The overall aim of this project was to develop an understanding of women in the place that they live. To build on the research that has been conducted to help us understand the general barriers to participation, and create localised brands that women can relate to and feel part of. It was funded through the TGC Activation Fund and is an example of how we harnessed the power of a national campaign/brand to support local communities.
Active Partners Trust started by identifying four places within Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to focus the work. We built on insight gathered from other projects, and spoke to partners within each area to further develop this. This exercise enabled us to understand what provision was already available in each place, the organisations that existed, who were already connected to women, the opportunities and potential gaps. We also explored the social media channels that women use, and created links to these as a means of connecting with women where they are.
We wanted to talk to girls and women about their barriers to physical activity. We spoke to a group of 12 to 14-year-old girls from vulnerable families (through the multi-agency team), and they told us that sport and physical activity was important to them (average score of 7/10) and the main activities they do are walking to school and PE. They don’t engage in community activities because there is a lack of things to do, and they perceive that they do not have a high enough level of ability to take part in the opportunities that do exist. They’d like to do dance-based fitness, they said they wanted it to be like a disco, with lights turned down low, and separate activities for school groups 7 - 8 and 9 – 10. For other activities such as orienteering, they were happy to join in with boys. They felt very challenged by girls, who they saw as being better than them, and they talked about lots of name calling that went on beyond the PE lesson into other lessons. They didn’t feel safe outside of the town centre, particularly on dark evenings. They said this was because of other girls. They weren’t comfortable to go onto the green spaces within Ripley.
We fed this information back to the local authority, who have just received planning permission for a new community building, who will work with the multi-agency team to integrate activities into their programme. We also linked the local leisure centre to the multi-agency team, who are organising for the girls to take part in the This Girl Can Swim programme.
We also consulted with 12 women who work for Amber Valley CVS based in Ripley. Because of their job, they were very aware of the activities that are available in Ripley; however, there was very little take up. Many of the women that were active did so for a purpose, walking the dog or to post a letter. They have a fixed working pattern, which restricted their opportunities to take part in physical activity. Through discussion the CEO agreed to look at more flexible working arrangements. They felt exercise should be fun, almost not recognisable as exercise. They were very supportive of each other and tried to find solutions to help each other, including bringing unused gym equipment from home and creating a small gym in the meeting room, and walking together at lunchtime. We suggested taking part in the Workplace Challenge. At first they seemed hesitant, however we followed this up, and seven of them had logged activity on the #findyour10mins challenge. They went on to tweet about it and e-mail us to say how inspired they’d been by our discussions.
Consultation in a third area led us to see that no two places are alike and that you can’t presume that women and their barriers are the same. Here we were told that the main barrier women have is self-confidence, because of domestic violence. It was explained to us that there is a culture of disrespect, which starts in young boys towards their mother, and often leads to domestic violence in adult life. It was felt that physical activity was important, as a confidence builder, to help break the cycle, and to help the women affected find the courage to get out of abusive relationships.
In the same place, through links created with Pinxton Youth, we learned that there were almost two cohorts of people. Those that had lived there all their lives, and a Polish community, that had grown over the last ten years leading to some language barriers. There were also some incidents of racism, and those that we spoke to said this had the potential to escalate.
Whilst we were gaining insight, we also organised three Party in the Dark events, and one Party in the Park aimed at engaging women and promoting the brands. Four localised Facebook pages were created as our main way of communication. We also created local videos, to show local women being active in each place. One example of this is the Ripley Girls Can video.
The Party in the Dark events were based around three short slots of dance based fitness (Zumba, Clubbercise etc), mixed in with bingo and a music quiz, mocktails and nibbles. In Ripley, we held the event at the leisure centre and attracted 91 participants. We asked them the standardised SEF question around 30 minutes activity per day during the last week, and found that most were active (75%).
In contrast the Pinxton event was held at the Village Hall, with 42 participants, 50% of whom were inactive. Many of the women stayed behind to talk to the instructors and find out more about their classes. In Ripley we used social media alone, but in Pinxton with 10 days to go we only had a few booked on, even after using paid advertising. We produced over 500 flyers and posters, which we distributed though the schools in the local area. Posters were put up in every shop and display board by a local councillor. We spoke to the receptionist and caretaker at the Village Hall, who took flyers and spoke to the groups that use the venue. It was this approach that led to an increase in bookings.
We discovered that lots of the instructors in the four places we worked in had a story to tell. For example, Sally Green, a newly-qualified instructor, had left the RAF and was obese, her doctor warned her of the health risks, and she kicked backed against it. There came a point for her, when she knew she needed to make more positive lifestyle choices. Sally shared her story with us, reaching 6,561 people, having 79 positive reactions, and 23 very supportive comments.
Whilst engaging with instructors, we also found we needed to adapt our approach. In many of the places instructors were happy to share their stories, they saw the value in it, both in terms of increasing confidence in others, but also in showing their vulnerabilities, and the advantages of this from a business point of view.
Pinxton is a very closed community. We felt this when we talked to the multi-agency team, who at first had concerns about an organisation coming into their community and ‘telling’ them what was wrong, or needed, or trying to solve their problems. We also felt this when trying to engage with instructors in this place. Kathrin, the owner of a small studio, was originally from Poland, and was very conscious of her English, and as a result, she didn’t initially want to engage with us. Kathrin had a great story to tell, but felt unable to. We sat with her and as she talked, we listened. Her story was one of weight gain and loss, depression, and isolation, then of determination and strength. This story has not been told, as Kathrin stopped engaging with us. This is an example of how hard place-based working can be.
We also shared the stories of local women, including Tanya Heaslip, a woman whose baby sadly passed away. She used exercise to help her think and grieve. Her story was commented on by many, with one women saying it had given her the kick up the bum she needed to get active. Tanya said: "For me exercising has been a therapy, I don't know what I would have done without my running etc. It's great for wellbeing and feeling confident. Also, it's very sociable, I have made some great friends.”
This project set out to create four local brands, engage with the professional network, engage with existing providers, engage with local women, support the development of local ambassadors, hold four launch events, and monitor the project throughout, using Re:Valuation.
The project achieved these outcomes. Four local brands were established, with videos and Facebook pages. In total 38 organisations were engaged with, with others through social media alone. Twenty case studies were written and promoted, and 16 instructors (ambassadors) shared their story and invited local women to get involved. Four launch events took place, engaging 193 women. Re: Valuation was used throughout the project to capture the learning, insights, reflections and progressions made.
However, we believe the project did so much more than this. It enabled us to better understand the approaches we need to take to become a customer-centred, insight-led organisation as outlined in ‘Towards an Active Derbyshire’ and Nottinghamshire’s strategy ‘Getting Active Together’.
It gave us the opportunity to explore the Re:Valuation method, which in turn is developing our understanding of how to capture the value of the work we do throughout a project. It also gave us chance to explore workforce requirements of working in this way. We have shared these projects with partners, including local authorities and Derbyshire Public Health, and it is helping us all review and shape our approach to physical activity.
For Active Partners Trust, this project has been a real success in helping us develop a greater knowledge of place-based working. We will continue to develop these approaches and projects as we deliver the ambitions set out within the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire strategies.