About Women-Accede
Supporting independence, wellbeing and social inclusion for older people across Hull and East Riding.
Supporting independence, wellbeing and social inclusion for older people across Hull and East Riding.
Women-Accede is a multi-ethnic voluntary and community led support group for older people. Our goal is to promote older peoples independence and wellbeing, reducing the need for formal social care support in Hull and East Riding.
Women-Accede was founded in March 2010 by Dr Nneka Ofoegbu-McCourt. Nneka had a vast experience of charitable work and volunteering in Nigeria prior to starting her Doctoral Research at the University of Hull in November 2001
As in Nigeria, Nneka found volunteering Hull a very positive experience. However, she was dissatisfied with what seemed to be a lack of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women in community events and activities.
In addition, and significantly, Women-Accede's vision was also inspired by Nneka's Gender Studies background, her childhood experiences, and in particular, the learning from being an unpaid carer for her mother for 20 years. All of these meant that Nneka had a burden of wanting to improve the experiences of women in the community through active participation and raising an awareness of their gender issues.
In its early days, Women-Accede held two successful Women’s Health and Wellbeing Workshop in May 2010 and September 2010. During Black History Month in October 2011, Women-Accede brought older people together with young people in an interactive session to share their experiences of living in Hull. It was during the event that older people expressed an interest in working with Women-Accede to start a Befriending Support Service. From then on, Women-Accede activities shifted to older adult which include women and men.
As an organisation, Women-Accede is entirely focused on older people and over the years, we have gained reputation as a friend of older people, offering them informal social care support through a range of activities geared towards reducing the need for formal social care support. Overall, we use our multi-ethnic setting to provide support and guidance to older people in such a way that they are better informed about their needs and how to access support