MyFundingCentral: helping thousands of charities address financial pressures

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The effects of the current cost of living and inflation rises are spiralling through society, and the voluntary and charitable sector is on the frontline when it comes to supporting struggling individuals and communities. However, the organisations delivering this support are anticipating significant financial pressures themselves this winter.

Rising demand and rising costs are combining with falling charitable income to create a crisis within the sector. At the start of September, 46 sector organisations issued a joint statement calling on the Government to provide targeted financial support for charities, voluntary and community organisations and to include these organisations in any plans to support businesses.

Funders are already starting to respond to the pressures – and an anticipated increase in demand for food, debt advice and mental health support – by closing or pausing regular funding schemes in order to launch new emergency funding opportunities, just as they did during the pandemic. It is expected that funders will also provide more support for core costs, in order to help organisations struggling with energy costs or retaining staff.

The importance of grants for the sector

Even in normal times, the voluntary and charitable sector relies heavily on grants from trusts, foundations and government in order to carry out its crucial work.

Recent research from the Law Family Commission on Civil Society has shown, though, that small and medium charities face particularly high costs in accessing funding. On average, they devote more than a third of their total annual grant income to applying for charitable grants. The report suggested that a key cause of this is making applications for funding for which they are actually ineligible.

Smaller charities are unlikely to have dedicated funding officers to search for funding and submit applications. With thousands of funders awarding grants to charities for a wide range of causes and beneficiaries, it can be hugely difficult to keep track of potential funding opportunities and decide which are most relevant.

An affordable, essential solution

It’s for this reason that more and more small charities are turning to MyFundingCentral to help them. Now in its second year of operation, the MyFundingCentral database (produced by software specialists Idox) provides easy access to thousands of grants and social investment opportunities from local, national and international funding sources – all in one place.

The service is available to organisations with an annual income below £1m and is free for organisations whose income is under £30k. Larger charity and voluntary organisations can access Idox’s GrantFinder service, which works with organisations with an income over £1 million.

MyFundingCentral is designed for easy use and around 3000 small charities use the service every month to find funding to keep existing projects going or to expand their work. It is updated every day with new funding opportunities from charitable trusts, foundations, councils, national government and corporate sponsors.

Success stories

Charities regularly share their success stories with us.

Paula Baker who is Director of HeadsUp Mental Health Awareness CIC was pleased to report that they secured £14,500 from four grants identified through MyFundingCentral. “It’s an easy-to-use service, which has benefitted us greatly.” HeadsUp is a charity that works with children and young people, promoting understanding, raising awareness, and breaking down the stigma that surrounds mental health issues. Even small amounts of grant funding can have a big impact on the number of children and young people that they are able to help.

Lucy Whitehouse, Founder and CEO of Fumble.org.uk said that “MyFundingCentral’s portal is totally invaluable to us as a tiny, fledgling charity with really limited staff capacity. The service has helped us find and apply for relevant funding opportunities that we otherwise wouldn’t know about or be able to access.”

Easy to use

Subscribers to MyFundingCentral have immediate access to a database tailored to meet the needs of the charities and voluntary sector. Users of the service can:

  • search the database to identify opportunities that match their project;
  • find niche funding opportunities that free funding tools typically miss;
  • narrow searches to funding available in specific geographic areas;
  • receive alerts about new funding opportunities tailored to their needs direct to their inbox; and
  • get the latest news on funding.

The database is easy to use, with key eligibility criteria highlighted, and information on how to apply fully explained. There’s no jargon, and because all of the funding opportunities have been handpicked by MyFundingCentral researchers to be right for the sector, users can be sure that they are current and relevant to their needs.

For further information and to subscribe, visit the MyFundingCentral website.

Further reading: more about the charities and voluntary sector on The Knowledge Exchange Blog

August 2022 issue of SPEL Journal (Scottish Planning & Environmental Law) out now

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The Scottish planning system and planning services are in the midst of a period of significant change at the moment, both as a result of strategic reforms and the transition away from the temporary changes to planning operations which were introduced as a result of the pandemic.

The Scottish Government has completed its public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny of the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) and expects to put forward a revised draft for approval to the Scottish Parliament in the autumn.

There is ongoing work to develop the arrangements for the new-style local development plans, which will sit alongside NPF4 as the statutory development plan. Recent months have also seen consultations on the Open Space Strategy and the Play Sufficiency Assessment, as well as the next phase of the review of permitted development rights. The digital transformation of planning programme has also moved into its second year.

At such a busy time within the planning sector, a key resource for planners and planning lawyers is the Scottish Planning and Environmental Law Journal. Bringing together commentary and analysis from leading professionals, lawyers and academics, the journal explores current developments and case law, and is published every two months.

August 2022 issue

The August 2022 issue has just been published and includes articles focusing on:

  • NPF4, place and the 20-minute neighbourhood concept
  • Commentary on the review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy
  • Natural capital in the context of Scottish land use management and the goal of a Just Transition
  • The circular economy and implications for the waste sector

Each issue of SPEL Journal includes comment on key court cases. Within the August 2022 issue these include the Court of Appeal case relating to private law actions about unauthorised sewage discharges (The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v United Utilities Water Ltd).

