Powering Up Women, delivered by The Flagstaff Group Limited

Business area: Women NSW

Directorate: Justice Strategy and Policy

Division: Strategy, Policy and Commissioning

Project summary

Flagstaff's "Powering Up Women" program provides a holistic and practical approach for women with disabilities to develop life and employment skills. The program builds self-esteem, inner health, employment skills and life training, through practical skills and mentoring in a 12-week online and face to face program.

The self-development program will help women with disabilities through workshops and tools to build confidence and control in their life, health and wellbeing and relationships that, in turn, support employment and life skills. This aims to increase participation and inclusion in the workforce and community connectivity for women with disability.

Focus Area:

• Supporting access to meaningful employment.

Project objective

Flagstaff's "Powering Up Women" program provides a holistic and practical approach for women with disabilities to develop life and employment skills. The program builds self-esteem, inner health, employment skills and life training, through practical skills and mentoring in a 12-week online and face to face program.

The self-development program will help women with disabilities through workshops and tools to build confidence and control in their life, health and wellbeing and relationships that, in turn, support employment and life skills. This aims to increase participation and inclusion in the workforce and community connectivity for women with disability.

The challenge

• Carers' control over women with a disability – many partners control lives and finances
• Supporting women with disability not to hide abuse and have a voice
• Financial security – 38% of households with a person with a disability have a low level of household weekly income
• Access to employment – unemployment rate for women with disability higher than men
• Physical inaccessibility/appearance
• Organisational Attitudes/experience/inclusion for employment
• Perceived Discrimination

Why is this important?

Real-life experiences shared by women with disability that we work with at Flagstaff a disability enterprise, the Royal Disability Commission, research, government reports indicate the problems facing women with disabilities in developing life skills and the confidence for controlling their own life and to be secure in life and at work.

Many women with disabilities are excluded from participating in decisions that affect their lives on a daily basis, particularly for example, as active partners in their own health care.

They are often stereotyped as passive, asexual, dependent, compliant, sick, child-like, incompetent and helpless, powerless or insecure.

Research: Helping Women with Disabilities and Domestic Violence. Journal of Women’s Health, Vol.12; Calderbank, R Abuse and

Disabled People: vulnerability or social indifference?

What will success look like?

The program will create training resources and online modules that once developed, will be able to be utilised for training and development in the future.

Program resources can be used within the organisation in other employment programs eg. the School Leaver Employment Support Program as well as our internal people and Culture team.

The project develops local capacity and effective partnerships with businesses that may show an interest in women to help fund the program through sponsorship.

Increased marketing on the program will also generate interest in the future for a fee for service basis allowing other areas of the state, through other not for profits.

Finally, self-sustainability will continue through funding internally driven by our social enterprises.

How will you measure success?

Outcomes will be measured through the following methods:

• Consistent monitoring through behavioural changes – This will be observed through the program and through interviews
• Interviews/focus groups – will determine if the program is meeting its objectives and if the level of the program is meeting the needs of the participants.
• Feedback forms after each activity will determine if the objectives are being met and room for improvement.
• Evaluation against objectives in Grant reports.
• It is hoped focus groups will find a group of women who feel confident that is evident in their actions and women who feel safe, and proud of what they have achieved. The report that they feel healthier and are more confident in who they are.

Summary of key stages

October 20 - Scope project, project plan and resources

October 20 - Budgets and People Resources allocated

October 20 - January 21 - Develop program and resources. Marketing of plan

October 20 to January 21 - Develop online modules. Focus groups and profiling of participants

November 20 - Risk Assessment

November 20 - Develop evaluation frameworks

Jan 21 - Commence workshops and online development

March 21 - Program review against objectives

Jan 21 to June 21 - Workshops (Face to face or online options)

June 21 - Evaluation report to Women

Status report

Current Status: Progressing

Date: 20/11/2020

Status Notes:

Status Explanatory Note: Women NSW delayed announcing successful projects. Funds to commence have been provided to the organisation on 4 November 2020.

Status reports provided: Half yearly report to be provided in February 21.