Why?

WRC has a breadth of knowledge and experience of issues that may impact on women’s and girls’ equalities. WRC Research successfully carried out a Violence against Women and Girls Research and Mapping Project for Lambeth Borough Council. This included a detailed VAWG mapping exercise in Lambeth to address (a) prevalence of VAWG in Lambeth, in London and at a national level, (b) specialist service provisions and (c) future direction of a co-ordinated community response in Lambeth. In regard to girls and young women our research found that the gaps in VAWG service provision had a greater impact on young women (aged 14-25 years) and girls (under 14 years). A key recommendation from our research was the need for VAWG services in Lambeth to be more responsive to particular groups of women and girls, including young women and girls.

 

WRC worked in partnership with Race on the Agenda (ROTA) to carry out research on the impact of gang and serious youth violence and serious group offending on women and girls for the Female Voice in Violence Report (2010). WRC was responsible for assessing the capacity and needs of the women’s sector in meeting the support needs of gang affected women and girls.

 

In October 2012 WRC was commissioned by the GLA to undertake the development of a strategic framework and minimum standards for girls affected by criminal gangs and serious youth violence in London. To date this project has collated statistical data on the prevalence of girls and young women affected by gangs and serious youth violence; mapped gender specific interventions and mechanisms; reviewed lessons learned from serious case reviews; and worked with a panel of experts to develop a risk matrix and minimum standards for agencies working with gang affected girls and young women. We are currently working on developing a multiagency toolkit and gender-proofed checklist for local authorities.

 

What?

WRC provide a bespoke service for organisations on research and policy briefings, particularly on any changing initiatives that may impact on women’s equalities. This is useful for any organisation that does not employ a dedicated policy officer. We can also offer external evaluations to help organisations review work/projects and plan for the future.

We can evaluate the effectiveness of specific interventions, initiatives, such as, social exclusion or projects that deliver on enhanced specialist support to survivors of all forms of the female experience. Specialist sector providing culturally specific support to women that are run by BME women themselves and who are most effective in engendering women’s trust.

Similar to all evidence-based research our approach will combine quantitative and qualitative methods to give an overall picture of the outputs and outcomes of the conclusions/results you seek.

Our participatory action research methodology can include:

  • Overview of key policy documents, such as the Needs Assessment and the London service standards, to provide the background and context to the evaluation.
  • Desktop research of existing quantitative data to give an overview of performance across the location, initiative or project to establish patterns and trends in usage of the services, supplemented by telephone interviews with stakeholders to look more closely at some of the issues identified by the quantitative data
  • Qualitative research with current and former service users to explore their experience and to look at outcomes identified by themselves
  • Qualitative research through one to one interviews to give an in-depth picture of the service and how it is used, as well as views on the model of delivery
  • Qualitative research through telephone interviews with a cross-section of external stakeholders to look at the appropriateness of the delivery model, and views on the effectiveness of the organisation, and on the contracting model for example.
  • Observations of small groups of people to gain a deeper understanding first-hand to draw out the general themes that surveys cannot obtain.
  • focus groups  to draw upon attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions
  • Participatory event to assist in the interpretation of findings and to draw out learning

 

Outcomes:

  • a statistical analysis of the trends in outputs across London and within each individual borough, supported by a narrative highlighting gaps in both data and in types of provision, access to that provision including referrals
  • an analysis of how well initiatives, interventions or projects have delivered on outcomes
  • an analysis of the effectiveness of the different models of delivery, including good practice, lessons learned, sustainability, the effect of management and governance structures on delivery, and the effect of the delivery model and the commissioning framework on delivery
  • Provide evidence of the outcomes, or other identified deliverable i.e. impact and the benefits of the services on the individual including the contribution that your 3 projects have made towards meeting the number of service outcomes.
  • Key features of women’s organisations that contribute to their ‘added value’, i.e. the particular things that women’s organisations provide that are difficult to find in statutory or mainstream services, i.e. focus on empowerment and increasing women’s independence, Needs-based, ‘woman-centred’ approach Reaching ‘hard-to-reach’ women
  • Producing an evidenced-based report

 

For more information please contact us on Telephone: or Email: .