Christine Lumsdon (CF 1969) from Newcastle is an occupational therapist and a member of Soroptimist International, a charity that works to improve the lives of women and girls in communities throughout the world. During the pandemic, Christine has been an advisor to West End Women and Girls Centre (WEWC) in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, which has recently taken on a 10-acre smallholding in rural Northumberland from the National Trust, for the benefit of its members.

Christine will use her funding to help set up a large outdoor farm space, where women and girls from the local area can grow food, look after their wellbeing through access to nature, and build friendships in a safe community. The funding will provide transport to enable 1,000 women and girls from WEWC's membership to regularly access the farm between January and December 2022 for weekly and school holiday trips. It will also support the purchase and installation of materials needed to grow produce in this space, including a large polytunnel and rainwater irrigation system. WEWC's community has experienced rising mental health problems, poverty, domestic abuse and inequality during the pandemic, and Christine hopes this project will enable them to feed their families whilst putting mental and physical wellbeing at the heart of Covid-19 recovery.

Christine’s Fellowship to the USA in 1969 explored integration and access to civilian life for injured servicemen and women.

Jaccaidi Dyer (CF 2018) has a background in tackling global gender-based violence, and she leads the For Her project as a tech for good initiative.

She will use her grant to launch For Her, an online platform that makes it easier for young women to access a range of free mental health, specialist support and wellbeing services in one empowering click. She hopes to supply free subscriptions to premium mental health apps for more than 200 young women who are stuck on counselling waiting lists or unable to access support. Additionally, she plans to create free digital resources that reach broader audiences, including an online retreat for women from minoritised racial communities, an art therapy video series, and mindfulness and mental health podcasts delivered in partnership with charities, therapists and coaches. Furthermore, she aims to support charities to use new technology tools to aid their in-service delivery and outreach, so that they can reach young women who are marginalised or vulnerable.

Jaccaidi's Fellowship to the Caribbean in 2018 explored young women’s cyber-activism for tackling gender-based violence.

Saeida Rouass (CF 2019) from London is a trustee of Al Hasaniya and has been supporting the organisation to respond to increased demands on its services during the pandemic.

She will use her grant to undertake participatory research with The Bede Starfish Domestic Abuse Project in south London and Al Hasaniya Centre users, key workers, senior staff and trustees, exploring their needs resulting from the pandemic, in order to tailor and adapt their services for this time. She will gather the research and design a policy brief to be launched at Al Hasaniya and to be shared with other local charities, service providers and community leaders supporting Arabic-speaking women within the area. She hopes this will raise awareness and effect change across the wider community.

Saeida's Fellowship to Australia and the USA in 2019 explored the impacts of hate groups on women, including survivors, community members and former members of such groups and was supported by The Linbury Trust.