In Conversation with Ali Brown, Chair of the COBSEO Female Veterans Cluster
Ali Brown served for 27 years in the Army where she served in a variety of appointments with deployments to Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. Following retirement from the Army, Ali went on to introduce the Ambassadors Programme into Wales for the Prince’s Trust. Ali then accepted the appointment of Chair of Trustees of the Women’s Royal Army (WRAC) Association. Ali become Chair of the COBSEO Female Veterans Cluster, having been the Chair of Trustees of the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association. She is also the lead for female veterans and LGBT+ veterans on the Armed Forces Public Patient Voice (AF PPV) Group within the Armed Forces Team at NHSE. Ali is a member of several government Advisory Groups including those set up for initiatives such as the Women’s’ Veterans Strategy (Office for Veteran’s Affairs led) and on specific projects being conducted by the Centre for Military Women Research at Anglia Ruskin University. She is also a Trustee of Fighting With Pride (LGBT+ Veterans charity), the Army Central Fund (ACF) which supports the serving community, the Adjutant General’s Corps Museum Trust and retains an advisory role within the WRAC Association.
How did the COBSEO Female Veterans Cluster come about?
The Cobseo Female Veterans Cluster was formed in late 2018 in response to an individual question from a female veteran at the Cobseo AGM, which highlighted the many barriers experienced by female veterans when trying to access support services. The first Chair was Deirdre Mills, now the CEO of Greenwich Hospital and the Cluster quickly gathered interest from across the military charitable sector. Within a year the Cluster had formed a small Executive, a Steering Group consisting of SMEs and a wider Stakeholders Group; all in all some 60 organisations were represented from across the charitable and statutory sector including from the MoD, the Office of Veteran Affairs (OVA) and the Devolved Administrations. This broad representation enabled the Cluster input into the We Also Served Report from Anglia Ruskin University which was published in 2019 and was the first of many research projects on female veterans. The main focus of these early groups was the compilation of an Action Plan highlighting a myriad of areas and developing the Cluster into a focus for female veterans' experiences.
What led to the decision to apply for funding for the Female Veterans Transformation Programme?
By 2023, the Cluster had a very developed network of influence and the research into female veterans amounted to some 30 projects across the UK. This published data and lived experiences meant that the Cluster could look to turning the Action plan into reality but to do this we needed some resource. At this time the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (AFCFT) was launching its 3 year Transformation programme with funding available for minority veteran communities. This seemed a really good fit for us and so we applied to the AFCFT and, much to our delight, were successful in gaining funding for a transformational project for female veterans. We also saw an opportunity to apply for additional funding from the NHSE Armed Forces Team who had been introducing female bespoke health services for both veterans and those women still serving. Having achieved these two areas of funding the Female Veterans Transformation Programme (FVTP) became a reality and we quickly formed a partnership with the Womens' Royal Army Corps Association (WRACA).
What are you hoping the Female Veterans Transformation Programme will achieve?
The main output of the FVTP will be a Female Veterans Toolkit which will cover all of the areas highlighted in the published research and take account of the lived experience of female veterans. The programme will also seek to improve the way that we communicate and share information within the sector thus trying to find those who, so far, have remained invisible and excluded from the assistance they need. The programme commenced in September 2023 and has already produced a much needed Review of Evidence and a Statement of Need which has been well received. Now the consultation phase can commence.
What has motivated you to continue working for female veterans since leaving the Army?
On leaving the Army, I became aware for the first time of the differences between the issues faced by female veterans and those issues faced by their male colleagues. These differences were often based on an adverse or challenging service experience and ranged from sexual assault and trauma to debt and insecurity of housing. This was especially so amongst the older female veterans who served under restrictive terms and conditions of service such as the marriage ban until the 1970s, the pregnancy ban until the 1990s and the LGBT+ ban until 2000. Careers were cut short and often in a damaging and traumatic way resulting in physical and mental health issues later in life, after Service. I spent 7 years as the Chair of Trustees of the WRACA and, through the lens of the benevolence grants and listening to the membership, I began to get some clarity of the enduring need for more to be done to help. My knowledge was further improved by working with NHSE as they sought to remove barriers to accesd for health services and also being able to input into this work through my membership of the AF Public Patient Voice (PPV)Group. Through all this I am convinced that within the female veteran community there are those whose in service experiences have resulted in specific health and support issues which are not fully catered for by the mainstream charity sector or are as easy as they should be to access.
What has been your proudest moment as a veteran?
I think it was watching the WRACA National Standard being marched across the floor of the Royal Albert Hall at the Festival of Remembrance in 2017 to mark 100 years of women serving in the British Army. So many women who have gone before us did not get to feel proud of their Service and yet their contributions paved the way for the removal of any employment restrictions in the Army. Their Service needs to be recognised and celebrated; today's generation stand on the shoulders of these giants.