A campaign to improve prospects for women and girls in Ipswich is gaining momentum.

Ipswich Star: Kim Trotter, founder of Future Female Society Picture: GEMMA MITCHELLKim Trotter, founder of Future Female Society Picture: GEMMA MITCHELL (Image: Archant)

Efforts are being led by community interest company Future Female Society (FFS), which was launched by Kim Trotter in October 2016.

In that short space of time the initiative has come on great strides and has provided positive opportunities to scores of women and girls in the town.

Programmes run by FFS include More Than Mum, which helped mothers back into employment or education, Women of Whitehouse, which built confidence in women from that area of Ipswich, and Girls Where You At?, which inspired girls to chose a career in the creative industries.

Now, FFS is celebrating after it was awarded £21,000 by the Rosa Woman to Woman fund to run a radio show in Ipswich for refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women for whom English is their second language.

Ms Trotter said: “We are going to do a women to women radio project to help marginalised voices be heard.”

FFS is working with Ipswich Community Media and Suffolk Refugee Support on this project and is aiming to reach out to around 40 women.

“We want it to build their English skills but also give them the opportunity to create stuff in their first languages because I think that’s really important,” Ms Trotter said.

“It’s just giving them a way to express themselves and building communities and helping combat isolation, which is what we are all about really.”

As part of this grant, Ms Trotter has also been selected onto an innovate leadership programme run by Clore Social for people in the women and girls sector.

The aim is to build a stronger women’s movement in the UK by empowering leaders working in the field with the skills they need to better support their beneficiaries.

Reflecting on the future of FFS, Ms Trotter said: “I want to grow the organisation and get to the point I can employ staff and run lots of different programmes serving women and girls.

“I want to do more in schools because I think that is essential and I want to make Ipswich the best place in Suffolk to be a women and girl and to keep gender equality part of the agenda because until we have proper gender equality we can’t make progress.”