Derry women celebrate International Women’s Day at health event

PICTURED ABOVE: CROSS-COMMUNITY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS. . . . . .Group pictured at Friday's International Women's Day event at the Waterside Shared Village. Front from left, Linda Watson, Vice Chair, Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership and Manager of Caw Nelson Drive Action Group and the Deputy Mayor Niree McMorris. Back from left, Alison Wallace, Strategy Manager of Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership, Tansey Cowley, Project Coordinator for Waterside Together, Gretta Donaghey,, Manager of Currynierin Community Association and Lynn O'Donnell, Manager of Irish Street Community. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)

On Friday, Waterside Together and Irish Street Community Centre hosted an event for International Women’s Day at the Waterside Shared Village on Irish Street. The event was attended by over 100 women from all communities and areas across the Waterside.

The event focused on women’s health and the connection between mental health and local neighbourhoods. It was hosted by Strategy Manager for Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership Alison Wallace and the team was delighted to welcome Dr. Niamh Doherty, Research Associate in Population Health at Ulster University's Bamford Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, as well as local social worker Erica Dougherty, who gave a poignant personal account of surviving cancer.

At the event were a number of local organisations providing information to women about services that they can access locally, including Western Trust, Derry Well Woman, Advice NI, Minding Mum, Talking to our Babies, Pink Ladies, HIVE, Glendermott Medical, and more.

Dr. Niamh Doherty spoke about her research, where she investigates how the places we live shape our health and wellbeing, examining the complex relationships between mental and physical health and how these are impacted by neighbourhood regeneration schemes. Dr. Doherty's research illuminates how our social, physical, and economic environments and neighbourhood contexts influence health across our lifespan.

READ NEXT: IN PICTURES: Cross-community International Women’s Day event at Waterside Shared Village

The event was organised by Waterside Together, a shared green spaces festival and events project. Waterside Together is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) and funded under the theme of Community Regeneration and Transformation, and it is also funded through Derry City and Strabane District Council’s PEACEPLUS Local Co-Designed Action Plan. The event was also funded by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Community Support Fund.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Mayor Niree McMorris, acknowledged the work that women do in peacebuilding across the Waterside. “Many of the community workers who bid for and secure peace funding to do events like these are women. Many of the community workers who organise and deliver cross-community events like these are women.

"In fact, many of the community workers and council staff who engaged in strategic work for decades to develop cross-interface relationships here in the Waterside and to bring significant investment into community infrastructure here were women. Many of our local councillors are women.

"What we are able to fund through PEACEPLUS benefits significantly from the foundations that women of all identities have laid in local peacebuilding. As Nobel Laureate for peace, Leymah Gbowee, from Liberia said ‘I can promise you that women working together — linked, informed, and educated — can bring peace and prosperity to this planet.’”

Vice Chair of Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership and Centre Manager for Caw Nelson Drive Action Group, Linda Watson, said: “International Women’s Day is a moment to pause and reflect on the achievements of women, but it’s also a call to action. At its heart are values we all recognise here in the Waterside: equality, inclusion, dignity, and the belief that women’s voices and experiences matter.

"It’s about celebrating progress, while also being honest about the challenges that still exist. That’s why today’s focus on women’s health is so important. Women’s physical and mental health are not side issues — they affect families, communities, workplaces, and neighbourhoods.

"When women are supported, informed, and listened to, everyone benefits. Yet too often, women’s health—particularly mental health—can be overlooked or carried quietly without enough support. Here in our local neighbourhoods, we know that mental health doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s closely connected to where we live, the services we can access, and how supported and connected we feel in our communities.

"Strong neighbourhoods really do make a difference to wellbeing, and that’s why community-led work matters so much.”

Project Coordinator for Waterside Together, Tansy Cowley, said “At Waterside Together we’ve been working to build relationships with women across the Waterside, encouraging them to take part in activities and events that bring different communities together. Supporting this International Women’s Day event was a natural fit for the project.

"It provided a chance for women from across the area to come together, celebrate one another, and connect through shared experiences around health and wellbeing. Seeing those conversations and friendships develop is exactly what the project hopes to achieve.”