Agency and Advocacy: Locating Women's Grassroots Activism in England and Ireland, 1918 to the present

自二十世纪初以来活跃在爱尔兰和英格兰的当地基层妇女组织如何确定保障未来生存的战略？代表大多数中老年妇女的组织如何吸引新成员以实现多元化和扩张？他们如何利用组织历史，在联合国可持续发展目标的指引下，使地方、国家和全球的激进主义变得显而易见？了解当地草根组织的历史会改变学术界和公众对20世纪妇女运动和英爱关系的理解吗？通过将来自爱尔兰和英格兰各地的学者、早期职业研究人员(ECR)和利益相关者聚集在拟议的网络中，我们寻求找到应对这些挑战的新方法。研究网络由首席调查员(PI)和联合调查员(Co-I)以及我们三个参与的妇女组织的代表共同设计的五个讲习班组成，这三个组织是爱尔兰乡村妇女协会(ICA)、妇女协会(WI)和英国和爱尔兰职业妇女福利互助会(SIGBI)。研讨会围绕五个共同确定的主题组织：遗产、倡导、基层激进主义、知名度和可持续性。2022年5月/6月，由LSBU UKRI参与研究拨款2021/22年资助，由PI、Co-I和SIGBI Tunbridge Wells分会共同设计的一项小型试点研究，试验了参与性研究的使用，并为这一新的国际研究网络的共同设计提供了信息。三个研讨会将面对面举行，两个在线研讨会(包括对更广泛受众开放的一天在线会议)，以确保网络成员的包容性和可及性。研讨会1通过将网络指导委员会(SC)的成员和我们的三个利益攸关方组织的代表聚集在一起，巩固了参与性研究的使用。在这里，我们将确认后续研讨会的共同设计，并了解ICA、WI和SIGBI之间丰富的历史遗产和跨境互联。讲习班2通过为期一天的会议发展这些主题，突出1918年以来当地妇女组织的基层行动，并为ECR和网络成员举办了关于参与性研究方法的培训讲习班。讲习班3采用跨学科的方法，将历史、社会学和物质文化方面的专家与网络成员聚集在一起，为当地基层妇女组织确定最有效的“集体行动剧目”。工作坊4采用创新的视觉社会学方法--照片启发，为ICA、WI和SIGBI的成员创造空间，分享作为当地基层妇女组织成员的经验。讲习班5总结了该网络，其重点是包容性和多样性。在这里，网络成员和研究人员将共同制定战略，支持当地基层妇女组织扩大和多样化其成员资格，以保障其积极分子的未来。将对每个讲习班进行评价，答复将为后续讲习班的设计提供信息。该网络具有变革性的影响潜力。对于ICA、WI和SIGBI，共同产生的成果可以在更广泛的成员中传播。这反过来将使能够制定地方行动，以复制网络活动并支持未来的可持续性。各个组织可以根据自己的目的来调整网络的结果，从而避免“一刀切”的做法。该网络的影响超出了三个参与组织的范围。更广泛的民间社会团体可以通过LSBU网站或应要求访问和利用该网络的激进主义工具包和资源。通过这种方式推动基层组织的持续行动，该网络直接为丰富当地、国家和国际生活做出了贡献。

How can local grassroots women's organisations in Ireland and England, active since the early twentieth century, identify strategies to safeguard survival in the future? How can organisations representing a majority of middle-aged and older women attract new members to diversify and expand? How can they utilise organisational histories to make visible local, national and global activism, informed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals? Can shining a light on the history of local grassroots organisations change academic and public understandings of the women's movement and Anglo-Irish relations over the course of the twentieth century? By bringing scholars, Early Career Researchers (ECRs), and stakeholders from across Ireland and England together in the proposed network we seek to identify new ways forward to tackle these challenges. The research network comprises of five workshops co-designed by the Principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Investigator (Co-I) and representatives of our three participating women's organisations, the Irish Countrywomen's Association (ICA), the Women's Institutes (WI) and the Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI). Workshops are organised around five co-identified themes: legacies, advocacy, grassroots activism, visibility and sustainability. A small pilot study in May/June 2022 funded by LSBU UKRI Participatory Research Allocation 2021/22 and co-designed by the PI, Co-I and the SIGBI Tunbridge Wells Branch, trialled the use of participatory research and informs the co-design of this new international research network.Three workshops will be in person and two online (including a one day online conference open to a wider audience) to ensure inclusivity and accessibility for network members. Workshop 1 consolidates the use of participatory research by bringing together members of the network Steering Committee (SC) and representatives of our three stakeholder organisations. Here we will confirm the co-design of the subsequent workshops and learn about the rich historical legacy and cross-border interconnections between the ICA, WI and SIGBI. Workshop 2 develops these themes with a one-day conference highlighting the grassroots activism of local women's organisations since 1918 and a training workshop for ECRs and network members on participatory research methodology. Workshop 3 takes an interdisciplinary approach by bringing together experts in history, sociology and material culture with network members to identify the most effective 'repertoires of collective action' for local grassroots women's organisations. Workshop 4 adopts the innovative visual sociological method of photo-elicitation to create space for members of the ICA, WI and SIGBI to share experiences as members of local grassroots women's organisations. Workshop 5 concludes the network with its focus on inclusivity and diversity. Here network members and researchers will co-create strategies to support local grassroots women's organisations to expand and diversify their memberships in order to safeguard their activist futures. Each workshop will be evaluated and responses will inform the design of subsequent workshops. The network has transformative impact potential. For the ICA, WI and SIGBI the co-produced outcomes can be disseminated among the wider membership. This in turn will enable local actions to be developed to replicate network activities and support future sustainability. Individual organisations can adapt the network's outcomes for their own purposes, thereby avoiding a 'one size fits all' approach. The impact of the network goes beyond the three participating organisations. A wider group of civil society associations can access and utilise the network's activism tool-kit and resources via the LSBU website or on request. Enabling on-going activism of grassroots organisations in this way, the network directly contributes to enriching lives locally, nationally and internationally.