Inspirational Women of Portsmouth Project

Hallo, my name is Roni Edwards and for the past two years through my organisation Pamodzi Creatives, I have voluntarily run the Inspirational Women of Portsmouth Project. This project has contributed to the well-being of the city and celebrated amazing achievements of girls and women through social media profiles, coaching, story-telling projects, podcast series, photography project and International Women’s Day events.  As a grant-dependent community interest company Pamodzi is also focused on supporting the rape counselling service PARCS (www.parcs.org.uk). I need your help to continue developing this exciting project to the next phase which will include a work-experience opportunity. The project will also focus on addressing the well being of young people by working with schools to enable a creative transition back into schools as well as build on the #whoinspiresyou narrative within schools. 

About the Inspirational Women Project:  Working towards International Women's Day, a social media campaign integrates short films, podcasts and a nomination process where you can nominate any individual identifying as a woman/girl you consider Inspirational because she has made a positive impact to her community, whatever the context. Additionally, by celebrating women and girls throughout the city who may also be marginalised culturally, socially or economically, the project challenges inequality and discrimination whilst raising awareness of opportunity for achievement whatever someone’s background or circumstances. Nominations encourage everyone to consider the people in their lives who have had a beneficial impact on them and who strive to lead others to make a positive contribution to society.

The Award ceremony itself, alongside recognising the incredible achievements of our nominees and Award recipients, is also an evening dedicated to celebrating the creative industries we have across Portsmouth. The evening includes performances and showcases from local dance groups, choirs, fashion designers and other creative professionals, to create a real celebration of the amazing talent Portsmouth has to offer. 

Charity Partnership: Alongside the positive impact of raising the profile of women in our city and celebrating its creativity,  I wanted there to be some concrete benefits to these awards. So I am delighted that all profits from the Awards event are donated to Porsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service (PARCS), to help finance the invaluable work they do to support people who are victims of sexual abuse and violence.

Developing Schools Work: Enabling Transitions & Inspiration Given the extenuating circumstances that schools are now faced with, particularly the challenge of safely (both physically, spiritually and emotionally) transitioning young people back into the education system after the Covid-19 imposed lockdown, the project will consult with members of the National Education Union and establish at partners schools within Key Stage 2 and 3 to help develop two specific strands to roll out ;
• Bespoke art projects that works with the schools to creatively explore the theme of ‘hope’ , ’change’ and ‘transition’ into schools. This strand will look to explore the following questions. How can schools use creativity to lay foundations that will support young people transitioning back into schools and through out the academic year? How can young people creatively engage with their emotional, social and spiritual needs ? How can artists wok with schools to enable this?
How can schools work with local artists to help them creatively engage on a local, national and global level ?                            

• #Whoinspiresyou? creativity modules Portsmouth as a city has a lot to give and
a lot to celebrate. Research, however suggests that young people in the city
tend to have lower aspirations1. Our #whoinspiresyou? strand will compliment elements of the curriculum by celebrating people within the local community.                                                

Work Experience Opportunity: The project has so far included pilot apprenticeship opportunities for three young people as it was important that  young people take a lead in developing the project. The project will continue to build on this opportunity through the development of  the schools work and inspirational women project, work experience opportunities with partner organisations and the recruitment of a young person on the organisation's Advisory panel. 

How you can help  This next season will be an incredibly challenging time for communities and I would like the opportunity continue to provide a platform of positive stories that nurture our well being and celebrates achievements in the city. Pamodzi Creatives is a grant dependent CIC and Covid-19 has had a serious impact on our ability to run the project.

This appeal is to support the  development the next Inspirational Women of Portsmouth project and creative transitions into schools project. It will also help us create the podcasts and social media campaigns celebrating people within the community.

Who inspires you ? Celebrate them The recent Covid-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on so many organisations and businesses with potential sources of funding support diminished over night. The next year will be challenging on so many levels for both communities and individuals; but it will also be important for our well being as a community to come together and find opportunities to celebrate positive achievements. Your support would enable this as well as the opportunity for one young person to secure valuable work experience, and as a small token of thanks we are offering you merchandise, opportunities for podcast profiling and of course,  acknowledgement on our wall of thanks website page.

Below are some short films about the project 

Apprenticeship Strand : 

Profiling Trailblazers across the city 

Story Telling Projects 

Thank you for taking the time to consider this request.