Recent developments in environmental planning, law and policy are also covered. The proposed Land Reform Bill continues its progress, with a public consultation underway. There have also been announcements relating to the Scottish Government’s drive to increase hydrogen fuel production capacity. Planning permission was recently granted for Scotland’s first plastic-to-hydrogen facility, which will be constructed in Clydebank, and new funding has been launched to support innovation in the hydrogen fuel sector.

A long tradition of supporting the professions

SPEL Journal (Scottish Planning & Environmental Law) launched over 35 years ago and is one of the leading information sources on land use planning and environmental legislation across the country.

Written by a diverse range of subject experts, SPEL Journal includes accessible commentary on topical subjects and current issues; details of new legislation and significant court cases; expert comment on key planning appeal decisions, government circulars and guidance; as well as notes about ombudsman cases and book reviews.

SPEL Journal is read by decision makers in Scottish planning authorities, planning law practices, planning consultancies, architects, surveyors, civil engineers, environmental managers and developers across Scotland. It is also valued by many outside of Scotland who wish to keep up-to-date with developments.

SPEL Journal is published 6 times a year. An annual subscription is £170. For further details or a sample copy, please contact Heather Cameron at publications@idoxgroup.com.

Guest post | James Lovelock: the scientist-inventor who transformed our view of life on Earth

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Mark Maslin, UCL

James Lovelock, the maverick scientist and inventor, died surrounded by his family on July 27 2022 – his 103rd birthday. Jim led an extraordinary life. He is best known for his Gaia hypothesis, developed with the brilliant US biologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, which transformed the way we think of life on Earth.

Gaia challenged the orthodox view that life simply evolved and adapted to the ever-changing environment. Instead, Lovelock and Margulis argued that species not only competed but also cooperated to create the most favourable conditions for life.

Earth is a self-regulating system maintained by communities of living organisms, they claimed. These communities adjust oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, salinity in the ocean and even the planet’s temperature to keep them within the acceptable bounds for life to thrive.

Just like Charles Darwin before him, Lovelock published his new, radical idea in a popular book, Gaia: A new look at life on Earth (1979). It was an instant hit that challenged mature researchers to reassess their science and encouraged new ones. As my friend and colleague Professor Richard Betts at the Met Office Hadley Centre put it:

He was a source of inspiration to me for my entire career, and in fact his first book on Gaia was a major reason why I chose to work on climate change and Earth system modelling.

Not only did the book challenge the classical Darwinism notion that life evolved and prospered through constant competition and dogged self-interest, it founded a whole new field: Earth system science. We Earth system scientists study all the interactions between the atmosphere, land, ocean, ice sheets and, of course, living things.

Lovelock also inspired the environmental movement by giving his ideas a spiritual overtone: Gaia was the goddess who personified the Earth in Greek mythology.

This antagonised many scientists, but created a lot of fruitful debate in the 1980s and 1990s. It is now generally accepted that organisms can enhance their local environment to make it more habitable. For example, forests can recycle half the moisture they receive, keeping the local climate mild and stabilising rainfall.

But the original Gaia hypothesis, that life regulates the environment so that the planet resembles an organism in its own right, is still treated with scepticism among most scientists. This is because no workable mechanism has been discovered to explain how the forces of natural selection, which operate on individual organisms, birthed the evolution of such planetary-scale homeostasis.

An aerial view of morning mist over a rainforest.
Organisms alter their environment to make it more favourable to life. Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock

An independent scientist

There was much more to James Lovelock, who described himself as an “independent scientist since 1964”, because of the income generated from his invention of the electron capture detector while studying for a PhD in 1957.

This matchbox-sized device could measure tiny traces of toxic chemicals. It was essential in demonstrating that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the atmosphere, which originated in aerosols and refrigerators at the time, were destroying the ozone layer. It also showed that pesticide residues exist in the tissues of virtually all living creatures, from penguins in Antarctica to human breast milk.

A small device resembling a spindle with a white band in the middle.
The electron capture detector Lovelock invented for measuring air pollution. Science Museum London, CC BY-SA

The money he earned from the electron capture detector gave him his freedom because, as he was fond of telling people, the best science comes from an unfettered mind – and he hated being directed. The detector was just the start of his inventing career and he filed more than 40 patents.

He also wrote over 200 scientific papers and many popular books expanding on the Gaia hypothesis. He was awarded scientific medals, international prizes and honorary doctorates by universities all around the world.

Dr Roger Highfield, the science director at the London Science Museum, summed Jim up perfectly:

“Jim was a nonconformist who had a unique vantage point that came from being, as he put it, half-scientist and half-inventor. Endless ideas bubbled forth from this synergy between making and thinking. Although he is most associated with Gaia, he did an extraordinary range of research, from freezing hamsters to detecting life on Mars … He was more than happy to bristle a few feathers, whether by articulating his dislike of consensus views, formal education and committees, or by voicing his enthusiastic support for nuclear power.”

