The National Lottery Community Fund Women and Girls' Initiative

The National Lottery Community Fund (the Fund) launched the Women and Girls Initiative (WGI) in June 2015. In May 2016, a total of 62 organisations working with women and girls across England were successful in receiving funding with a total investment of £44.7 million. Projects were funded for between three and five years to deliver specialist, tailored work to support and empower women and girls facing a wide range of issues including violence, abuse, exploitation or trafficking. Some were homeless, had mental health and/or drug or alcohol issues and most were experiencing gender inequality, alongside other oppressions and discrimination. The Fund saw WGI funding as a route to enable a stronger women and girls’ sector through the following four outcomes:

• Increased provision of holistic, person-centred approaches for women and girls
• Increased role and voice for women and girls in co-producing services
• A greater number of women and girls being supported through the provision of improved specialist support
• Better quality of evidence for what works in empowering women and girls

DMSS worked in partnership with Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR), and Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU), to support the Community Fund’s Women and Girls Initiative (WGI).

The team’s final report produced in 2023, presents a picture of the learning and key messages from the programme and refers throughout to the numerous outputs and reports that have been produced over the last five years.