SASP 2023

New Horizons Somerset CIC has been implementing the pilot project of "Women health Project " funded by SASP - for a period of 5 months from Feb 2023-August 2023 providing set of health related activities in awareness raising, training, coaching and mentorship related health advice, leading to a more physically active life.

The targeted women were selected according to specific criteria that included disadvantaged women from the BAME community and their children and their extended family.

We also had some people with Long term health conditions attending the sessions and women who are socially excluded and their families.

This report provides information on achievement of project objectives and outcomes; challenges and actions taken to address; sustainability; lessons learned; and expenditure and resource utilization.

Statistics indicate that people from the BAME community have been adversely affected from COVID 19 (more so women with even fewer opportunities to live a more physical life and get more active in the community. The BAME community in |Wellington may be small but it is an increasing and growing community, the majority are health care workers working in local hospitals and local care homes.

Thus, their potential, inherent optimism and energy remains unrealized and their active participation in decisions that affect their lives and communities is limited. Through Women Health Project , our aim was to create opportunities for women and enhancing their inclusion and participation through increasing their skills and knowledge and enhancing their access to Healthy physical activities to improve their livelihoods in this difficult Post COVID 19 situation.

Project Outcomes:

We were able to target BAME women and their Families and have a tremendous Impact on their lives and encourage a more healthy living lifestyle. The project in the past 5 mths has reached 125 people through various activities, to including : Family Activities in the local community centre. Outdoor activities including trips out of wellington

The project has provided package of training in life skills healthy eating and physical activities such as walking groups, cycling classes to and from work, walking football , exercise classes e.g. introduction to Egyptian dancing, introduction to African dancing and other local family physical activities the achievement exceeded the planned target of provision of training for 50 women.

The Impact of the Together Fund Activity has been as follows:

The training on Life Skills has enhanced the self-confidence of women and boosted their potential capabilities to involve in the economic and social activities in their communities. This curricula empowers the beneficiaries to shift from reactive to proactive healthy and active decision making and provides them with the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy that they need to adopt good healthy and active management practices.
Ultimately, it enables people with the confidence and ability to take greater advantage of the healthy living lifestyles – formal and informal – that are available to them, giving them a sense of control in their day to day lives.
In Person Family Activities for Women and their families 4 Sessions Attendees= 110( over the 5 mths)
The funding enabled us to engage with families that were: • less likely to access organised out-of-school activities • more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health • more likely to experience social isolation. • From BAME communities in order to encourage social inclusion • Healthy meals provided for the 4 days • We involved children (and parents) in food preparation • This was a bespoke provision the idea was to encourage healthy eating and physical activity as families
This was an informal way to encourage healthy living and encouraging physical activity but also Sharing information, knowledge, and culture has boosted the relationship between the BAME women in Somerset and the local community. The sessions included: 1. Healthy Eating 2. Talking therapy 3. Remote walk and talk sessions
A Facebook page has been established by New Horizons Somerset for communication purpose between the BAME women in Somerset. There has been good communication for sharing information and informing our target group. - In Person events = 2 sessions which we called “Walk and Talk 2 Sessions in August and September 2023
Local awareness sessions delivered to a total of 7 women and their families who were selected according to same criteria mentioned in the executive summary for the purpose of targeting them again for more extensive training, mentorship, and other activities in the phase II of the project as a kind of sustainability and improvement. Walk and talk was merely a way to get people more active and a way to explore the beauty of the country side.
The themes of the sessions were focused on the concepts improve the livelihood conditions especially during the current difficulties .Attendants of these sessions expressed positively about the importance of such sessions among women and they were so enthusiastic to be enrolled; to share experiences and lessons learned; and to come-up with plausible recommendations to enhance and support the role of BAME women economically and socially in Wellington in Somerset.
Sustainability of the Project The funding has enabled us to provide the following activities which can be built upon . Recommendations and findings - Establish effective network that consists of the concerned women with mutual concerns to share information - We were able to facilitate coordination for providing the required services such as sign posting to technical and vocational training, mentorship support the beneficiaries in building their capacities and encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle ..
Development of facilitated Healthy and Active living sessions for BAME women and their families should be promoted. –
Provision of Healthy living incubations for women and Families to access the information, share knowledge, and developing their businesses. - Raise social awareness to support the role and participation of women in the community. –
Conduct regular workshops to discuss the emerging challenges and working to address/mitigate the challenges

The targeted women were selected according to specific criteria that included disadvantaged women from the BAME community and their children and their extended family. We also had some people with Long term health conditions attending the sessions and women who are socially excluded and their families. This report provides information on achievement of project objectives and outcomes; challenges and actions taken to address; sustainability; lessons learned; and expenditure and resource utilization.

