St Giles will be enabling disadvantaged women to create positive change for themselves and other women in their communities.

St Giles is one of 14 charities to benefit from the Government’s Tampon Tax Fund.

Under the project, we will work with local women’s organisations in three priority areas to test if a lived experience, Community Champions model at grassroots level has impact and provides solutions to social, economic, and digital exclusion.

The work will:

• Enable more women, who have lived experience of disadvantage to gain professional training, confidence, and improved wellbeingby becoming Community Champions
• Improve outcomes for other women who will in turn be supported by Community Champions
• Build capacity in grassroots women’s organisations by training their existing volunteers, providing small grantsand offering consultancy support
• Demonstrate impact and widen the evidence base for lived experience and community led solutions to social, economic and digital exclusion.

Peer Advisor Network Lead Manager Ann Griffiths said:

“It’s a really exciting new project expanding the peer advisor programme model to train women as community champions and invest in local grassroots organisations, building digital, social and economic inclusion for women in 3 priority areas – and it will enable us to do grant-giving, and significantly increase our digital delivery and capacity.”

Rob Owen, St Giles Chief Executive, said:

“We are delighted that the TTF are, once again, supporting St Giles’s work with women, enabling us to use our approach of supporting and training individuals who have been there themselves to offer services reaching those who need them most. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen a sharp rise in the number of women who need support from St Giles to address issues such as poverty, abuse, mental health issues and unemployment. This funding means we can work with women to help them gain the skills and confidence to create positive change for themselves and others.”