Jim was deeply concerned by what he saw humanity doing to the planet. In his 1995 book The Ages of Gaia, he suggested that the warm periods between ice ages, like the current Holocene, are the fevered state of our planet. Because over the last two million years the Earth has shown a clear preference for a colder average global temperature, Jim understood global warming as humanity adding to this fever.

Jim did despair at humanity’s inability to look after the environment and much of his writing reflected this, particularly his book The Revenge of Gaia in 2006. But at the age of 99, he published Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence (2019), an optimistic view which envisaged humanity creating artificially intelligent life forms that would, unlike us, understand the importance of other living things in maintaining a habitable planet.

His dwindling faith in humanity was replaced by trust in the logic and rationality of AI. He left us with hope that cyborgs would take over and save us from ourselves.

Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCL

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Opening image: Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Further reading: more on protecting the planet from The Knowledge Exchange blog

Guest post: insulate Britain or miss net zero

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Jack Marley, The Conversation

The UK is failing to enact the policies that would put it on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050, according to a progress report by the Climate Change Committee. The head of this expert body, which advises the government on its climate strategy, described the UK’s record on home insulation in particular as “a complete tale of woe”.

Gas heating in draughty homes is one of the country’s biggest sources of carbon emissions – and a leading cause of poor health and poverty as energy prices remain sky-high. So what would it take to turn this around?

“The transition to net zero emissions is often framed as a race to make new stuff – such as electric vehicles and wind turbines – as fast as possible,” says Ran Boydell, a visiting lecturer in sustainable development at Heriot-Watt University.

“That’s actually the easy part. The hard part will be modifying what already exists – and that includes people’s homes.”

Cavity wall insulation, triple-glazed windows, solar panels, low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps which run on electricity: all of these things and potentially more are needed to neutralise the contributions to climate change made by 26 million homes (the number of existing homes Boydell anticipates will still be around in 2050). That would eliminate 68 million tonnes of CO₂, which is about 15% of the national total.

“The idea is to ensure that no home emits greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels for energy and that, eventually, each home could produce as much energy as it uses,” Boydell says.

According to analysis by the Climate Change Committee, the average cost of retrofitting a single home to net zero standard is £26,000. Energy savings would make up for this after 20 years, but most households would struggle to make such a big upfront investment.

“Considering energy efficiency measures purely in terms of financial payback will never stack up,” Boydell says. “They must be considered in terms of carbon payback. Carbon payback is how quickly the reduced carbon emissions from daily life in a net zero home take to make up for the carbon emissions that went into making and building all the different parts.”

A home operating at net zero standard would compensate for the carbon that went into building it after just six years, Boydell estimates. But it’s the responsibility of the government – and not individual homeowners – to juggle these considerations, he says.

“Infrastructure, like roads and railways, is the only stuff people build which counts its payback periods in decades. The government needs to think of a mass retrofit programme for our houses in those terms: as critical national infrastructure.”

Fund, regulate and overhaul

Matthew Hannon and Donal Brown study green policy at the universities of Strathclyde and Sussex. They say that:

“At an absolute minimum, the government should be aiming to install insulation in 1.3 million homes a year – a rate it managed pre-2013.”

To reach that level, Hannon and Brown have four suggestions. First, increase annual funding for retrofitting homes from £1 billion to £7 billion – enough to retrofit 7 million homes by 2025, they claim. Next, shift the burden of raising this money into general taxation and away from energy bill levies which strain the poorest households and inflate the cost of heating homes with zero-carbon electricity.

“Insulating hundreds of homes at a time, neighbourhood by neighbourhood and coordinated by local authorities, could help to retrofit housing deeper and faster than tackling homes one by one,” they say. For this, collaboration with local groups and businesses who know the community well will be key. Hannon and Brown argue the government will also need a separate, well-funded programme to install heat pumps and other low-carbon heating systems, while phasing out support for gas boilers.

An engineer adjusts the external fan unit of a heat pump on the side of a house.
Heat pumps, if powered by renewable electricity, can decarbonise heating. I AM NIKOM/Shutterstock

Once a national campaign to renovate Britain’s homes to net zero standard is underway, there are certain to be teething problems. The Labour Party offered a comprehensive programme of home insulation at the 2019 election. At the time, Jo Richardson, a professor of housing and social inclusion at De Montfort University, and David Coley, a professor of low-carbon design at the University of Bath, described the obstacles that will need to be overcome.

“The UK construction sector is highly fragmented – and different subcontractors are often responsible for the walls, roof and electricity in a single house. This makes quality control difficult. There’s also a skills shortage, especially when it comes to the detailed knowledge required to build a zero-energy house. And if energy-consuming extras such as underfloor heating or electrically driven windows are added, the energy savings from design may be lost,” they say.

The Climate Change Committee noted that new homes are rarely net zero standard, with 1.5 million built in recent years that will need to be retrofitted. The preferred solution for Richardson and Coley is to mandate each new home to Passivhaus standard, which certifies that it produces as much energy as it uses.

