Our Core Services
RIFT WISE Project
The WISE Project has now concluded
WISE (Women into Self-Employment) was a pilot initiative by RIFT Social Enterprise focused on developing and testing self-employment support for women with convictions in the female prison estate. While the project is no longer running, its learning, impact and legacy continue to inform our wider work.
DREAMS: A RIFT WISE Film
DREAMS is a powerful short film created in collaboration with the Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA) and Media Trust. It shares the voices of women from our award-winning WISE Project, highlighting their resilience and the role of self-employment in building new futures.
We’re proud that DREAMS was officially selected for the 2025 Big Syn International Film Festival, the world’s largest sustainability film festival aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Watch below.
Impact We Achieved
Through WISE, we achieved some important milestones:
Shaped by Lived Experience
Gathered direct input from women to shape support that reflects real experiences, not assumptions.
Transforming Prison Practice
Influenced staff culture and embedding self-employment support into daily operations.
Driving Policy and Impact
Produced evidence and recommendations that contribute to better outcomes and systemic change.
Vision
Our vision is a system where women with convictions are not excluded from opportunities to build a future through self-employment. We want to influence policy and practice so that support is respectful, realistic, and responsive. Ultimately, we aim for a prison system and wider society where a conviction is not a barrier to achieving one’s potential in business.