Projects

 

Big Lottery Fund: African Caribbean Fatherhood Programme:

Sowing Seeds has secured funding for a 3 year project with a focus on Men/fathers especially African & Caribbean Men/fathers, 2008—2011.

  1. The project will deliver a series of community based workshops in 3 districts of Greater Manchester and Lancashire with populations of African Caribbean Men. With the focus of media news on the problems affecting children young people and families it is important to look at the role played by men and fathers in children’s and family life. This project will address the issues that impact on men in being responsible and whole human beings and expressing the innate gifts of: -
    Vulnerability,
    Responsibility,
    Love
    Care
    Compassion
    Nurturance.
    The project will conduct research into factors that impact on men/fathers gaining the necessary support from public bodies with the remit to provide services that meet these needs within a family support strategy, and will work with existing voluntary and statutory organisations to support the development of community based support for men and Male Inclusive service delivery with agencies through training and consultancy.

Partnerships Projects:
Sowing Seeds & the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) will be working in partnership to support more parents thanks to a Parenting Fund grant, beginning in July 2006. Over the coming years, Sowing seeds and The NCT will be: -

  • Provide direct support for parents, especially those who might not usually access services.
  • Helping organisations to network and share ideas;
  • Developing resources to support parents and professionals.

Sowing Seeds aims to advise organisations and individuals about the importance of men/father involvement in the Family and Family support services, with some emphasis on the Maternity services as well as delivering a series of themed based workshops for Men/Fathers. The NCT will be promoting their services of supporting parents through the Maternity process by offering Branch Support for Expectant Families and Information & Advice. The NCT provide a forum through their Reaching out website to share good practice and network with organisations involved in similar fields of service delivery.
Link: www.nct.org.uk

Including Men Networks, in Manchester & Trafford, partnership with Children North East, Fathers Plus, 2008---to date
The Including Men Network Manchester is a joint partnership between Children North East Fathers Plus and Sowing Seeds to develop the important work of engaging and working with men/fathers in service provision.
Purpose:
The Including Men Network will provide a focus for managers and practitioners and volunteers to feed into and respond to the way the city incorporates changes in national policy into its policies and practices across service delivery and employment. It will:

  • Provide a link between policy development in Manchester and its impact on service delivery for fathers and men.
  • Link policy development in Manchester and policy development in the rest of the North West region, enabling the dissemination of effective policy and practice.
  • Link practitioners in the Manchester network with the regional and national father’s worker networks.
  • Link agencies in statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors in order to facilitate joint ways of working to include fathers and men.

In developing this programme of change, Sowing Seeds and Children North East will work with partner agencies in the city to:
Highlight national policy drivers and aspirations

  • Influence key local policies
  • Identify existing strengths and opportunities for the inclusion of fathers and men in services
  • Identify existing barriers to male inclusion at policy and practice level
  • Identify training and support needs for staff and volunteers
  • Develop and deliver specific training packages and supporting resources
  • Support partner agencies to develop a common vision and clarity of purpose regarding the inclusion of fathers and men
  • Disseminate models of good practice. Contribute to and learn from the growing body of knowledge available nationally.

Link website: www.includingmen.com. Add /Manchester and /Trafford for relevant pages for both networks.

Commissioned Projects:
Developing Male Inclusive services training, Cafcass, and other Public Service Agencies. 2007---to date.
This service would entail providing a series of 3 training seminars over a full day to explore the theory and practical application of Male Inclusion within services via an appreciation of personal and professional understanding of human relationships. The training would address and explore the ideas, thoughts and feelings and concepts of what Man/Father is, what this means and how do we as professionals support the notion of fatherhood.
Utilising the latest research from a variety of sources such as the Equal Opportunity Commission, Fathers Direct and other sources we will look at the outcomes for children when there is father involvement and what this means for service provision and professional practice.
A work  focus on the professional as an individual practitioner in terms of: -

  • Attitudes, beliefs & ideas about men/fathers
  • Organisational support of men/fathers
  • Engagement of men/fathers

Secondly the process will develop a strategy for the organisation to develop an action plan for supporting Male Inclusive Services.
This process will look at 6 different aspects of organisational practice: -

  • Organisational Support
  • Organisational Policy & Procedure
  • Human Resources and Staffing
  • Service Design & Delivery, Programme's
  • Communication & Interaction
  • Community Engagement.

Link: www.cafcass.gov.uk

Past projects have included: -
The Holistic relationship and Parent Programme, 2005-2006
Manchester Parenting Strategy Fund, work with Somali and Caribbean Communities, 2006-2007.