Project Outcomes: Target BAME women and their Families Impact of the project on the Target group. The project has reached 125 people through various activities, to including Family activities , cycling to and from work, African dancing sessions and general advice on leading a more healthy and active lifestyle.

The project by its conclusion has enhanced the self-confidence of women and boosted their potential capabilities to involve in the economic and social activities in the local communities. This project has increased the beneficiaries lives and has enabled them to shift from reactive to proactive healthy and active decision making and provides them with the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and self efficacy that they need to adopt good healthy and active practices in their own and their families lives.

Ultimately, it has enabled people with the increased confidence and ability to take greater advantage of the healthy living lifestyles – formal and informal – that are available to them, giving them a sense of control in their day to day lives.

The Together fund has helped our organisation to reach and engage our local community in physical activity by helping us meet the costs of encouraging our beneficiaries to become more physically active. In the following ways:

1. We were able to purchase 5 bikes and the additional equipment, like helmets, Jackets, lights and bike repair equipment this has proven invaluable to the women who have the bikes now. They have been more physically active by riding the bikes to and from work and for pleasure. (Pictures of the 5 bikes and their new hosts are provided). The bikes enabled us to reach out to the growing community and allowed us to attract new participants to the project, we now have established and on going.

2. We were able to engage in local Walk and talk groups in Wellington and the surrounding areas this was merely a way to get people more active and a way to explore the beauty of the country side. Attendants of these sessions expressed positively about the importance of such sessions among women and they were so enthusiastic to be enrolled; to share experiences and lessons learned; and to come-up with plausible recommendations to enhance and support the role of BAME women economically and socially in Wellington in Somerset.

4. The funding has enabled us to provide the aforementioned activities which can be built upon . We have managed to Establish an effective network that consists of the concerned women with mutual concerns to share information - We were able to facilitate coordination for providing the required services such as sign posting to technical and vocational training, mentorship support the beneficiaries in building their capacities and encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle

5.- Development of facilitated Healthy and Active living sessions for BAME women and their families should be promoted. - Provision of Healthy living incubations for women and Families to access the information, share knowledge,

6-The funding enabled us to raise social awareness to support the role and participation of women in the community. And to Conduct regular workshops to discuss the emerging challenges and working to address/mitigate the challenges. The BAME community in Wellington is growing , the majority of the beneficiaries are Key workers in the health and social care community, some work for the NHS, some work for Private hospitals and local care homes. Action Taken: On the contrary, it is worth mentioning that that we have noticed as many women that engaged in this project so we have continued to work with these women even though we are not funded as we feel it is important to keep the momentum going.

7. The majority of our beneficiaries are single mums who are the breadwinner for their families and welcomed this opportunity provided by the project and to participate in every activity to the positive roles of the women in the society

8. The project has good impact in the Community, which encouraged high number of women to demand for enrolment in the project to improve their livelihood . - Providing life skills, Healthy and active lifestyles and financial literacy training to the women assisted much to build their self-confidence, manage their time, to plan and organize their work, and improve their general health and to live an active healthy lifestyle.

9.The funding also enabled us to provide regular mentorship and consultancies to the women and evaluation are highly important to enhance the sustainability and resilience and also finding alternative solutions in this very challenging and fluctuated situation.

10.- In addition to the training and mentorship, peer support, supporting women with interest means and organic friendship and informal support system has been established we will be continuing with this aspect even though we are unfunded at the moment.

11. The limitation of budget confined the activities on providing informal sessions on living an active and healthy lifestyle and mentorship support. However, providing vocational training in any future project will contribute highly to the quality of the services and products of the women.

12- In addition to the very modest budget and tight time for providing in the preparatory phase, the selection process depended on our ability to nominate the best Ideally, this process should have been announced publicly with having a team to interview the applicants, checking and ensuring the suitability with the criteria. Nevertheless, there was a good selection process through a more informal selection process

The funding has enabled us to literally change some of the women’s lives. In the following ways:

1.The purchase of the bikes has been integral to the success of the project, we have been able to engage more women in the project. We have now established a bike library where the current hosts will lend the bike to another woman in need in the area, they will have this bike free of charge for 6 MThs and then pas this on to the next recipient, we currently already have a waiting list of 10 women waiting for more bikes.

2. The mentoring sessions once a month in the local community centre have been another integral part of the project enabling the women and their families to meet in a safe environment and share issues of mutual concern. Lasting friendships have been made and an informal peer support group has been formed with individuals sharing issues of mutual concern and helping each other with problems.

We have made a video of the impact this has made on the women’s lives which we can share with you in due course.