The Women’s Health and Equality Consortium

A case study of small, medium and large voluntary organisations working in partnership.  August 2010.

The Women’s Health and Equality Consortium (WHEC) started operating in April 2009 and was confirmed as one of the DH's strategic partner in April 2010. It is committed to tackling women’s health and social inequalities through building a shared understanding of the issues and the value of the sector with government departments and statutory authorities. The Consortium works to develop the sustainability of the health and social care women’s sector and support the development of its capability to understand and engage with the reformed health and social care systems.

In September 2008 the Department of Health requested expressions of interest from the Voluntary and Community Sector to engage with the Department as strategic partners with a view to tackling health inequalities across England. As a response to this request, the Women’s Resource Centre organised a meeting of Women’s organisations interested in tendering to become a strategic partner. At this meeting there was interest in developing a partnership between the women’s organisations present, who were committed to the health and social care agenda. The Women's Health and Equality Consortium was born.

The Consortium is a mixture of small, medium and large charity organisations of which YWCA England & Wales, which acts as the lead partner, is the largest. The other partners are currently: Positively Women, Maternity Action, FORWARD UK, Rape Crisis (England & Wales), Women's Resource Centre and Imkaan.

The partners decided to work together to access the Department of Health strategic partners funding as well as address a policy gap in women's health and equality.  Each partner has signed a detailed formal Partnership Agreement.  This is supported by Terms of Reference and a Statement of Common Purpose.  Decisions are made by the steering group (made up of representation from each partner organisation) that holds its meetings every other month, which are co-ordinated by the Consortium Manager.

The WHEC is also developing  a Women's Health and Equality Network which has membership from across the country and is made up of member organisations across the country who work specifically on women’s health and equality issues.

Key learning from Lorraine Dongo, Women’s Health and Equality Consortium Manager (2009-2010), YWCA England and Wales

The first application to become a Department of Health strategic partner was not successful as the partnership was too newly formed. However, the potential of the partnership was recognised by the Department and it offered to fund the partnership with a development grant for 12 months in order to develop the Consortium and give time to grow the network of women’s organisations.
The development grant enabled the WHEC Consortium to build its capacity and successfully develop a strong administrative framework based on a clear vision and mission. The re-application in 2010 was successful and the WHEC was awarded 3 year funding.

Top tips:

• Partnerships need ample time to form and agree their Vision, Mission and Aims before they begin to deliver on any projects.

• There should always be a formal partnership agreement which clearly sets out the commitment and expectations of the partners

• One organisation will need to be the Lead Partner with a dedicated person to supporting and representing the partners in external forums

• A work plan agreed by all partners needs to inform the direction of the partnership. This will need to be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis.