image has been lightened to protect confidentiality)
Based on the reviews of Individual Activity Plans (6 Month and 12 Month Reviews), the following statistics have been collated:
- Proportion of women saying they have learned new skills:
- At 6 Months = 58%
- At 12 Months = 75%
- “I was proud to have passed my ECDL” Laura
- “Taking driving lessons has been a lifelong ambition. The fact that I am behind a wheel shows how much confidence I’ve gained in myself. Anything is possible now!” Kathy
Again, based on the reviews:
- Proportion of women saying they have become more active in their community
- At 6 Months = 65%
- At 12 Months = 89%
Project Outcome 2:Older women affected by GBV in the Cauberdale area feel less isolated, are more confident in themselves and more optimistic about their future.
Indicators:
- Women report feeling less isolated
- Women report feeling more confident in themselves
- Level of personal neglect and health related issues amongst women accessing our serviceis reduced.
What you actually did Please see guidance note 6
The activities we run are no different from the ones described under the previous outcome however we wish to highlight two additional points:
- Partnership with Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis: The partnership with Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis has been the cornerstone of the whole project and not just in terms of referrals. Our Coordinator works very closely with workers from WA and RC to ensure a full package of support is in place for the women so that they may maximise the benefit of their participation in the Senior Women’s Project. Furthermore, WA and RC have worked closely with the Coordinator and Volunteer Development Worker to ensure that our organisation’s staff and volunteers, including our Board, have a better understanding of the issues affecting women, especially older women, who have experienced GBV.
- Participation activities:As a result of the early success of our project and the continuing discussions we’ve had with Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis, the local VAW Multi-Agency Partnership has committed to looking at ways to improve the experiences of older women affected by GBV in the formulation of their Action Plan for 2016-18. Over May and June 2015 the Senior Women’s Group undertook a comprehensive consultation activity within its membership. Based on this, a Report was produced with recommendations for consideration by the MAP. The Report findings were also discussed with Catriona Gillies MSP in a meeting held on August 6th 2015. She pledged to communicate them to the Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Men’s Violence Against Women. This is an incredible outcome for the women involved.
We have used a variety of toolsto capture and monitor how much enjoyment and benefit women are experiencing as a result of this project. We are also keen to ensure we monitor any adverse impact and take steps to minimise this as much as possible. Key to doing this is working very closely with the women’s WA or RC support workers, especially in the early stages of women’s involvement in the project. Support workers have built long-term relationships of trust with the women and are frequently better placed to discuss the more sensitive or personal aspects of women’s hopes and fears. For this reason, it is not always possible for Creating Space to state with certainty why a woman has chosen to take a break from the project or to disengage completely, hence the ‘not known’ category mentioned under the previous outcome in reference to why women disengage from the project.
Indicator 1: Women report feeling less isolated
Based on the reviews:
- Proportion of women saying they feel less isolated:
- At 6 Months = 94%
- At 12 Months = 98%
Case Study 1: Hajira, 66
Hajira (not her real name) arrived in Cauberdale from Pakistan when she was 16 years old. Her husband was abusive and controlling of her throughout their whole married life together. When he died two years ago, Hajira was referred by her GP to a community mental health nurse (CPN) due to concerns about the management of her depression. The CPN was able to recognise that Hajira would benefit from specialist abuse recovery support and helped her to access the local Women’s Aid. Six months ago Women’s Aid referred Hajira to the Creating Space project as she was interested in learning how to email as a step towards rebuilding relationships with her two sons who had both left home several years ago and moved to Pakistan and the United States respectively. At first Hajira did not want to access any other activities. After completing the computing course, she and her WA support worker would come to Creating Space to use our computer. In time, Hajira felt more comfortable in our centre and expressed an interest in joining in the Senior Women’s Group. She has taken part in the Group twice now and has told us she is enjoying it and would like to keep coming. Hajira is also communicating with her son on a regular basis and recently received, via email, photographs of her two grandchildren.
“When I first came to Creating Space, I did so because I had decided to contact my children. This was a big step for me. I was worried about being rejected. Even though some years have gone by, what happened affected all of us and I know it affected them a lot. When I got that first email from my son in Pakistan, I could not speak for joy. It changed who I am as a person. It changed the way I see things. It made me more open to taking part in other things here which has also made a difference.” Hajira