People are often surprised by the breadth of Wen’s work. So how can all these seemingly disparate areas of work actually link? Put simply all our work is guided by intersectional feminist principles and everything we do has equality, health and the environment at its heart. We act local, making a positive difference in our local community of Tower Hamlets, East London, while also working nationally, connecting personal, everyday concerns to national and global issues.
Here’s a look at some of the work we have been doing during 2023:
LIMBOROUGH COMMUNITY FOOD HUB
Limborough Community Food Hub, based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, has had a packed calendar of events for local residents. We’ve hosted cooking classes, workshops, gardening sessions, sewing sessions and much more. You can read about it here.
ENVIRONMENSTRUAL CAMPAIGN
Environmenstrual goes from strength to strength – We’re working together with the North London Waste Authority and Hertfordshire County Council to mainstream reusable period products. We’ve trained teachers, held workshops and for Environmenstrual Week we called for a Menstrual Health, Dignity and Sustainability Act.
SOIL SISTERS
We were really excited to create our Soil Sisters Toolkit – a handy booklet for women’s refuge support workers, residents and growers. Full of tips for the tasks of creating therapeutic gardens, reflections on the value of therapeutic gardening and some seasonal activity ideas. Download here.
GREEN BABY
Our Green Baby project launched with Green Baby Day in June this year. The project aims to raise awareness of harmful chemicals in baby and household items including toys, clothes, food, furniture and cleaning products. With funding from Weleda and Savitri Trust we are running Green Baby workshops and will be lobbying the government around legislation to ensure these products are safe and toxic-free.
CLIMATE SISTERS
Our Climate Sisters programme has officially launched, after our pilot scheme last year in Glasgow and Manchester. We’ve been working with women’s and community groups in Tower Hamlets and Hackney to amplify women’s and marginalised voices in the climate space. This year we’ve run three Phase One Feminist Climate Leadership courses with three women’s groups and are looking forward to Phase Two next year where the women will be developing their own creative pieces on the climate crisis.
JUST FACT
Just Food and Climate Transition (Just FACT) has given out grants to help fund community projects focussed on food in Tower Hamlets. These include: immersive herb, mushroom and plant medicine programme; a circular, zero waste project, managing food, waste and energy and a food co-op. Take a look at some of the projects, with more to follow in 2024.
TOWER HAMLETS FOOD GROWING NETWORK
We’ve held three gatherings this year in different parts of Tower Hamlets. It’s been great to welcome so many enthusiastic residents, looking to meet like minded people and to learn more about how to grow in urban areas. Our most recent gathering was last month. Read more about it here.
REAL NAPPIES FOR LONDON
Real Nappies for London is run by Alice Walker with the help of Alice Stevens. They have been out and about throughout London holding washable nappy give and takes and demonstrations this year. The scheme is going from strength to strength, with even more London Boroughs now offering money off vouchers to buy washable nappies.
FOOD LIVES
Our partnership with University of Sussex has continued during 2023 with our Food Lives project. Sajna and Shazna have been running research activities including shopalongs and food diaries.
FEMINIST GREEN NEW DEAL
We’ve continued to share the Final Report and Key Messages Guide this year to advocate for gender, racial and social equality to be at the heart of climate and economic policy.
Banner photo: Wen team at Limborough Community Food Hub in the Autumn of 2023
