A Vision For The Future - Caroline Millar, Acting Chair
At Make Space for Girls we have a very simple vision: a world where all parks and public spaces are designed to make teenage girls feel valued and included and where everyone feels welcome.
When it comes to parks, there is growing recognition, supported by the findings of our Parkwatch survey, that the standard ‘youth’ provision, such as skateparks and caged multi-use games areas, is almost always dominated by boys and young men and barely used by girls and young women. Such spaces are great for some people but we know that many others, particularly teenage girls, want something quite different when they go to the park, if they even go there at all.
Over the four and a half years since MSFG came into being we have identified the problems and some of the solutions, but we have learnt that it is far from easy to make our vision a reality. It’s not just about listening to the voices, experiences and input of young women – their views and ideas also need to be acted upon. This is the challenge that Make Space for Girls wants to meet head-on.
Latest activity
We’ve been very busy this year working with both young people and adults to get our message out and to help communities create new spaces - and revive old ones, so that they are designed to be more inclusive and more welcoming to all.
We have collaborated with partner organisations across the UK to support the engagement of young women and others in the design and development of a number of parks and public spaces. This summer we saw the opening of the first space specifically designed with young women in mind in Central Park in Chelmsford. Along with engagement consultancy Social Place, this long term project with three secondary schools in Essex was the winner in the Youth Long Term Programme category in the Thornton Education Trust Inspire Future Generations Awards 2024 which took place earlier this year.
Our Trustees and Associates have spoken at a wide range of events including the Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF 2025) in Leeds, the Bath Preservation Society, a panel on unlocking the future of planning and development with EDI in Manchester and an International Women’s Day event in which we partnered with RIBA Europe to host a hands-on workshop with 30 teenage girls in Copenhagen.
And we continue to offer tailored CPD sessions to architects, landscape designers, developers and anyone else who is interested!
A new team
To build our skills and capacity and to diversify the voices in our team, we have recruited a new group of trustees to support those of us who have been around a bit longer. Their expertise and commitment over the past eighteen months has been invaluable, and we continue to work in partnership with our brilliant and dynamic team of expert Associates.
Co-founders Imogen Clark and Susannah Walker have both stepped back from their leadership and governance roles with the charity to pursue other interests. We’d like to thank them for everything they have done since they created the charity to change the thinking about parks and public spaces and for their time, energy and dedication. Susannah no longer has any connection with the charity. Imogen continues to support us as an Associate.
What next?
Our new Strategy for the next three years identifies what we want to achieve and how we are going to do it.
Our priorities for the next three years are to:
- Empower and engage with teenage girls to shape parks and public spaces
- Enable and collaborate with local communities to drive change
- Raise awareness and build networks
- Promote change in policy and practice
- Deliver our charitable objectives
How we work is very important to our trustees. We are committed to ensuring that everything we do is inclusive and recognises disadvantage and intersectionality, is evidence-based and impactful and serves communities and the public good. We are working hard to ensure that as a charity we are well governed, accountable to our supporters and communities and open and transparent in our processes, and that resources are acquired and used ethically, efficiently and effectively.
Coming up soon
Over the next year we will work with young people, and particularly with girls and young women, to
- influence the public debate and campaign for changes to policy and legislation;
- develop and promote a set of principles and good practice guidance on what welcoming and inclusive public spaces look like and how to develop them;
- produce a video and supporting materials for local authorities and others looking to create high quality and inclusive public spaces;
- work with students and adult experts to gather and promote evidence around the impact of the provision, design and use of public spaces on young people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing; and
- set up a young people’s panel which will inform and be central to our work.
Thanks
As a charity with no state funding or regular income, we cannot do any of this without funding and support from our friends and allies. This year we have been delighted to receive funding and support from the Foyle Foundation for our ongoing work. Our project to create a video for local authorities has benefitted from a grant from the charity Rosa’s Voices from the Frontline fund which focuses on women and girls’ organisations. We are very grateful to both and to everyone who has supported us so far.
How you can help
There are lots of ways in which you can support our work. By far the most helpful thing you can do is to spread the word about our work and why it matters. Please follow and share our posts on social media, talk to your friends and, if you are not a young person yourself, talk to the ones you know about what they like and what they don’t like about public spaces. Work with your neighbours and local community to make sure that the needs of girls and young women are not overlooked. If you are a local government, built environment or public space professional, invite us in to talk to you and your colleagues or deliver one of our online or face-to-face CPD sessions
We always welcome donations no matter how small, and we have been chosen by the Big Give as one of their 2025 charities in their Women and Girls Match Fund campaign. Big Give week runs from 8 to 15 October 2025, during which time any donations we receive will be matched by the Big Give, up to £5,000. Please do consider donating to our work during this week if you can, via the Big Give website, and double the difference you will make to inclusion and equality in public space.
