NFWI Annual Review 2015-2016

ABOVE: NFWI Board of
Trustees at the NFWI
Annual Meeting with General
Secretary, Jana Osborne
IMAGE: Andy Lane
W
hilst the federations work hard to ensure
that each of their WIs has a range of
opportunities available close to home, the
NFWI offers members the chance to work
alongside other members across England, Wales and
the Islands on national projects, attend large events
such as the Annual Meeting, and have a real stake in
the direction of the WI, such as engaging in the
resolutions process.
One of the easiest ways to see the NFWI in action
alongside WI members is at the biggest event in the
WI’s calendar: the NFWI Annual Meeting. This year
the meeting was held at the Brighton Centre in June.
Four thousand WI members and guests made the trip
to the coast to vote on two resolutions, enjoy keynote
speeches from Rona Fairhead CBE, Chairman of the
BBC Trust, and The Rt Hon the Baroness D’Souza
CMG, and meet with friends and make new ones
throughout the day beside the seaside. There were
passionate and informed debates on both resolutions
and both were voted for by the delegates, with two
new campaigns launched for the future working on
‘Appropriate care in hospitals for people with
dementia’, and ‘Avoid Food Waste, Address Food
Poverty’.
Whilst these two new campaigns will take shape
throughout 2017 after vital preparation work and
feedback from members through the latter half of
2016, the Public Affairs committee have been
working with members on a range of campaigns.
2015 was a landmark year for climate change, with
the agreement in Paris of a groundbreaking
international commitment to limit emissions and
keep global temperature rises below two degrees. The
WI has worked for many years to ensure that climate
change is high on the public agenda, and to support
UK leadership at an international level. Over 50 WIs
turned Valentine’s Day green by organising green
heart craft workshops during February in order to
raise awareness of The Climate Coalition’s Show the
Love campaign.
These events
included workshops
with beekeepers and
farmers to discuss the effects
of climate change, crafting
beaten metal hearts and a
workshop held in Bodiam Castle by
arrangement with the National Trust.
In September 2016, 40
WI members
volunteered to become
Climate Ambassadors
and attended a
workshop to learn how
to communicate climate
change, and nationally,
the WI continues to
make the case for continued leadership at home and
internationally, with further positive news when the
EU ratified the Paris agreement.
MEMBERS HAVE THE
CHANCE TO WORK
ON NATIONAL PROJECTS
There was more
success for the WI’s
Care not Custody
campaign in July as the
government announced the
further rollout of liaison and
diversion services. Since the
campaign’s launch, WI members have
taken the subject to their hearts and shone a
spotlight on the ‘taboo’ issue of
mental health. In autumn
2015, WI members wrote to
their MPs to stress the
importance of securing
funding for the expansion of
liaison and diversion services,
and the partnership between
the WI and the Prison Reform
Trust through the Care not Custody coalition has
continued to make the public case for change and to
support government efforts. The government’s
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