The synergies of the project team are derived from the global perspectives and expertise in feminist and decolonial methods from Spanish and Latin American Studies at UCC merging with longstanding UU expertise in local/specific workshop formats co-created with participant NGO and grassroots women's organizations.

This series of workshops, led by Professor Nuala Finnegan from University College Cork (UCC) and Professor Fidelma Ashe from Ulster University (UU), is dedicated to fostering knowledge exchange between women from diverse backgrounds and envisioning a future where women’s voices are at the forefront of societal transformation. Centred on four key pillars—healthcare, security, civil society, and widening participation—these workshops explore critical topics that shape women’s lives and their capacity to drive change. The impact of this series is particularly focused on the Irish context, aiming to address cross-border challenges and opportunities for women’s leadership and participation across the island. Below, you can find further information on each of the four pillars that form the foundation of these discussions.

Healthcare
In this workshop, we explore the complexities of healthcare systems, recognising the crucial yet often overlooked roles that women play. We’ll employ a ‘dig where you stand’ approach, encouraging participants to share their experiences with healthcare systems both North and South, and learn about the disparities that impact health outcomes. An expert overview will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each system, as we consider the hopes and priorities for healthcare policy, inspired by Rebecca Milner’s words: “If you check the health of a woman, you check the health of a society.” We also learn from cases of creative healthcare in other parts of the world, including Peru, Bolivia and Mexico. The session will delve into the creative dimensions of caring, examining how art and creativity can inspire conversations and contribute to a healthier future, drawing on Emily Dickinson’s poetic vision of hope.

Security
Security is fundamental to women’s ability to engage fully in society. This workshop addresses the varied aspects of women’s security, from the home to the public sphere. We’ll explore how international laws support women’s protection and reflect on Nelson Mandela’s view of safety as a shared responsibility. The session aims to identify policies that could enhance women’s security and consider the implications of converging approaches to this issue across the island of Ireland. In our creative sessions, we use photographs as starting points for discussions about how security and associated themes of fear and wellbeing impact all of our lives. We’ll also engage in discussions on peacebuilding and constitutional change, underlining the importance of women’s involvement in these critical debates.

The Role of Civil Society
Civil society, driven by values rather than profit, plays a vital role in safeguarding rights and maintaining democratic legitimacy. This workshop invites participants to reflect on their experiences with civil society support and activism. We’ll examine women’s activism during the Scottish Independence referendum and consider President Biden’s claim that social change begins with civil society’s demands. Taking inspiration from Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean, the creative power of poster art will also be explored as we envision transformative ideas for our communities. Participants will have the opportunity to design posters that reflect their aspirations for a more inclusive and sustainable future, drawing parallels with artistic interventions at the US-Mexico border.

Widening Participation
This workshop focuses on increasing women’s inclusion in political decision-making through crafting conversations while creating arpilleras, reflecting on political participation and influential leaders. We’ll discuss the gender dynamics within citizens’assemblies and the role of women in constitutional debates, echoing Hillary Clinton’s sentiment on the ripple effect of women in politics. The session will also consider the
rewriting of the Chilean constitution and the increased representation it achieved for women, particularly women of colour, in the decision-making process.

Through these workshops, our goal is to build a cross-border community of knowledge and support, empowering women to be agents of change within their societies. Join us in this collective effort to share, learn, and imagine a future where every woman’s voice is heard, and her potential is fully realised.

Critical Knowledges Across Borders

Click on the images below to view detail on Widening Participation and Widening Participation Part II

Widening Participation

Sharing our Knowledge
The effects of widening participation in political decision-making has been viewed as both positive in terms of its enrichment of democracy and negative because, it is claimed, too many active citizens do not have the capacities required to make good and non-biased decisions. Advocates for gender equality argue women’s participation in public debate and decision-making is essential if imbalances in gender power are to be challenged. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable women to consider participation in debates about political change.

Expanding our knowledge
Citizen’s assemblies have become a popular tool for facilitating the participation of diverse voices and identities in constitutional change. This session looks at the gender dynamics within citizen’s assemblies – do men speak more than women? It also examines the gender outcomes of citizen’s assemblies on constitutional issues and futures. Moreover, it examines participation in the public sphere to promote gender equality.

Envisaging our futures
Hilary Clinton noted: ‘When women participate in politics, the effects ripple out across society... Women are the world's most underused resource’. How can we deepen participatory opportunities for women and all the social groups they belong to in current constitutional debates? What barriers will different groups face? What needs to be done? What are the opportunities for developing cross-border spaces for women to engage with constitutional issues.