“Passivhaus only works if the right design decisions are made from day one,” they caution. “If an architect starts by drawing a large window for example, then the energy loss from it might well be so great that any amount of insulation elsewhere can’t offset it. Architects don’t often welcome this intrusion of physics into the world of art.”

Increased funding, new regulations and an overhaul of architectural norms will be necessary to roll out zero-energy homes and retrofit existing ones. “That’s a tall order,” say Richardson and Coley. “But decarbonising each component of society will take nothing short of a revolution.”

Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Further reading: more on energy efficiency from The Knowledge Exchange blog

“I’m treated as an individual, not a problem:” The “No Wrong Door” policy

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The “No Wrong Door” (NWD) programme means exactly that – there is no wrong door to turn to for young people seeking support.

NWD works on several core principles, which include working with young people’s birth family or guardians, allowing care leavers to “stay close” to continue accessing support, and working closely with young people to identify ways to help their self-esteem and give them opportunities. NWD has been introduced in several areas of the UK.

England

The term “No Wrong Door” was coined in North Yorkshire, where two hubs were created in Scarborough and Harrogate. The North Yorkshire County Council website provides details on the work their teams do.  

Each hub has a dedicated team which includes a life coach, a speech therapist, two community foster families and community supported lodging places for 16- and 17-year-olds with trained staff. On top of this, every young person in the NWD programme has their own key worker who is supported by another team. Many young people struggle when they are moved around as they grow up; new teams or workers don’t know their history or personality well. Having one consistent key worker for each young person makes it easier to build trust and create a more positive relationship.

Wales

A report from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales has described the steps taken by the Welsh Government to implement a ‘no wrong door’ approach to supporting children and young people. Funding has been earmarked specifically for children with complex needs, and all regions of Wales now have specific multi-agency groups for young people.

Regions like Cardiff and Vale have been implementing some of the common core principles of NWD, such as continuity of staff, key workers and streamlined appointments, in addition to a “proactive not reactive early intervention response.”

Scotland and Northern Ireland

NWD was introduced in Scotland by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Board (CYPMHW). In addition to building the original programme, it gave young people the opportunity to identify wellbeing priorities. These included having a job, a safe and warm place to live, food and clothes, good relationships, safety, feeling happy and confident, good health and opportunities to learn.  

There seems to be less evidence of NWD being implemented in Northern Ireland, although it has been proposed as a way to support children of parents with mental illness.

Impact

There has been a great amount of evidence that NWD is effective in helping young people. The Department for Education (DfE) published a report in 2017 which looked at the initial success of the “No Wrong Door Innovation Programme.” They found that for young people who were supported under NWD, there had been a decrease in arrests and incidents of them going missing, which indicates that giving young people more stable support systems leads to an overall higher level of happiness.

The report also found that under NWD, 25% of those who were not previously in education, employment or training went on to become engaged in education, training or work. 87% of young people who were using substances when they entered the NWD programme had also stopped when they were interviewed as a follow-up.

What can be improved?

There are a number of aspects under NWD that can be improved. A lack of long-term funding has meant that staff were not given the security of knowing if their contract was being extended. This meant many workers found permanent jobs elsewhere to ensure their own job security, and those who stayed were anxious about their future which impacted them negatively. It also had a negative effect on the young people under NWD if staff leaving was not handled appropriately.

On top of this, some young people had mixed feelings around their transition out of the support network. While many felt they were being supported efficiently, others described the transition as “abrupt” and “too fast.” This is definitely something that can be improved on with more training for staff and more structure in place for those who need more time when moving forward into the next stage of life.

Final thoughts

While NWD is by no means perfect, it has significantly given young people support during the most transitional period of their life, from adolescence to adulthood. Having key workers develop consistent relationships has allowed them to more strongly advocate for young people as they see them as more than just a case number. As stated by one young person in one of the studies, with NWD, “I’m treated as an individual, not a problem.”

As the programme evolves and more structure is put into place, there is hope that many more young people can be encouraged and given the platform to achieve their full potential.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.

Further reading: more from The Knowledge Exchange Blog on children and young people

Photo essay: celebrating street art

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For those of us living in, working in and passing through towns and cities, street art has become as familiar as road signage and commercial advertising. Usually taking the form of murals, street art has multiple purposes: it provides artists with a means of displaying their talents and expressing themselves; it  can help a place tell a story about itself, highlighting the people and things that have made it what it is today; and it can contribute to the regeneration of a place, demonstrating that communities care about their environment.

Using images from Glasgow – a city with a strong tradition of street art – this photo essay highlights some of the historical, social and artistic elements that have helped to transform parts of the city. It also features extracts from articles and reports that have underlined the importance of street art.

“Artists have embraced the street and the built environment as integral to their work and practice, individual pieces reflecting context and location as surfaces become living canvases, rehumanizing the urban landscape.”
– Asli Aktu: Shaping Places Through Art

“In the process of creating and searching for street art pieces, both the artist and the viewer often get to explore parts of the city they would rarely visit otherwise. Places such as alleys or empty lots, dead spaces below or around bridges and other infrastructures, even off-limits terrains such as abandoned tunnels.”
– Javier Abarca: From street art to murals: what have we lost?

