
The Greater Manchester Inclusion and Wellbeing Partnership (IWP) is an equalities forum linked to the VCSE Leadership Group and GM Health and Social Care Partnership.
The IWP is part of a collaborative effort to collate evidence of the way different GM communities have been affected by the lockdown and to find out from VCSE groups on the ground what issues need dealing with now to prevent further avoidable problems developing.
It is clear that there was a general default to mainstream approaches in the face of the sudden crisis, and that Covid-19 and the emergency response to it have already exacerbated many existing inequalities.
The IWP will do their utmost to influence recovery plans for GM, flagging up priorities and potential blind spots and the intersectional nature of issues. They are also looking for stories and examples to inform a hard-hitting GM response to the Women and Equalities Select Committee inquiry into the unequal impacts of the crisis.
Questions:
- What have you needed to do to support people through the crisis?
- Can you give a few examples of difficult issues people are facing?
- What have you struggled to do because of the restrictions?
- How could these problems be resolved, or how could they have been avoided?
- What issues do you see coming down the line which needs addressing now?
Please contact Hannah on hannah.berry@gmcvo.org.uk / 07726 888521 to arrange a phone call, or email your answers to some or all of the questions. The responses will be anonymised, or not, according to their preference. If you have already compiled data on specific impacts for specific communities (and any solutions) which you could share that would be great as well.