Widening Participation Part II

Sharing our Knowledge
In this workshop we will turn to women’s inclusion and agency in political decision-making. The workshop will involve participants coming together in a crafting conversation, as we work together on an arpillera, a brightly coloured patchwork quilt that is used in Chile to tell stories of political conflict and struggle. This may lead us to think about our own political participation and perhaps about women leaders who inspire us. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to consi

Expanding our knowledge
After engaging in a crafting conversation, we look more specifically at the Chile arpillera and recent debate over constitutional change. The rewriting of the Chilean constitution, a throwback from the 1973- 1990 dictatorship, has brought women and, in particular, women of colour into the decision-making process in the quest to increase representation of those who may lack access to power. Our conversation will then return to the context from which participants are coming to consider lessons to

Envisaging our Futures
The crafting conversation will use the arpillera as inspiration for wider debate about what women’s political participation could or should look like in the island of Ireland. ‘If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair' Shirley Chisholm

Workshop 2 - Widening Participation in Constitutional Conversations

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Critical Knowledges Across Borders

Click on the images below to view detail on Widening Participation and Widening Participation Part II

Widening Participation

Sharing our Knowledge
The effects of widening participation in political decision-making has been viewed as both positive in terms of its enrichment of democracy and negative because, it is claimed, too many active citizens do not have the capacities required to make good and non-biased decisions. Advocates for gender equality argue women’s participation in public debate and decision-making is essential if imbalances in gender power are to be challenged. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable women to consider participation in debates about political change.

Expanding our knowledge
Citizen’s assemblies have become a popular tool for facilitating the participation of diverse voices and identities in constitutional change. This session looks at the gender dynamics within citizen’s assemblies – do men speak more than women? It also examines the gender outcomes of citizen’s assemblies on constitutional issues and futures. Moreover, it examines participation in the public sphere to promote gender equality.

Envisaging our futures
Hilary Clinton noted: ‘When women participate in politics, the effects ripple out across society... Women are the world's most underused resource’. How can we deepen participatory opportunities for women and all the social groups they belong to in current constitutional debates? What barriers will different groups face? What needs to be done? What are the opportunities for developing cross- border spaces for women to engage with constitutional issues.

Widening Participation Part II

Sharing our Knowledge
In this workshop we will turn to women’s inclusion and agency in political decision-making. The workshop will involve participants coming together in a crafting conversation, as we work together on an arpillera, a brightly coloured patchwork quilt that is used in Chile to tell stories of political conflict and struggle. This may lead us to think about our own political participation and perhaps about women leaders who inspire us. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to consi

Expanding our knowledge
After engaging in a crafting conversation, we look more specifically at the Chile arpillera and recent debate over constitutional change. The rewriting of the Chilean constitution, a throwback from the 1973-1990 dictatorship, has brought women and, in particular, women of colour into the decision-making process in the quest to increase representation of those who may lack access to power. Our conversation will then return to the context from which participants are coming to consider lessons to b

Envisaging our Futures
The crafting conversation will use the arpillera as inspiration for wider debate about what women’s political participation could or should look like in the island of Ireland. ‘If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair’ Shirley Chisholm

Workshop 3 - The Role of Civil Society

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Critical Knowledges Across Borders

Click on the images below to view detail on The role of civil society and Poster Art and Civil Society - Part II

The role of civil society

Sharing our Knowledge
There is no settled definition of civil society and what it encompasses. However, those working in this sector are driven by values not profit. Civil society is a resource for the protection of rights and democratic legitimacy in any constitutional arrangement. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable women to consider their experience of civil society support, advocacy and activism around equality and other issues.

Expanding our knowledge
There are numerous case studies that document how women have engaged with referendums on constitutional change to gain rights and better equality outcomes for women. This session provides an expert overview of women’s activism during the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014. The session examines how women organized into pro-independence and ‘better together’ campaigns. It highlights how demands for gender justice were situated within these women’s campaigning groups' agendas.

Envisaging our futures
President Biden noted that: ‘No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It's because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise up and demand - demand - demand change’. What is the role of civil society in relation to discussions of constitutional change? What resources do women’s groups in civil society need? What can stakeholders do to support the women’s sector? What opportunities are there for building deeper cross-border civil society links? Can deepening cross-border links support women’s civil society work?

Poster Art and Civil Society - Part II

Sharing our Knowledge and Experiences
This workshop explores the creative potential of poster art for the resignification of the spaces we live in. Posters can define who we are, but they can also be seen as a powerful tool of communication: Through posters, we can create social bonds and move in partnership with others. For this session, we will ask participants to imagine how the places they live in looked like twenty years ago. Are there more spaces for women and children now? How have the spaces changed to help families be more

Expanding our knowledge
After designing our posters, we will have a discussion around two main topics: the ways in which creative imagination about the future can help to bring about an alternative urban space beyond gender discrimination; and the ways in which the placement of posters in public spaces can become a way of creating bonds with other individuals and communities. To expand on our personal experience, we will examine examples of poster art in which artists and communities channeled their hope through the cr

