5: From Isolation to Aspiration¹

This chapter presents the qualitative findings from the first year of the research. The key themes that emerged related to the women's happiness and wellbeing, confidence, knowledge and skills, integration, freedom, and empowerment. The chapter considers how change began to occur in the first year of the project through sustained engagement and positive relationships with project staff and volunteers. This change, however, was more aspirational than tangible, demonstrating the need for long-term support to facilitate more sustainable change in work with the most marginalised migrant and refugee women.

Alongside the funded women's project activities (which centred on the provision of monthly workshops and some one-to-one support), the charity was delivering a significant amount of work ‘in kind’. This included weekly rather than monthly provision, ESOL classes before each weekly workshop, and on-site childcare provision. This weekly and holistic provision sustained the women's engagement with most women attending regularly. Throughout the first year, the women's project ran in both south-east London and west London.