EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Purpose
This report presents the key findings from a participative action research project focusing on the needs of young women within Wrexham, north Wales from 2001 - 2005.
Phase two of the project ran from 2002 – 2005 within Wrexham County focusing on six community action research projects and a range of spin off project developed by the young women involved in ‘Right 2 Respect’.
The project built upon the learning and experiences gained from phase one of the project which ran from 2001 – 2002.
Findings
Action research Process – updated from Phase One report
§ The action research process is effective in developing high quality work with young people – in the case of R2R – young women.
§ The action research process has enabled young women to develop innovative and exciting projects that will impact on the lives of young women across Wrexham and which will be sustainable into the future.
§ Action research is a positive tool in ensuring that research prompts action – in order to maintain community interest their views need to be seen to be changing the services that impact on their lives. The action also ensures that the project has a high profile and has an indirect impact on a range of other services.
§ Action research enabled individual areas to respond to the action research approach in a way that is appropriate to their community and their life experiences.
§ Action research has been shown to be a positive way of bringing together and empowering a section of the community whose views and needs are under-represented.
§ It is necessary for more local authorities and relevant agencies to be aware of the methodology behind action research and how it can be applied to a range of different groups.
§ It is clear that it is necessary to review and update the training opportunities for all professionals and volunteers working positively with young women. This will ensure that workers have a more informed, confidant approach to their work and offer a wider variety of opportunities to young women.
§ By putting a high profile project into an area expectations amongst the target group are raised and professionals respond by prioritising work with the target group and reviewing their current services.
§ Development work on the needs of young men needs to be initiated as young women’s lives are continuously influenced by young men. To maximise the work of R2R it is necessary to ensure that the needs of young men are being addressed including their perceptions, treatment and relationships with young women.
§ Relevant funding bodies need to be made aware of the role of action research and how appropriate funding can enhance the process.
§ Working in partnership with other agencies is an essential part of the action research process. The impact of a project will not be felt if the project works in isolation. R2R has ensured that a large number of young women have been made aware of the work of the project and had opportunities to participate in project led activities.
§ Action research projects can be successfully embedded into the host organisation.
§ Research projects can effectively coexist within a non research led organisation
§ An action research projects has a direct impact on the people employed by the project and the people employed within the host organisation.
Action Research groups across Wrexham
Implications
§ Action research works effectively in a wide range of areas with young women from varying financial and social backgrounds.
§ There is an identified need for a coherent partnership approach to support young women’s needs.
§ Provision for young women should provide opportunities for young women to comment effectively on the services that are being provided.
§ Young women should be provided with opportunities to talk about their ideas and feelings in a supportive environment.
§ Action research can be an effective tool in supporting under represented groups and raising issues around discrimination, validation and respect.
§ A stable environment for the action research process maximises its opprtunty for success.
‘Right 2 Respect’ led spin of projects
§ Action research can lead to the development of effective and innovative spin off projects
§ Spin off projects van be embedded effectively into a host organisation or appropriate home with relevant funding
§ Partnership working is essential is spin-off projects are to relevant , effective and sustainable.
Phase Two Report
Introduction
Project Co-ordinators Introduction
I have decided to start this report with a personal commentary from myself as the ‘Right 2 Respect’ project Co-ordinator.
I have been involved in the ‘Right 2 Respect’ project from its inception and have therefore have lived and breathed ‘Right 2 Respect’ for the last three and a half years of my professional life.
The project has developed a lot over the three and a half years and has become a project that I am incredibly proud to have been involved in and which has been a major influence on my professional and personal development.
Being involved in action research has encouraged me to look at the way that the health and well being of young women are supported in Wrexham and across Wales. It has also become part of my normal working process as a youth and community practitioner. The action research cycle has become so embedded in my personal approach to work that it will be with me for the rest of my career. On a personal level working and leading ‘Right 2 Respect’ has made me realise how important it is for young women to have positive, strong and relevant role models. I hope that I have been and will continue to be a role model for young women. I have also realised that I am part of a community of women that crosses age barriers, personalities and community area. It has been a privilege to talk to older women in the Wrexham community who have commented on how good it is to see a project like ‘Right 2 Respect’ and how they wish a similar project had been around when they were young women. Instead of resentment these women are genuinely pleased that today young women have more opportunities to be taken seriously and have their voices heard.
As gratifying has being given the opportunity to see young women becoming involved in ‘Right 2 Respect’ and forming opinions and making a difference in their local community.
However my strongest memory will be of working with the first ‘Right 2 Respect’ action research group back in 2001 when no one was really sure how and where the project would develop in the long run. These young women made a pivotal change to the project by insisting that ‘Right 2 Respect’ and the activities of the project were offered to other young women across the county. They realised how much they were enjoying the experience and gaining from it and thought it was unfair to keep the process to themselves. This generosity of spirit is a fundamental element to positive change and enabled the action research process to be truly meaningful.
I have had the privilege of putting this report together and where relevant I will refer to myself as the author.
