IN 2008 we published a Case Study on the Women Organising in Wolverhampton Network.  We worked with the network to explore  lessons about community empowerment.  You can download the report as a pdf by clicking here.  As the introduction explains the report:

…discusses the building blocks to its development, its achievements, the challenges it has faced and the key lessons learnt.
It is hoped that information on lessons learnt will prove useful to other networks in planning their future development and to organisations and funding bodies who are commissioning services from community engagement networks

The whole report is fascinating and well worth downloading, but if you just want the key lessons we’ve out these below.

1 Resource requirements: Sustainable,longer-term funding

A key barrier to building an effective community partnership has been the inability to secure a long-term commitment to resourcing the network (sustainable funding). Funding has been approved on an annual basis which has made it difficult to commit to and plan longer-term initiatives. This has led to loss of expertise and knowledge with the departure of paid staff. It also means that, if future funding is not available, it will be difficult to maintain infrastructure developments such as the new website. This uncertainty has already impacted on the development of the website, for example, WOW would have liked to include a website discussion forum open to all women but were concerned about their ability to monitor use of the site which may lead to the forum being abused.
Overall, uncertainty over funding has meant WOW has been in ‘stop-start’ mode and during periods where there has been no or little funding has struggled to keep going and maintain its profile.
Two further issues were the need for longer- lead in periods for funding and for funding payments to be made in advance as it is unrealistic to expect the accountable body or other organisation to ‘bank roll’ the network.

2 Need for leadership and co-ordination

One of the key lessons learnt, given the capacity constraints faced by individual members, was the importance of having a paid co-ordinator to work with the chair or management committee to promote the network and act as a single point of contact, consult with members, help provide leadership, and co-ordinate activities. For example, the network is finding it difficult to pull together the work of the six strands of their work programme, and members are concerned that, by using this approach, WOW may have failed to adequately develop its strategic links with local decision-makers and/ or may be perceived to have had its agenda set by just one or two of its members. In addition, there is a need to ensure a strong
and representative management committee. This means resources are required for capacity building for committee members, including training.

3 Management of staff

A further lesson learnt is the need for the management committee, rather a specific member organisation or the accountable body, to oversee and agree the work programme of staff employed. There is a danger if only one organisation is responsible for this role that the Network is perceived by others as delivering on that particular organisation’s agenda rather than working in the interests of members as a whole. This in turn could discourage women’s organisations and individual women engaging with the network.

4 Representing the network and ensuring two-way feedback

When attending committee meetings members of the management committee are acting on behalf of all women’s groups and organisations from across Wolverhampton. This means they need to be seen to be representing the views of members as a whole and providing feedback to WOW. There were issues around organisations effectively ‘wearing two hats’, or turning up at meetings of the same forum on one occasion representing their own organisation and at the next meeting representing WOW; this led to confusion both for strategic partners but also amongst WOW’s wider membership. In part this is a capacity issue, but it is also an area where the network needs to agree protocols outlining what is expected and communication strategies and methods. It is also an area where strategic partners need to provide funding to build the capacity of representatives to engage with their constituents and consider how they can assist, for example by disseminating meeting papers and agendas earlier, producing reports etc.,in electronic as well as hard-copy format.

5 Keeping women’s organisations and women informed

Due to the time constraints faced by individual women and women’s organisations the network has focussed on disseminating information and securing feedback from its wider membership and contacts via electronic means (website,
email updates), a newsletter and one–off events. However, this has meant that some groups and individual women are less likely to engage with the network (for example women who do not have IT skills or do not have access to IT) and therefore their views may not be represented. There was support for holding regular wider network meetings to keep members informed and to facilitate networking. Whilst the majority of women may not want regular involvement there will be some who do and if this opportunity is not provided they may disengage with WOW. This means that resources need to be secured to hold both management committee and general meetings of the Network.

6 Raising awareness and encouraging women’s organisations and women to become involved

Where the agenda has been set by government, local council or external agencies it is important to carry out preliminary awareness-raising in relation to the issues and the impact on women in order to encourage women’s organisations and individual women to participate in discussions and provide their views.
The Network also needs to be able to evidence that it is comprehensively engaged with its constituents and therefore is a credible network in terms of acting as a consultation conduit
and representing the views of its constituents. It needs to be able to demonstrate this to organisations it is trying to influence.

7 Demonstrating that women’s voices have been heard and have had an impact

It is important to be able to show women that they have contributed to something that has made a difference. This means the Network needs to develop planned dissemination programmes, determine which people to target, promote success, and evaluate their impact and the difference they have made. This inevitably has resource implications. However, it is also important to recognise that it takes time for strategies, research, etc. to which women have contributed to have an impact on the ground and this may mean the Network needs to look for some early wins to establish its credibility and encourage engagement.