A Creative Path towards a sustainable Civil Society
Borrowing from our experiences with poster art, we will finish this section by thinking about other creative ways of being in public space with the objective of making it more resilient and welcoming for everybody. The future is often presented as an unattainable reality, external to our desires. In times of environmental collapse, through poster art we can see how creative interventions can help to create a more livable future. Through the act of imagining how we want our cities to look in twen

Workshop 4 - Creative Caring

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Click on the images below to view detail on Healthcare and Creative caring Part II

Healthcare

Sharing our Knowledge
When the primary welfare agencies are struggling, women often pick up the slack. Women also work in all areas of healthcare but are over- represented in roles such as nurses, healthcare visitors, care assistants and cleaners. Strong and well-functioning healthcare systems are essential for society as a whole and for women in particular. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable s women from N/S to share their knowledges and experiences of healthcare systems to gain greater knowledge about both systems and their outcomes.

Expanding our knowledge
There is wide variation in health outcomes for countries with similar levels of income and education due to differences in the design, funding, content and management of health systems. These differences create differentials across a range of outcomes such as fairness, quality, responsiveness and equity of treatment. This session provides an expert overview of both systems. It will cover a range of issues including: What are the strengths and weaknesses of each system?; Can greater convergence between healthcare systems improve healthcare outcomes for women?

Envisaging our futures
Rebecca Milner wrote, ‘If you check the health of a woman, you check the health of a society’. What are the problems with healthcare systems on these isles? What are women’s hopes for improved healthcare on the island of Ireland? What should the priorities and focus for be for policy-makers in terms of healthcare. What issues does greater convergence of healthcare systems present for women?

Creative caring Part II

Sharing our Knowledge and Experiences
This session focuses on sharing our practices of care, how we care for others – both the giving and receiving. For this session we will ask you to bring in either an object or a photograph of something that tells us something about your everyday experiences around health and wellbeing. This workshop continues the dig where you stand approach, so see what is it that we can learn from each other about our everyday practices of care and our experiences of health systems.

Expanding our knowledge
Now we have all shared our own experiences and our objects or images, we will look at examples used by people living in another border space – the US-Mexico border – where artists have put care into practice in creative ways, in original ways, sometimes in subversive or risky ways. Sharing some of the stories behind these images and understanding the context will help us to see how art and creativity has helped to open up conversations, change the script and think about the future.

Strategies for care, healthy futures
Learning from the tactics of care used by communities in other places, we can devise hopeful ways of facing the future. In fact caring practices can become contagious in positive ways that can help us. How can we think creatively about keeping ourselves healthy: Hope is the thing with feathers- That perches in the soul-And sings the tune without the words-And never stops at all- (Emily Dickinson)

Workshop 5 - Creative Caring (Feb)

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Click on the images below to view detail on Healthcare and Creative caring Part II

Healthcare

Sharing our Knowledge
When the primary welfare agencies are struggling, women often pick up the slack. Women also work in all areas of healthcare but are over- represented in roles such as nurses, healthcare visitors, care assistants and cleaners. Strong and well-functioning healthcare systems are essential for society as a whole and for women in particular. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable s women from N/S to share their knowledges and experiences of healthcare systems to gain greater knowledge about both systems and their outcomes.

Expanding our knowledge
There is wide variation in health outcomes for countries with similar levels of income and education due to differences in the design, funding, content and management of health systems. These differences create differentials across a range of outcomes such as fairness, quality, responsiveness and equity of treatment. This session provides an expert overview of both systems. It will cover a range of issues including: What are the strengths and weaknesses of each system?; Can greater convergence between healthcare systems improve healthcare outcomes for women?

Envisaging our futures
Rebecca Milner wrote, ‘If you check the health of a woman, you check the health of a society’. What are the problems with healthcare systems on these isles? What are women’s hopes for improved healthcare on the island of Ireland? What should the priorities and focus for be for policy-makers in terms of healthcare. What issues does greater convergence of healthcare systems present for women?

Creative caring Part II

Sharing our Knowledge and Experiences
This session focuses on sharing our practices of care, how we care for others – both the giving and receiving. For this session we will ask you to bring in either an object or a photograph of something that tells us something about your everyday experiences around health and wellbeing. This workshop continues the dig where you stand approach, so see what is it that we can learn from each other about our everyday practices of care and our experiences of health systems.

Expanding our knowledge
Now we have all shared our own experiences and our objects or images, we will look at examples used by people living in another border space – the US-Mexico border – where artists have put care into practice in creative ways, in original ways, sometimes in subversive or risky ways. Sharing some of the stories behind these images and understanding the context will help us to see how art and creativity has helped to open up conversations, change the script and think about the future.

