NIRWN Executive Director Louise Coyle signed the open letter on behalf of our membership of rural women.

Women Breaking Barriers rural team Leon Hughes and Jacqui Clancy, together with our Engagement Officer Paula McAliskey joined our urban Project partners WRDA, Women’s Support Network and Reclaim the Agenda on the steps of Stormont recently to stand in solidarity with our sector colleagues and to advocate for our membership.

There is no decrease in the demand for our Project, quite the reverse. We see the impacts daily of women feeling more confident, more empowered and moving into higher education and employment. Our project has supported a high percentage of the participants into employment, including rural women entrepreneurs who are no longer economically inactive. Rural women have no desire to be economically inactive they need opportunities where they live and they need their barriers to participation removed.

There is no shortage of data and facts together with powerful testimonies from real women, living real lives in our communities. The question now is what is our NI Executive, NI Office, Hilary Benn MP, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Westminster going to do about it? Are they listening to beneficiaries?

NIRWN would like to thank NICVA for the coordination and to our sector colleagues who have been forced into spending time fighting this on behalf of those they deliver for instead of the actual delivery we would all prefer to be spending our time on.