Nutrition Network for Wales Case Study
Project Name:
Women’s Institute Get Cooking Project
Contact Details:
Name: Rhian Connick, Head of National Federation of Women’s Institutes Wales
Email: r.connick@nfwi-wales.org.uk
Phone: 029 2022 1712
Funding:
Currently Health Challenge Wales Grant Scheme
Start date and finish date:
March 2005 – March 2007
Introduction
The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) is the largest voluntary
organisation for women in the UK. It plays a unique role in providing women
with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part
in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them
and their communities.
The aim of Get Cooking is to provide trainers with a toolkit to teach young
people, broadly between the ages of 14 and 25 and others some basic cooking
skills in a community setting. Through Get Cooking young people learn basic
cooking skills so that they feel a sense of achievement and enjoy the
experience.
The NFWI-Wales have been involved with Get Cooking since 1992 when a pilot
project was developed in the Rhondda. Since then the Gwent Federation have
received lottery funding to deliver the project in its area, and the NFWI-Wales
has supported the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Wales to deliver a pilot project
in four areas. In 2005, building on the success of the pilot project, the FSA
Wales developed a trainer’s guide and weekly recipe resources for Get Cooking;
this is available to download from the FSA website
(http://www.food.gov.uk/wales/nutwales/getcooking/). In 2005 NFWI were
awarded a Health Challenge Wales Voluntary Sector Grant to deliver 28 Get
Cooking courses in seven federations (Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire,
Ceredigion, Glamorgan, Anglesey, Clwyd Flint and Powys Montgomery). There is
central co-ordination from the NFWI head office in Cardiff and a project
steering committee. There is a local nominated lead in each federation.
Centrally contact details of partner organisations working with young people
are given to the local lead who then approaches them to propose working
together.
What do you feel the main achievements of the project have been to date?
The women delivering the Get Cooking courses work voluntarily with significant
enthusiasm and commitment. They build on their life experience to give hints
and tips on cooking healthily and on a budget. The only pre-requisite is that
volunteers have an interest in cooking and have or are willing to train for a
basic food hygiene certificate. The volunteers have found this work very
rewarding. The success of this format has meant that it is being rolled out by
the NFWI in England.
The WI members have also observed positive changes in eating habits and the
ability to cook meals from scratch on a budget and the social benefits of eating
a meal around a table. These changes are measured through a pre and post
questionnaire, unfortunately due to resources longer term impact evaluation
could not be undertaken.
The partnerships formed between organisations and the WI members have been
positive. The courses have been delivered with diverse groups, with particular
success noted with young parents.
Has the project encountered any difficulties and what lessons have been
learned?
The main difficulty has been finding appropriate and accessible venues. There
was a small grant for equipment but WI members often had to use their own
equipment if there wasn’t any provided at the venue. Storage space was
needed to store equipment between sessions.
The project has learnt that the cost implications of having crèche facilities
available should be factored into grant applications or ideally should be
provided or funded by the partner organisation. It is also important to make
explicit that the partner organisations need to ensure that there are sufficient
numbers of participants and that they need to commit to the course for six
weeks as a difficulty has been ensuring consistency of participants.
How do you see your project continuing in the future/ future sustainability?
The NFWI is currently applying for more grant funding to continue the project
and meet demand. Following previous success they hope to continue the
project focusing on parents. They are looking into the possibility of sustaining
the project at a local level through training of those previously involved.