Strategies for care, healthy futures
Learning from the tactics of care used by communities in other places, we can devise hopeful ways of facing the future. In fact caring practices can become contagious in positive ways that can help us. How can we think creatively about keeping ourselves healthy: Hope is the thing with feathers- That perches in the soul-And sings the tune without the words-And never stops at all- (Emily Dickinson)

Workshop 6 - Widening Participation (Mar)

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Click on the images below to view detail on Widening Participation and Widening Participation Part II

Widening Participation

Sharing our Knowledge
The effects of widening participation in political decision-making has been viewed as both positive in terms of its enrichment of democracy and negative because, it is claimed, too many active citizens do not have the capacities required to make good and non-biased decisions. Advocates for gender equality argue women’s participation in public debate and decision-making is essential if imbalances in gender power are to be challenged. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable women to consider participation in debates about political change.

Expanding our knowledge
Citizen’s assemblies have become a popular tool for facilitating the participation of diverse voices and identities in constitutional change. This session looks at the gender dynamics within citizen’s assemblies – do men speak more than women? It also examines the gender outcomes of citizen’s assemblies on constitutional issues and futures. Moreover, it examines participation in the public sphere to promote gender equality.

Envisaging our futures
Hilary Clinton noted: ‘When women participate in politics, the effects ripple out across society... Women are the world's most underused resource’. How can we deepen participatory opportunities for women and all the social groups they belong to in current constitutional debates? What barriers will different groups face? What needs to be done? What are the opportunities for developing cross-border spaces for women to engage with constitutional issues.

Widening Participation Part II

Sharing our Knowledge
In this workshop we will turn to women’s inclusion and agency in political decision-making. The workshop will involve participants coming together in a crafting conversation, as we work together on an arpillera, a brightly coloured patchwork quilt that is used in Chile to tell stories of political conflict and struggle. This may lead us to think about our own political participation and perhaps about women leaders who inspire us. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to consi

Expanding our knowledge
After engaging in a crafting conversation, we look more specifically at the Chile arpillera and recent debate over constitutional change. The rewriting of the Chilean constitution, a throwback from the 1973- 1990 dictatorship, has brought women and, in particular, women of colour into the decision-making process in the quest to increase representation of those who may lack access to power. Our conversation will then return to the context from which participants are coming to consider lessons to

Envisaging our Futures
The crafting conversation will use the arpillera as inspiration for wider debate about what women’s political participation could or should look like in the island of Ireland. ‘If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring in a folding chair' Shirley Chisholm

Workshop 7 - Creative Caring (Apr)

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Click on the images below to view detail on Healthcare and Creative caring Part II

Healthcare

Sharing our Knowledge
When the primary welfare agencies are struggling, women often pick up the slack. Women also work in all areas of healthcare but are over- represented in roles such as nurses, healthcare visitors, care assistants and cleaners. Strong and well-functioning healthcare systems are essential for society as a whole and for women in particular. This workshop implements a ‘dig where you stand’ approach to enable s women from N/S to share their knowledges and experiences of healthcare systems to gain greater knowledge about both systems and their outcomes.

Expanding our knowledge
There is wide variation in health outcomes for countries with similar levels of income and education due to differences in the design, funding, content and management of health systems. These differences create differentials across a range of outcomes such as fairness, quality, responsiveness and equity of treatment. This session provides an expert overview of both systems. It will cover a range of issues including: What are the strengths and weaknesses of each system?; Can greater convergence between healthcare systems improve healthcare outcomes for women?

Envisaging our futures
Rebecca Milner wrote, ‘If you check the health of a woman, you check the health of a society’. What are the problems with healthcare systems on these isles? What are women’s hopes for improved healthcare on the island of Ireland? What should the priorities and focus for be for policy-makers in terms of healthcare. What issues does greater convergence of healthcare systems present for women?

Creative caring Part II

Sharing our Knowledge and Experiences
This session focuses on sharing our practices of care, how we care for others – both the giving and receiving. For this session we will ask you to bring in either an object or a photograph of something that tells us something about your everyday experiences around health and wellbeing. This workshop continues the dig where you stand approach, so see what is it that we can learn from each other about our everyday practices of care and our experiences of health systems.

Expanding our knowledge
Now we have all shared our own experiences and our objects or images, we will look at examples used by people living in another border space – the US-Mexico border – where artists have put care into practice in creative ways, in original ways, sometimes in subversive or risky ways. Sharing some of the stories behind these images and understanding the context will help us to see how art and creativity has helped to open up conversations, change the script and think about the future.

care, healthy futures
Learning from the tactics of care used by communities in other places, we can devise hopeful ways of facing the future. In fact caring practices can become contagious in positive ways that can help us. How can we think creatively about keeping ourselves healthy: Hope is the thing with feathers- That perches in the soul-And sings the tune without the words-And never stops at all- (Emily Dickinson)