“According to a research on the effect of mural on personal crime and fear of crime conducted by Md. Sakip, R. et. al. (2016) in Ipoh, Malaysia, most … strongly agree that they are feeling safe when using back alleys with the art mural on a wall. A safe environment is achieved as there are better opportunities for public surveillance caused by the increase in tourists and local community’s awareness. If the environment continues to be safe, the more tourists will be attracted to visit the city.”
– Siti Syamimi Oma: Bringing the New to the Old : Urban regeneration through public
arts

“Murals are a reflection of the community. They can be historically significant because they serve as a reminder for a particular struggle or victory for the community. They can be beautiful and uplifting, generating a source of pride for residents of a particular neighborhood.”
– Summit Learning & C3 Teachers: Does street art make communities better?

“Art can celebrate the qualities that make one place different from another. The best of public art can challenge, delight, educate and illuminate. Most of all, public art creates a sense of civic vitality in the cities, towns and communities we inhabit and visit.”
Americans for the Arts: Public Art Network Council Green Paper

“With its ability to embrace multiple urban subcultures and visual styles in a globally distributed practice, street art provides a new dialogic configuration, a post-postmodern hybridity that will continue to generate many new kinds of works and genres.“
– Martin Irvine: The work on the street: street art and visual culture

“Whether sanctioned or unsanctioned, murals are a key component of place-making. They may even have the power to change neighbourhoods.“
– IBI Group: Street murals – the power of public art

Many of the murals included in this blog post are featured in this guide accompanying Glasgow City’s Council’s Mural Trail.

Further reading: more from The Knowledge Exchange on arts and culture

Could arts and culture hold the key to the digital divide?

From rainbows to Banksy – have lockdowns created a new appreciation for the value of the arts?

‘Culture towns’: how small towns are leading the way

Ending violence against women and girls: a renewed commitment

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Instances of reported violence and misogyny against women and girls are rising. The high profile murders of Zara Aleena, Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry, Nicole Smallman, Maria Rawlings, Sabina Nessa and Ashling Murphy have again raised questions about what can be done to tackle the rising incidence of violence against women and girls.

Violence against women and girls, as set out by the United Nations, is any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

More broadly, the agenda around tackling violence against women and girls seeks to tackle more inherent and systemic attitudes towards women and girls, their “roles” in society and the actions, of both men and women, which further entrench the gender biases that women and girls experience on a regular basis.

Under-reporting and challenging everyday behaviours

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that across the UK, 22% of women report having been a victim of sexual assault. In addition,14% of women aged 16 to 19, and 10% of women aged 20 to 24 say they have been a victim of domestic abuse.  Research by UN Women UK has also found that 71% of women in the UK have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space, with this number increasing even further to 86% among women aged 18–24.

However, the prosecution rates for crimes associated with VAWAG, such as rape or domestic abuse are low, and there is a general consensus that more needs to be done within criminal justice to try and improve confidence in the system.

Under-reporting of harassment is also extremely common and for that reason, even the research which is conducted, will often not capture the full scale of the issue. Looking at dis aggregated data is also important. Research shows that LGBTQ+ and minority ethnic women and girls’ experiences tend to be even worse than those of their straight, white counterparts, but their experiences, and the disproportionate impact these have are not always accurately reflected in research.

A renewed commitment to women and girls

In 2022 the Scottish Government published Misogyny: a human rights issue? The report outlines the findings of the Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice and explores misogyny as a human rights issue in Scotland, and the ways in which current legal protections around misogyny can be improved.

The recommendations set out by the Scottish Government commission seek to place Scotland as a world leader in the fight to tackle misogyny and improve the experiences of women and girls. In October 2021 the “Don’t Be That Guy” public awareness campaign was also launched, which called on men to interrogate their own and their peers’ behaviour towards women.

The Mayor of London has also published a refreshed Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy (June 2022) which sets our his ambition to eradicate VAWAG in London and for every woman to be able to participate fully in life across the city. The Mayor of London also recently launched a new campaign which focused on

“addressing the sexist attitudes and inappropriate behaviours exhibited by some men, in order to tackle the epidemic of misogyny and violence towards women and girls”.

It is hoped that, along with the night-time charter and Violence Against Women and Girls strategies which have been well received by businesses in London since their respective launches, that the combined efforts will make it easier for people to report sexual harassment and violence in London and also help make the city a safer and more enjoyable place for people to work and spend time.

Other sectors are also becoming increasingly aware of their responsibilities in trying to drive change in attitudes towards women and make spaces easier and safer for them to navigate. The RTPI published a report in 2021 which looked at the importance of gender based design, not only from the specific perspective of the built environment, but how design of spaces and environments can also inform other behaviours and attitudes and contribute to wider factors such as health, employment, leisure time or the accessibility of services for women and girls.

