Women Acting In Today's Society (WAITS)

The WAITS project assists women in the West Midlands (particularly Black and Minority Ethnic women) who are isolated through poverty, domestic violence, low incomes and poor opportunities. The organisation helps women have a voice in decision making processes and gain access to the welfare benefits, education and employment to which they are entitled. Their peer mentoring programme helps women become involved in local decision-making forums, whilst free counselling helps women who have experienced domestic violence to build their confidence.

The WAITS approach is far more flexible than could be covered by a contract with a private contractor or state agency - and far more likely to help “hard to reach” women. They give their clients time rather than restricting them to a narrow schedule of appointments - accompanying them on, for instance, visits to the Benefits Agency and to their solicitors, making phone calls on their behalf, and, if necessary, finding them refuge.

WAITS has been particularly effective in supporting women leaders to develop community-based groups and gathering the views of smaller organisations and feeding them into policy debates in an environment in which the larger NGOs are often those that get their views heard by Government. WAITS, in partnership with Single Parent Action Network and three regional partners, recently launched the POPP Lone Parent Toolkit in Westminster.

Since WAITS does not receive Council or other public sector funding for delivering services, it tends to rely on Charitable Trusts. The organisation's trustees perceive that a public sector targeted performance culture is not helpful to WAITS or its beneficiaries generally. According to one: “Success is difficult to measure. Funding agencies tend to ask for hard facts and figures, but the value of organisations like WAITS is much more subtle: the results can take a long time to emerge. We are dealing with intangibles, and not necessarily with performance indicators”.