WOW! Celebrating Three Years of Women of Wythenshawe (2022-2025)

Women of Wythenshawe were out in full swing on Saturday evening to celebrate three years of hard work, personal and relational development and social change. The project has brought together nine local women’s groups to identify their priorities and take action on gendered poverty in Wythenshawe:

• Better Things Ambassadors
• Bright Futures Friends
• Dandelion Savers
• Know Africa
• Lifted Carers
• Mums Mart
• SEND Together
• Well Women
• Wythenshawe Women’s Welfare Association

Members from across these groups initially engaged in a series of learning exchanges whereby the women leaders visited one another in their local community settings. Alongside storytelling workshops, learning exchanges, and a co-created skills-based training programme, and gradually sharing and recognising their common experiences, this has enabled women to build their confidence to work with each other, deepen their understanding of their common experiences, and develop strong solidarity relationships.

“Before participating in WoW I have never attended a meeting with lots of people. I was a shy person; and it increased my confidence. It helped me meet with other people without feeling nervous…I feel that individually I have really benefited from being part of the WOW Network, it has changed my life!” WoW Participant

WoW women formed action groups around three main priority issues for women living in poverty in Wythenshawe which they identified as requiring systems change; Domestic Abuse; the Housing crisis; and the system around Special Educational Needs support for children, parents and carers.

Domestic Abuse

The Domestic Abuse Action Group partnered with Wythenshawe Safespots, a survivor-led support charity based in Wythenshawe, and worked with On Our Radar to gather survivors’ experiences and create a series of videos for a specialist online training portal reflecting the diverse experiences of Wythenshawe women. The training portal covers ten different kinds of abuse and survivor testimonies reflecting on the support they received and what would have made a difference. The training is aimed at public sector workers across Wythenshawe, aiming to improve the support received by survivors and will be launched in September 2025.

SEND

Leaders from the SEND Action Group have been busy undertaking training in SEND Law, IPSEA Courses, Mental Health and SEND Awareness to develop their capacity and knowledge to support service-users within their local SEND support groups. Working with SENETA, they produced a series of ‘myth-busting’ videos aimed at parents and carers of SEND children to raise awareness and share knowledge across the Wythenshawe SEND community. They partnered with The Grange specialist school to undertake a Train the Trainer programme. Working through new and existing connections, leaders aim to deliver this training in Wythenshawe schools and raise awareness among teachers and staff members to increase appropriate levels of SEND provision.

“Learning about the current situation in schools and the experiences of people with disability, there are some similarities still to when I was going through the system and it is good to be working on trying to change it… I’d like to see more schools taking up the training we are working on from The Grange and also the Inclusion Quality Mark accreditation.” WoW Participant

Housing and Inclusive Development

Born out of the Housing Action group, the Wythenshawe Central Network is a constituted, neighbourhood forum currently with 20 organisational and 100 individuals across its membership. The network was formed amidst increasing local concerns about what was happening with the redevelopment of Wythenshawe’s Civic Centre. With support from urban design consultants, WoW leaders brought together local residents, community groups, civic and faith organisations through a series of community workshops and a neighbourhood walkabout with local councillors (header image) to map out their hopes, fears and priorities for Wythenshawe. The network has partnered with Churches Together Wythenshawe to advocate for a stronger local influence in decision-making processes and ensure the diverse needs of Wythenshawe’s community are reflected in plans to unfold.

“I’ve learned where to go, and who to approach, and what to say to the people that we are asking things from, whereas two years ago I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of what we are doing now. I’ve learned how to understand the jargon, how to approach things, how to be in the room with so many highly qualified people, but feel that I belong there which is very important because people like me don’t usually feel they belong in that room.” (WCN Committee member and member of the WoW Housing Action Group)

WCN are a key ‘local area team’ within the wider Social Homes for Manchester coalition who have just contributed to an increase in social rent housing targets for the city of Manchester from 5% social or affordable rents to 21% social rent.

Women-led Enterprise

Some women leaders have partnered with Flourish Together CIC to develop their skills and capacity and establish their own social enterprises. Bright Futures Friends are running outdoor learning activities, and exploring becoming incorporated to do SEND awareness training consultancy. Well Women and Know Africa leaders are hoping to set up catering enterprises and we had the pleasure of having their delicious food at our celebration party on Saturday!

It has been an amazing three years of learning, skills-development, challenges, achievement and growth for WoW women. Leaders have worked extremely hard and are keen to continue advocating for systems change on gendered poverty by working closely in collaboration with local councillors, partner organisations, and most importantly each other.

“Someone once said that unity is strength and that is certainly true of the Women of Wythenshawe project. Having the opportunity to be part of a hugely varied and diverse group of women, sharing experiences from different perspectives and experiences only makes this incredible group of women stronger in their pursuit of systems and policy change and in support and understanding of each other.”  Wow Partner