Misogyny: a human rights issue?

Research conducted by the Scottish Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice, and more broadly by those working across gender equality highlights that there are several laws (in Scotland and in other countries) that are capable of being applied to misogynistic behaviours. However, there is what they describe as a “critical gap” in the implementation and application of these laws to violence against women in public and private spaces.

The development of a specific offence in relation to misogyny aims to both meet the gap in terms of legislation to prosecute, but also to raise the visibility of such offences, not only to improve rates of reporting, but also to encourage police and prosecutors to take offences of this nature more seriously. The working group have also suggested a change to the approach to violence against women and misogyny more generally, treating it as a human rights issue, as well as a specific criminal offence.

Another approach changing the way we are thinking about VAWAG is adopting a public health, whole system approach to VAWAG. This approach places an emphasis on education and partnership working across multiple disciplines and sectors and focuses on prevention as a key tool in tackling what has been called the “endemic” VAWAG which exists within our communities.

One of the biggest challenges to policymakers and service providers of this type of approach will be evidencing impact, and creating robust and thorough processes for evaluation, particularly when multiple partners are involved in delivery.

Final thoughts

Tackling violence against women and girls is about far more than tackling individual instances of crime and abuse, but rather about wider perceptions and attitudes, and the ability of women to live, work and interact in public and private spaces freely and without fear.

In Scotland, legislators hope that the findings of the working group will be the first step on a journey which will see Scotland become among the most progressive nations when it comes to legislating to protect against VAWAG.

For women and girls, it remains to be seen if the steps and actions proposed actually have any impact on promoting meaningful changes to attitudes and behaviours towards women and make our communities and public spaces more equitable and safe for everyone to live and contribute to their fullest potential.

Photo by Chelsi Peter on Pexels.com

If you enjoyed this blog you might like to read:

Health inequalities and ethnic minority communities: breaking down the barriers

‘Breaking the bias’ – gender equality and the gig economy

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World’s protected natural areas too small and isolated to benefit wildlife – new study

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SimonTheSorcerer / shutterstock

David Williams, University of Leeds

The world’s governments will this year negotiate a series of targets in response to the global biodiversity crisis that has already led to a massive loss of the planet’s wildlife. While none of the previous round of targets agreed in 2010 have been met, the one that gained the most publicity, and arguably the one we got closest to achieving was target 11. Its aim was that:

By 2020, at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10% of coastal and marine areas … are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas.

These “protected areas” can range from enormous, strictly-protected areas like US national parks, through the heavily-used landscapes of UK national parks, to tiny urban nature reserves. Protected areas can stop or slow many of the forces threatening biodiversity such as habitat loss, hunting and pollution, and have been a mainstay of global conservation for decades.

By August 2020, some 15% of the world’s land had been protected. This was below the target, but there were enough specific commitments in place to drag the world over the line slightly late. In many ways this is an incredible achievement and perhaps the largest and fastest coordinated change in land management ever.

shaggy haired ox with big horns stood on snow
Musk ox: one of a few mammals living in the world’s largest national park in Greenland. Fitawoman / shutterstock

But the devil is in the detail. For protected areas to be effective they need to be in the right place, and big enough to keep populations of wild species alive. Hundreds of tiny reserves separated by inhospitable farmland may help us reach the 17% target, but they won’t stop extinctions. So, how does our current network stack up? Is it enough to stop species going extinct?

Most animals are underprotected

Colleagues and I recently tackled this question in a study now published in the journal PNAS.

We looked at 3,834 species of terrestrial mammals (all those with available data) and estimated how large a population every protected area in the world could theoretically support (technically, we also grouped adjacent protected areas, as animals can move between them). Understanding how many individuals could survive in each area is vital because small populations just don’t last very long: below a certain size they are much more vulnerable to being wiped out by disease, inbreeding, fires, poaching, or even just falling victim to natural fluctuations in numbers.

To do this, we combined global databases on where animal species live and where the world’s protected areas are located, with site and location specific estimates of population density (how many rhinos – or shrews – do you get per square kilometre).

Worryingly, we found that thousands of species do not appear to be adequately protected. Depending on the exact criteria used, we estimated that at least 1,536 species (40% of those we looked at), and maybe as many as 2,156 (56%) had ten or fewer protected populations that were likely to survive in the long run.

Sign for Gunnersbury Triangle nature reserve
Small protected areas, like this one in London, can only support small populations of most mammals. Any species that cannot survive in the urban environment around the reserve could risk extinction. LWT Gunnersbury Triangle, CC BY-SA

These under-protected species were found across all continents, across all species groups we looked at, and included some of the world’s smallest mammals, as well as some of the largest. Perhaps most concerning, 91% of the world’s threatened mammals – many of which are already the focus of conservation efforts – were under-protected, and hundreds of these species appear to have no viable protected populations at all. These species are at serious risk of population declines or extinctions as habitat outside protected areas comes under increasing pressure.

What is more, these numbers represent a best-case scenario. In reality, protected areas are only effective if they are well-managed, and most simply don’t have the resources.

