Starting a WEN local group

Starting a WEN local group is an exciting challenge and an invaluable empowering experience of what women can achieve and how teams work.

1. If you're not already a member, join WEN

With your welcome pack, you will be sent details of your nearest local group if there is one. As a member, you'll be kept in touch with WEN campaigns through WENnews, our quarterly newsletter, and other updates. In order to ensure that we can provide as much support as possible, we encourage all our local group members to join WEN.

2. Recruit members

• Get together with one or two others who share your concerns for the environment and health and are interested in what you want to do.


• Call an informal meeting to get other women interested


• If you are starting on your own:

  o Ask around, mention your idea to friends, neighbours, colleagues and aquaintances and you should find women who are interested
  
  o Contact WEN to find out if there are other WEN members in the area interested in starting or joining a group.
  
  o Draft a letter and ask us to send it out to WEN members living in the area to tell them that you intend to set up a group and encourage them to join you. Include contact details so they can contact you directly.

• Post a flyer on notice boards at local women's centres, community halls, cafes, shops, surgeries, libraries etc asking for women interested to contact you
. Contact WEN if you need help designing and/or producing the flyer/leaflet

• Always include contact details such as a phone number or address. If you don't want to give your details, give WEN address, phone or e-mail - but let us know you're doing it!
• Contact local branches of national organisations, trade unions, political parties and religious groups (be impartial - if you're contacting one political party or religious group contact all the main ones).


• Ask your council's women's, equal opportunities or information officer to send you a list of local women's organisations and contact them.


• Send information to journalists covering environmental issues for your local paper/radio with a note saying you are intending to set up a WEN local group.

3. Contact WEN to:

4. Agreement
Please sign the WEN Local Groups agreement and return two signed copies to Kate Metcalf, WEN, PO Box 30626, London E1 1TZ. We will keep one copy for our records and return the other one to you. This will help to formalise your group and ensure you get the best possible support from WEN.