WEvolution
Comes to Dundee
WEvolution (formerly known as Passage
from India) has recently started working in Dundee and is based in the FICD
office in Kirkton Community Centre.
This is an exciting project which works, primarily with women, who are not earning or are on low incomes, to form self-reliant groups or SRGs. These are small, local groups who meet together regularly for friendship, to save together and often to start micro-businesses. The model is in widespread use in India (hence the original name of the organisation) where it forms a key part of the government's strategy to combat poverty.
If you'd like any more information,
want to start an SRG, or know someone who might please contact Sian McCarthy
on:
07803436977
sian@wevolution.org.ukOr have a look at their new website:
www.wevolution.org.uk
Launch
of Tackling Poverty Together Initiative
In December last
year, Faith in Community Scotland was awarded money by the Lottery to initiate
a project – Tackling Poverty Together (TPT). TPT is about local communities
working together and responding to the impacts of welfare reform changes in
their neighbourhood.
Hence, this
initiative will be led by local communities with support from Faith in
Community Dundee. Our role will be to help communities identify the impact of
the welfare reform changes and supporting them in filling local gaps in
services. We have already started working in four local areas in Dundee
(Charleston, Lochee, Douglas and Whitfield) and one in Stirling (Raploch) from
March and April 2014.
Some of the things
that local communities are doing and may wish to build on with our support are:
·
Helping to
improve budgeting skills, access to welfare rights advocacy and advice;· Providing free food, information and access to services in drop in cafes;
· Improving the ability of people to grow and cook food, which is healthy and inexpensive;
· Increasing access to IT facilities to help people with job searching and signing on to the Universal Credit when it is introduced; and
· Setting up of small, local self-reliant groups that help people develop their enterprising skills.
We
are looking to update our Online Project Directory
In December 2013, Faith
in Community Dundee launched an online Directory of Faith based projects
tackling poverty in Dundee. Containing information on a wide range of projects-
from youth groups, to lunch clubs, to community cafes - we believe that it
highlights the important contribution that projects initiated by faith groups
are making to tackling poverty in Dundee.
If you would like to
provide any new update on your group or organizations, please get in touch with
us at 01382-825351 or email us at becky.stojanovic@faithincommunitydundee.org. Also, if you identify a project that we have not
included please do let us know.
Update
on Dundee Drop In Survey
Dundee Drop
In (DDI) is a group of church based projects that provide crisis help to those
who are struggling to make ends meet. These projects provide drop in facilities
that offer food, a chance to socialise and signposting to other services. They include projects like Parish Nursing, St.
Salvador’s food cupboard, Lochee Drop Inn, Eagles Wings, The Bus Stop at the
Gate, The Big Issue Group, The Bridge at the Friary, Graham’s Kitchen and
Street Chaplains. Some time ago the projects agreed, with support from
Dundee University and the Alcohol and Drug Partnership (ADP), to undertake research with those who
use these range of services.
During the months between March to May, volunteers and staff from DDI
services, university students, Bethany Christian Trust and FiCDundee have visited almost all the
various drop-ins mentioned above to complete questionnaires with those who use
these services. A total of 95 questionnaires have been completed and it is almost
at the stage of data entry and analysis. On 18th June, the
university research leader will present some of the key findings to the DDI
Group and they will consider actions that
may be appropriate for the Group to recommend and the scope for more in-depth
research.
Reflection on Faith in
Community Dundee’s past year’s work
Faith in Community Dundee organised a review session on April 22nd,
which was facilitated by Clare Radford, Community Theologian from Faith in
Community Scotland. This provided an opportunity for FiCDundee staff and
committee members to reflect on the organisation’s past year’s work,
specifically in the context of the agreed outcomes but also on the broader and
deeper aspirations of the organization about the future.
Training
on Valuing Volunteers
A workshop
was organised by Faith in Community Dundee (FiCDundee) in collaboration with
Anne Leslie from Volunteer Centre Dundee on January 22, 2014. Its aim was to help resource people who use volunteers or would like
to use volunteers in their project. The
training essentially focused on three key aspects of volunteering:
- understanding
the benefits volunteers bring to projects
- how to
manage and recruitment volunteers and
- how to make
volunteers feel valued
Gordon’s Contribution at Al Maktoum Leadership Programme
For information
on other courses at Al Maktoum please visit:
http://www.almcollege.org.uk/programmes-courses/sqa-programmes/
For the lecture programme please visit:
http://www.almcollege.org.uk/open-lectures-2/
For information on YYI visit: http://www.yyi.org.uk/
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