What works?

Our work suggests that what matters is not the total percentage of the world that is protected, but whether protection is in the right places and whether protected areas are large enough, or well enough connected to other areas, to support populations that will survive in the long term. If not, then they are just delaying the inevitable, and species will continue to be lost from them, whether or not targets have been met.

Expanding or relocating the world’s protected areas comes fraught with very real risks to human wellbeing. These areas are based on stopping people from doing things: from chopping down trees, from hunting certain species, from mining, or from farming.

This is what makes them so valuable to biodiversity, but imposes a huge cost on the local population. Many protected areas have a history of colonialism, forced removals, and the impoverishment or disenfranchisement of local and particularly indigenous people. Any future expansion has to be fair to these people.

Expansion is also only going to be possible if we reduce human demand for land. Protected areas are going to be ever more important as growing human consumption puts unprotected land under increasing pressure.

But they are like treating the symptom of a disease, and we also have to treat the root cause. Without rapid shifts towards healthier, plant-rich diets, reductions in food waste, and sustainable yield increases, there simply won’t be enough spare land to protect.

The world’s biodiversity is in serious trouble, and our current system of protected areas appears unlikely to save it. To prevent a wave of extinctions in coming decades, we need to greatly reduce humanity’s global footprint and to couple this with protected areas that are well managed, well located and large enough.

David Williams, Lecturer in Sustainability and the Environment, University of Leeds

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Further reading: more from The Knowledge Exchange blog on biodiversity

Reaching out: tackling loneliness in older people

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As we’ve previously reported, loneliness is a growing epidemic with significant consequences for many groups in society. One of these groups is the elderly – loneliness has been seen to affect around 10-13% of older people, and has been found to increase the risk of premature death by 30%.

Making connections

Creating relationships and connections is an important way of tackling loneliness, and the Rural Services Network has highlighted some good examples of bringing people together

These include “Village Agent” schemes, which link people in rural areas with advice and support services for independent living. Another initiative –  the “Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project” – specifically targets rural areas of the country, where there may be fewer opportunities to meet through shopping, meeting for food or simply seeing other people. This project allows older people to meet at a caravan where they are given coffee, tea and homemade cakes, as well as providing information on helpful services.

Along these lines is also the “Talk Eat and Drink” (TED) project launched in 2015, which was initially funded by the Big Lottery’s “Fulfilling lives: ageing better” programme. This allowed older people to become involved in activities such as ‘Sing For Your Supper’, ‘Fish and Chips Friday’ and a Sunday pub lunch, which not only enabled people to bond with others, but also ensured that they were being fed properly, especially if they were struggling with cooking at home or getting food for themselves.

Artistic endeavours

Another way to tackle loneliness in older people is through the arts. A report from the Baring Foundation has found that it is important for older people to have a range of activities and opportunities to connect them to others; the arts can be effective not only in keeping people in touch with others, but also in helping with health-related issues like dementia.

The arts exemplifies the principles behind ‘five ways to wellbeing’: connecting, being active, learning, taking notice and giving. Being able to create things allows older people to use their minds and skills to express themselves. They can also have enhanced self-confidence from the feeling of doing something for themselves.

Organisations such as Arts4Dementia and Artz (Artists for Alzheimer’s) have been able to help people living with dementia, including help with their co-ordination and wellbeing. Other companies like Spare Tyre use theatre to create multi-sensory productions, while the Library Theatre Company in Manchester delivers sensory workshops for people living with dementia which provide fun with props and music.

One of the biggest issues with this form of help is that the arts tend to be overlooked by local authorities and therefore don’t have enough funding. However, Manchester City Council, has been working to make their city more ‘age friendly’ and in particular to provide cultural activities for older people.

There have also been examples of “arts by prescription” where GPs have referred patients to arts projects to improve their mental health. This is part of the wider ‘social prescribing’ approach which our blog has previously covered.

Everyday skills

Other forms of tackling loneliness in older people include helping them develop skills through, for example, volunteering. Projects such as Touchstone in Yorkshire allowed people to self-refer themselves, or be referred through GPs and Age UK, where they could learn practical skills with other older people. 91% of those taking part felt they were more involved or connected with their community, and 86% felt they had more confidence to meet people.

Another programme by the charity Open Age, in London, created opportunities for older people to keep up with the performing arts, physical activity, digital skills, lunch groups, and trips. While these did cost money, they were only £1 an hour and were pay-by-session and drop in, which made it slightly more accessible. However, even these small amounts may be out of reach for those already struggling to make ends meet.

Final thoughts

Overall, there seems to be a range of activities and opportunities for older people to not only meet others and form connections, but learn new skills they can utilise for themselves.

However, it’s important to remember that older people are not a homogenous group, and no single approach will work for everyone. But as long as careful thought goes into ensuring that the needs of older people are at the heart of initiatives to tackle loneliness, the chances of success will be all the greater.