Project description
The ‘Right 2 Respect’ project (R2R) was created in response to the needs of young women in Wrexham County Borough. These needs were communicated via a range of health professionals and youth workers who came together to form the Wrexham Young Women’s Working Group. The R2R project was developed as a partnership between representatives of the Working Group, the North Wales Research and Development Support Service (NWRDSS) and the Centre for Social Policy Research and Development (CSPRD). An action research approach underpinned the project, which aimed to raise awareness of the needs of young women and to impact positively on the way in which these needs are met. The action research cycles considered both evaluation and service developments.
Participants involved
The participants involved in the R2R project were young women between the ages of 11 – 25.
The action research group, which has led Phase One, were young women who were attending the Groves High school, Wrexham. They were within the age range 15 – 16 years and came from a variety of communities within Wrexham.
The six action research group during Phase Two of the projects have been from the communities of Brynteg, Holt, Gresford, Llay, Cefn Mawr and Glyn Ceiriog and were within the age range of 11- 19 years of age.
In addition there have been a larger number of women involved in the spin off project and who have participated in R2R events and activities. These young women were all between the ages of 11 – 19 years of age and were from communities spread across Wrexham County.
None of the participants had known learning or physical disabilities, however a number of the participants had a range of behavioural issues related in the main to problems within their home–life.
All the participants volunteered to be part of the project and set their own agendas within the project.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PHASE ONE AND PHASE TWO STUDY
Phase One Aims:
§ To develop an approach to working with girls and young women that is founded on an equal partnership, actively seeking, welcoming and responding to their views.
§ Highlight the issues affecting the lives and life choices, health and well-being of girls and young women so that inequalities of opportunity, access and participation can be addressed.
§ To encourage and support a sense of positive self- regard and personal value in all participants.
§ To promote dialogue between those who provide services and those who might access them, and within and between those provider agencies.
§ To evaluate the impact of the project and its development on the capacity of young women’s work and services taking place within Wrexham County Borough.
§ To raise the awareness of young women’s needs and issues within Wrexham communities, the local authority and a range of other relevant agencies.
§ To seek and secure funding for successful projects developed within R2R in order to enable a wider range of young women to take part in them – i.e newsletter project, motor activities for young women etc.
Phase Two Aims:
§ To build on the learning from Phase One
§ To take the learning from Phase One and apply it to a wider range of action research groups across Wrexham.
§ To embed the work of ‘Right 2 Respect’ into the Youth Service and ensure that the spirit of R2R continues into the future.
Objectives:
§ To use action research skills to enable action research groups across the county to explore the current situation, plan and initiate new ideas, and evaluate their success during the course of Phase Two.
§ To initiate develop and embed a range of sustainable projects that will impact on the lives of a wide range of young women within Wrexham County Borough.
§ To embed the ethos of ‘Right 2 Respect’ into the culture of the Youth Service
§ To raise capacity in single gender work within the County
§ To raise capacity in action research skills within Wrexham County
METHODOLOGY
The researcher
The lead action researcher was a newcomer to the world of action research but an experienced youth and community worker. The aim was to combine the two skills to ensure that the research was robust but also to ensure that the young people would be encouraged and supported to engage via youth work methodology and practice.
Participating in an action research project had a profound impact on the action researcher as she realised that the methodology was highly effective and that a project could mushroom from the initial ideas and thoughts of a group of young women in North Wales. The strength of action research is the continual reflection which enables the research group to see how far the work has come. This enabled the celebration of success and also the identification of problems.
The action research cycle is very similar to the learning cycle used by skilled youth and community practitioners however the difference with action research is that you have more time to reflect and consider and make plans more effective.
Being an action researcher means that you have to live and breathe the project. It is not possible to detach yourself fully and see it as just a job if you want the project to be a success. The participants must also see that you identify with the project and believe in the project otherwise they will quickly lose interest and enthusiasm.
Therefore for the duration of the project the action researchers were the ‘Right 2 Respect’ women which provided an interesting insight into how other people viewed a young women worker.
For the majority of people the ‘Right 2 Respect’ title and project was not a threat and many aligned it with the work of the Girl Guide movement in raising the profile of the needs of young women. Others saw it as a project giving young women a voice and championing their needs. However a few found the concept quite threatening as if all the project workers were promoting a cult of anti male prejudice. Others viewed R2R as un-feminine. For example one female community member said that we were making the lads feel threatened and that she hoped we wern’t going to create a lot of dungaree wearing girls. This seems to be aligned to the stereotype that women should be passive and that to be proactive and have a title such as ‘Right 2 Resopect’ meant that the staff team were unfemale and that we were encouraging young women to become masculine. On the other hand some workers and community members thought that we were not feminist enough and that by delivering hair and beauty session and supporting young women to participate in traditional female skills the team were somehow traitors to the cause and supporting the traditional stereotypes placed upon women. It was interesting to note that the majority of people in this category seemed to be male. R2R made a clear decision that we were not going to support the fallacy that in order for a woman to be strong or be respected she had to adopt masculine attributes. Traditional females crafts and activities are a valid as more traditional male activities and to tell young women that they could not do hair and beauty would have been a big mistake. R2R have supported young women to find their own path in life and to recognise that strength and respect comes form within them not from the activities they participate in. This has led to some interesting matches. For example young women who enjoyed hair and beauty activities taking part in motor mechanics and go-kart racing with full make-up on and trying to make sure that their nails did not break.