By Liz Griffiths | Head of Fundraising and Communications
This report details the impact of coronavirus on specialist women’s organisations funded by Rosa in 2020. Thanks to your support, Rosa distributed over £1million to 72 organisations led by and for women, supporting people through the turbulent months of the coronavirus pandemic.
This is second short report detailing how the global pandemic impacted women’s and girls’ organisations across the UK, funded by Rosa. In it, we distil the main talking points that came up in more than 50 in-depth conversations we held with funded organisations, with a focus on those led by and for Black and minoritised women.
The global pandemic had a profound impact on women and girls around the world and in the UK. It deepened existing social, political and economic inequalities and set many women’s and girls’ lives back decades. It profoundly exposed and amplified disparities experienced by women and girls from Black and minoritised communities. At the same time, across the UK the core issues impacting women and girls, as well as the women and girls sector, gained increased public visibility . News programmes, social and current affairs programmes and drama programmes across TV and radio channels all highlighted the inequalities many women and girls were experiencing. This was amplified across social media, and influenced Government agendas, and general public debates.
Rosa worked closely with the organisations it funded during this time to understand how the pandemic affected their roles, priorities and presence through the lens of service users, policy makers and mainstream providers. These conversations highlighted the direct impact on the running of services, as well as on the governance and infrastructure of women’s and girls’ organisations.
Time and time again, organisations demonstrated their capacity to innovate and adapt quickly and effectively in times of crisis to meet the immediate and critical needs of women and girls. This was particularly apparent in those organisations which exist on very limited funds and are led by Black and minoritised women.
The significant surge in demand coupled with increasingly complex needs among the women and girls they support took a profound toll on the mental and physical health and wellbeing of staff within these organisations. This will have a long-term impact on organisational sustainability.
The current funding landscape works against organisations led by and for women and girls, especially those led by and for Black and minoritised women and girls. They often find they lose out on funding opportunities to race and gender ‘neutral’ organisations and are faced with delivering complex service provision on very limited funds. This is especially true where statutory commissioning is involved.
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