i-women is a group of blind and partially sighted women who meet monthly and engage in mainstream activities and training throughout the Western Trust Area.
How was i-women started?
In order to sustain high levels of confidence gained from participation in the
Employability and Skills project , a highly motivated group of 25 women continued to meet monthly over the past two years. As participants are only eligible to register for EAS Confidence Building once, and as requests to repeat the course were numerous, this group of visually impaired women did not stop in their quest for more!
About i-women
They registered for a mainstream course, completing an 18 week, level 1 OCN in Confidence Building at North West Regional College and all are currently working on level 2 OCN. Working with the college they set a precedent, in that video recordings were accepted as evidence of their work instead of written portfolios. To have a full class submit work on video was a new and liberating experience for the participants, RNIB, NWRC and OCN.
With the support of their Employability & Skills Project Officer, herself registered blind, they have engaged in several mainstream further education courses, such as:
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6 weeks of Catering For Entertainment,
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10 weeks of Introduction to Counselling,
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10 weeks of Budgeting and Personal Money Management
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10 weeks of Weightloss Through Nutrition.
Individuals themselves have paid for many of these courses. In addition, they have attended a range of educational and lifestyle events from First Aid to Community Relations Workshops. They are soon due to embark on 6 weeks of fitness training at the University of Ulster gym, with a personal trainer who is himself registered blind, their energy, motivation and commitment is quite remarkable.
i-Women distributes a monthly large print and online Newsletter to 140 visually impaired women encouraging them to engage in mainstream activities and training throughout the Western Trust Area.
Currently undergoing a skills audit, the group is exploring a number of ideas for social enterprise. The intention is that women, once dependant on the benefits system and without a real sense of personal worth, see themselves as having a valuable contribution to make.
Students from University Of Ulster have undertaken market research to establish the level of customer interest in a business run by people who are blind or partially sighted. As an exit strategy from reliance on European Social funding (ESF), social enterprise is our preferred way of gradually involving people who never imagined themselves having a job or even considering the leap from being economically inactive to earning a wage. Our desire is to maximise the impact of ESF investment in a sustainable way.
Contact us
If you would like to know more information about i-women or would like to recieve the monthly newsletter please call Annmarie Houston on 028 7136 6060