September 2011

Donations

Networking/Policy Development

The mission of the Waterford Women's Centre is to be a positive force in effecting change in the lives of women in Waterford City and County. The Centre will meet this challenge by developing structures and networks and influencing policies at local, regional and national level

Progression

Waterford Women’s Centre (Access 2000 Ltd) has been designing and delivering needs based community education and training programmes for women since 1995. Below is a summary of the training programmes that have been delivered since that time and their impact. There is a common approach and ethos that characterises all of the training which has been developed from our experience and understanding of gender inequality, social exclusion and the barriers to participation in training, education and employment that women face in society.

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Submitted by admin on 28 September, 2011 - 18:25
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Women’s Centre Childcare Service

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Our new state of the art childcare facility is now opened and utilised fully. We have space to cater for up to 50 children on a part-time basis or 25 fulltime, with three generous-sized rooms offering bright and airy places for the children. There are two dedicated sleep rooms plus a multi-purpose room to allow for small group activities. The outside play area is enclosed on all sides and large enough to allow the children to run around.

Facilitators Panel

The Women’s Centre has a panel of facilitators who receive training in process oriented participatory group work. Each year participants of the Higher Certificate in Community Education and Development which is facilitated in the Women’s Centre and accredited by W.I.T are invited to interview as trainee facilitators. This training involves shadowing our facilitators and attending weekly training and support sessions. The trainee progresses to planning, facilitating and reporting on group sessions, and at the end of their training presenting for assessment.

Drop-In (Outreach & Engagement Programme)

The drop-in takes place on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 10.30 to 12.30 each week. This programme was developed as a response to a need; many women we talked to were very shy about participating in a group situation therefore an informal drop-in morning was facilitated so that women can come along and have a cup of tea and a chat and get to know other women. All participants are first met by the Outreach Development worker on a one to one basis. Generally participants on the community education programmes first come to the drop-in.