Women’s Environmental Network (WEN)

In Tower Hamlets, National Lottery funding is supporting Women’s Environmental Network and partners to support communities to act for a healthier planet.

Since 1988, WEN has been working to create a movement, which offers a more active and pioneering approach to tackling environmental, gender and health issues that impacts those living in and around Tower Hamlets.

The charity has now taken one step further to achieving more systemic change in the local area. With more than £2 million in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund’s Climate Action Fund, WEN has created a new and ground-breaking project, ‘Just Food and Climate Transition’ (Just FACT). The project, which brings together local partners, hopes to go beyond individual behavioural change, and create a community-driven system of approach. The partners involved with Just FACT include WEN, Blueprint Architects, Be.Green Youth Programme, Parkview & Cranbrook Climate Taskforce, St. Hilda’s Food Co-op and several community hubs and climate markets.

Just FACT Programme Manager, Elle McAll explained the difference National Lottery funding has made: “Since receiving the grant from the Climate Action Fund, we have been able to go from strength to strength in Tower Hamlets. We have been able explore what sustainable and equitable food production would look like in the borough, as well as really focus on community outreach and engagement.

“The partnerships we have formed because of the funding have really been a great asset to Just FACT and WEN. We’ve been able to build strong relationships with housing estates and really explore and concentrate on the challenges people face and the opportunities available within Tower Hamlets.

“There have been Bengali cooking workshops, a local composting club has opened up and more recently, the young people from the Be.Green Youth Programme have been learning about the link between food and climate change. Providing young people, a voice and platform in this way has given them an opportunity to create their own climate campaigns to reach younger generations.”

Working closely with Cranbrook Community Food Garden, Just FACT is planning to plant fruit bushes that will provide a source of free fruit to residents in local estates. The group has also implemented a sustainable water system by increasing the capacity to harvest rainwater in the garden.

Elle continued: “More recently, WEN brought together more than 50 people from the local community to celebrate the official start of the Just FACT programme. We encouraged all attendees to get stuck in and join us by planting trees for the local community to enjoy.

“Just FACT is more than just about thinking of ways to make Tower Hamlets sustainable. It’s about encouraging and creating a system of change that we can share from one borough to another. It’s creating a system that doesn’t just focus on individual action on climate change, but praises and encourages community led climate action.”

You can read more and find out what Just FACT and its partners have been up to here: https://www.wen.org.uk/2021/09/07/launching-climate-action-in-tower-hamlets/