Duration: April 1996/March 1999
Location: London Borough of Camden
Funders: Camden Joint Consultative Committee (Healthy Cities Programme)
Aim of project:
The Neighbourhood Health and Safety Audit: working with minority ethnic
groups in Camden (NHSA) project was developed by Women's Design Service
(WDS) to support women from minority ethnic communities living in
LB Camden to make changes within their local environment that would
have a positive effect on their health and personal safety.
Objectives:
Year One (April 1996 - July 1997)
- to work interactively with Bangladeshi women in Somers Town
to identify how design and planning elements within their neighbourhood
adversely affects their health, safety and quality of life;
- to carry out health and safety audits with groups and to record
their experiences of local health and safety issues;
- to present the findings and recommendations of the groups to
the relevant departments of the local authority and the health
authority for implementation and, where appropriate, to help groups
make application for funding for improvements.
Year Two (September 1997 - March 1998)
- to work interactively with Somali women in West Hampstead in
order to identify how design and planning elements within their
neighbourhood adversely affect their health, safety and quality
of life;
- to conduct 'mini' health and safety audits with Chinese and
Greek Cypriot women in the Camden Town area.
Year Three (April 1998 - March 1999)
- to support the groups in presenting the findings of the audits
to relevant departments of the statutory authorities and other
agencies for implementation and, where appropriate, help groups
make applications for funding improvements;
- to present the model of safety audits to other interested community
organisations in the borough; to hold training workshops with
community workers and other people working in the voluntary and
statutory sector in Camden who are interested in issues relating
to community safety;
- to produce and disseminate resource materials for continuing
health and safety audit work in Camden; to write a final report
and meet with different agencies to offer recommendations to influence
future cross-agency policy.
Summary:
This project was developed by Women's Design Service
(WDS) to support women from minority ethnic communities living inthe
borough of Camden, who were often overlooked in standard consultation
strategies. The project provided an opportunity for women to express
their views and ideas for change in the design of their local environment
and delivery of services that would have a positive effect on their
health and personal safety, particularly in terms of cultural access.
By the end of the project the audit groups had
between them had made more than 50 findings and recommendations
about their local neighbourhoods. This proved the success of the
project as a consultation and research process and indicated the
enormous enthusiasm of audit participants, when they were given
the opportunity to express their views in a meaningful and in-depth
context. The audit groups' findings and recommendations were converted
into an action plan, which formed the framework for the implementation
process undertaken during 1998/1999.
Achievements and outcomes:
This project substantially met its main aims and
in some areas even exceeded its objectives. The audit process developed
by WDS has proved to be most effective as a method of consultation
with small groups about health and safety issues, particularly with
sections of society that often get left out of public consultation
strategies; for example young people, older people, women, people
with disabilities and people from minority ethnic groups.
The process facilitates community-led solutions
to community safety and sustainable and quality neighbourhoods.
Its usefulness as a consultation strategyhas been recognised by
various agencies and urban regeneration partnerships and has already
led to WDS becoming involved in other neighbourhood audit projects
for the West Euston Partnership, Stepney Housing and Development
Agency (SHADA) and Youth Clubs UK.
WDS is planning to extend and expand its work in
the field of community safety in the future and would be pleased
to receive enquiries from any professional agencyor community groups
who would like information or assistance.
Publication references:
A final report detailing experiences and achievements
of the project and suggested succession strategies Safety, Health
and Diversity was published in March 1999.
A resource book, Making
Safer Places, was published in October 1998 and has
been used to disseminate the audit methods nationally.
The West Euston Partnership (WEP) is funded by the Single Regeneration
Budget to undertake a five year regeneration programme in the London
Borough of Camden. The West Euston area is geographically small,
but densely populated and ethnically diverse. It lies between Euston
station and Regents Park. WEP's regeneration activities have three
main aims, to 'create economic opportunities', 'unite a diverse
community' and 'share a safer environment'. With these aims in mind,
WEP commissioned Women's Design Service to facilitate Neighbourhood
Health and Safety Audits (NHSA) with local women. The project lasted
three months, from January to March 1999, and worked with three
groups of women from the Somali, Bangladeshi and White British communities.
Three
sites were audited of which two were open spaces and the third a
medical centre. Many of the more practical findings from the audit
locations overlapped and repeated for the different groups. However
some of the findings revealed inconsistencies in the way that the
three cultural groups perceived their environment and access to
facilities and services. This was particularly noticeable in response
to more open questions about issues that affected women's health
and safety. In particular, the Somali women felt isolated within
the community. They were relatively new to the area, had little
contact with each other and restricted access to information and
advice. Following the audit groups, a separate session was held
with the Somali women to consider the wider issues they had raised.
At this meeting the West Euston Somali Women's Group was formed
to give women the opportunity to meet regularly and to make contact
with projects and service providers in the area.
This
is a good example of the richness of the Safety Audit process. As
well as identifying physical problems with the built environment
and producing practical solutions, the women share their considerable
knowledge of their neighbourhood and raise issues which affect the
quality of their lives on a day to day basis. The process reveals
the complexity of the issues faced by women in particular and the
community in general.
The
recommendations made by the women participating in this project
were detailed in a report presented to the West Euston Partnership
Board in June 1999. The report was well received and in the short
time since then, steps have been taken towards implementation. WDS
is currently part of a working party examining the options for the
future of St James' Gardens, one of the open spaces audited in the
project. This will be an exiting opportunity which will allow WDS
to follow through and encourage the implementation of the women's
recommendations.
This was a one year Project based in the West Euston Partnership
regeneration area in the LB Camden. A large estate was undergoing
a major programme of housing security and repairs works. WDS developed
the involvement of residents in this process and was successful
at reaching a wide range of different community groups.
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