Networking to put rural women and their priorities first

NIRWN puts rural women and their priorities first

Established in 2006 and with its headquarters in Dungannon, Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network was formed with the aim of supporting and promoting rural women right across the Province – in essence, being a voice on their behalf.

We talked to its director, Louise Coyle, to find out more about the ethos and activities of this admirable organisation.

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“NIRWN is a charitable, membership-based organisation. Our aim is to amplify and articulate the voice of rural women at local, regional and strategic level,” she said.

“We provide practical, strategic support to our members and our work is driven by what they tell us is needed.

“Our membership is comprised of over 300 rural women’s groups and over 300 individual rural women across Northern Ireland.

“Our key objectives are to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of rural women’s organisations and projects by providing advice, information, education and training and practical support, to raise awareness among the general public, and make representation to policy makers of the needs and experiences of rural women, to promote or assist in promoting cooperation and networking between women’s organisations in the Province for information exchange and policy consultation, and to promote the participation of rural women in decision-making spaces.

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“Rural people comprise 40% of the population in NI, and yet this is not reflected in resourcing and policy making. There has been a historic under-investment in rural women.

“By the government’s own admission, ‘there are also stark inequities between government funding for service delivery to women’s groups between rural and urban (1.3% v 98.7%)’.

“NIRWN provides the regional rural element of support to women through the Regional Support for Women in Disadvantaged and Rural Areas Programme (funded by DAERA Rural Affairs Programmes).

“In terms of the biggest challenges that rural women face here, access poverty is at the heart of them.

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“The accessibility of education, training, work and childcare provision and the cost and availability of public transport are factors in determining women’s participation, particularly in rural areas.

“These challenges stem from the historic lack of investment in rural areas and the continued centralisation of resources.

“NIRWN conducted an extensive year-long piece of research with our membership which clearly outlines all the key priorities facing rural women.

“The key emerging issues at that time were the impacts of Brexit and the increasing burden of elder care coupled with childcare.

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Covid-19 has added additional challenges, and our engagement officer Paula Mc Aliskey has been in regular contact with our membership to ascertain how they are coping with the crisis and the impacts it is having on them in practical terms.

“NIRWN provides regional strategic support for rural women through advice, information, provision of training, research, policy consultation and advocacy.

“A good example of this is our response to Covid-19. NIRWN sourced additional funding through Community Foundation NI Coronavirus Community Fund to provide additional support in response to our membership’s needs through our ‘Rural Connections’ project.

“We adopted a four-strand approach which included regularly phoning and emailing our groups about their issues, using social media channels to create a mental health and wellbeing focus, and creating a web page with links to support organisations.

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“Those experiencing social isolation already have been further impacted by lockdown; particularly those who have been shielding.

“The flip side is that rural communities are by tradition very resourceful, very knowledgeable about their neighbourhoods and are very willing to volunteer and help.

“We have witnessed the very best qualities of rural people during lockdown in their efforts to sustain themselves and each other.”

l Find out more by logging onto www.nirwn.org. You can also contact them by calling 028 8775 3389 or emailing [email protected]

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