Photo by leah hetteberg on Unsplash 

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Access denied: planning for the disabled-access city

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that over 1 billion people are living with some form of disability worldwide – that’s about 15% of the world’s total population. And, with trends in life expectancy and the prevalence of chronic health conditions on the rise, the number of disabled people living in cities is expected to only increase in the coming years.

Despite this, many cities remain unfriendly and widely inaccessible to their disabled populations.

Those with physical disabilities can be presented with barriers built into the smallest details of manoeuvring around the city, which could be seen as trivial and unobtrusive to the average able-bodied commuter.

From impassable steep kerbs, to sandwich board-cluttered streets, to shops and restaurants without lifts- – the makeup of the typical streetscape is lined with potential obstacles and restrictions. Moreover, for people who are neurodivergent or learning disabled, a bustling urban environment can cause harm through sensory overload, anxiety and stress.

Transport is another everyday aspect of city living where disabled people can feel excluded.

In many big cities, the metro is the most convenient way to travel. A recent study found that only 31% of London Underground stations are accessible by wheelchair or mobility scooter from street to platform. Considering that a number of those still require staff assistance and ramps to board trains, the number of fully accessible stations is even less. Another study found that similarly poor access exists across the world’s major metro systems.

Disabled people commonly report that accessibility worries can be a major deterrent to engaging in public spaces that are unfamiliar.

“I must always be thinking about accessibility in the back of my head” says Grace, in a Guardian article where readers with a disability share their experiences of city access. “The barriers start before a trip begins” adds Stef, talking about autistic-unfriendly travel.

Discussing New York, Lucy describes how accessibility barriers can make her feel excluded in her own city: “I often end up feeling like a second-class citizen who doesn’t even appear in the thoughts of city planners”.

Numerous studies have found that disabled people are less likely to work or socialise in areas with poor accessibility. Moreover, cities are losing out on economic benefits from inaccessibility-– the ‘purple pound’ (signifying the spending power of disabled tourists) was estimated to be worth around £250bn in the UK pre-pandemic.

Whilst disabled access is rising in prioritisation amongst city and transport planning, there is undoubtedly still a long way to go in many cities. But there are also some good examples of cities taking action to make their spaces accessible to all.

Opening up Chester’s ancient streets

The first British city to win the coveted European Access City Award, Chester is now regarded as the UK’s most accessible city. Famous for its Roman heritage, the city pledged to make its many tourist sites fully accessible for disabled people–a sizeable challenge, considering the city’s ancient streets and medieval walls.

Chester has implemented fully accessible, wide passageways with tactile paving and added handrails above the walls and famous Chester Rows, which were previously only accessible by steps. Narrow and secluded walkways have now been connected by 17 wheelchair access points. In addition, there are disabled access focused tours, access guides, signs and online information platforms.

Transport has been revamped, as council policy requires all public buses and licensed taxis to have wheelchair access, induction loops and colour-contrast handles. The council has also committed to including a specifically designed Changing Places toilet in all new developments, adding to the numerous facilities already deployed in busy spots.

The successful implementation of an extensive access plan has not been quick, but is rather the results of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s long-term commitment to improving disability inclusion. The council has had a designated access officer since 1991 and a disability forum of 16 organisations that actively promote accessibility in new developments – such as the multi-million pound Storyhouse arts centre that has received accolades for its standard of access.

Chester’s award has seen the city become a model to other city governments from across the world, who are now visiting the city for inspiration. “We’ve had them from Dublin to Israel, they want to see how it’s done”, says Graham Garnett, Chester’s previous access officer.

Accessible route mapping in Seattle

Primarily designed for commuters in vehicles, most online routing maps can be unhelpful for people with limited mobility, lacking detail on hills, steep kerbs and access points. Aiming to rectify this, however, is the University of Washington’s Taskar Center for Accessible Technology, who have designed the AccessMap platform for the hilly city of Seattle.

AccessMap allows users to receive tailored routes dependent on customised preferences, such as only showing sloped pavements or limiting the incline of streets. As platforms such as Google Maps currently don’t take such factors into account, AccessMap will provide the user with an alternative route that is not based upon journey time or distance, but rather on safety and ease of access.

The map even uses recent data from the Seattle Department of Transportation to accommodate for real-world conditions on pedestrian pathways, such as a construction site or potentially hazardous surface conditions. In addition, the developers are aiming to turn the platform into an open street map, where users and volunteers can create up-to-date entries about the conditions they encounter.

The research team behind the project want to use their development to provide the toolkits and instructions to create similar maps in other cities. They have identified 10 urban areas in the US with the potential to replicate successful platforms, such as New York, Boston and San Francisco.

Final thoughts

Chester’s motivation in becoming fully accessible is exemplary of a city that is leading the way in disability inclusion, ensuring that it is inherent to city government planning. Likewise, the mapping project in Seattle shows how alternative tools can enhance the experiences of disabled people.

But although these examples are encouraging, they are exceptions. As long as planners fail to acknowledge the needs of people with disabilities, most of our cities will remain, in effect, no-go areas for a substantial section of society.

Further reading: more on diversity and inclusion from The Knowledge Exchange Blog: