Insight, Inclusion, Impact Women's Involvement Worker Toolkit: learning from experience at Anawim

Service user involvement has become an essential element for many organisations looking to meet
the needs of their clients through including them as active participants in making decisions about
aspects of the organisation that affect their life. Service user involvement involves partnership
between the organisation and the service users to influence policy and improve service delivery.
Developing this collaborative approach between service providers and service users in the development of service delivery, is crucial for any organisation which is looking to empower women.
Successfully engaging service users in these processes needs effective planning, management and review. One approach is to employ a Service User involvement Worker. This toolkit has been prepared to help organisations looking to support their clients through establishing a Service User Involvement Worker role, based on the experience of Anawim, a registered charity based in Birmingham that provides a variety of support services to a client group of women who have a range of complex and often overlapping needs.
The toolkit aims to:
- Support organisations wanting to establish a Women’s Involvement Worker role.
- Share the experience of how a Women’s Involvement Worker can engage with the women and support them to have a voice and actively contribute to life within the organisation and beyond.
- Provide guidance and ideas about how to do service user involvement well.