http://imkaan.org.uk/

Save UK Justice - 4 days to get 20,000 signatures!

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:08:39 +0100

The MOJ should not proceed with their plans to reduce access to justice by depriving citizens of legal aid or the right to representation by the Solicitor of their choice.

The proposals will affect us all, but this has particular relevance to the specialist BME VAWG sector. Plans include the introduction of a residency test which will deny access to legal aid to those who have not been lawfully in the UK for 12 months. This will affect victims of gender-based violence, torture victims and trafficked women and children.

We have 4 days to get 20,000 signatures to force a parliamentary debate.

Please sign and share!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48628

Check out the new website for Latin American Women's Aid!

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:35:54 +0100

LAWA’s new website, boasting increased information and improved accessibility, is now available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

The new format is easier to access, has an improved layout and contains more information on LAWA’s history, activities, the Latin American community and domestic violence. It will also be regularly updated with information about any upcoming workshops and events. LAWA’s social media profiles on Facebook and Twitter are now directly accessible from their website through one simple click.

Visit LAWA at www.lawadv.org.uk

Freedom Without Fear Event: Culture, the Cuts and Violence Against Women and Girls: An Open Meeting

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:15:45 +0100

Freedom Without Fear Event: Culture, the Cuts and Violence Against Women and Girls: An Open Meeting:

Who are the perpetrators of violence against women and girls in Britain and who are the victims and survivors?

Why are ‘race’ and ‘culture’ selectively invoked in discussions of violence against women and girls?

Is racial profiling for potential perpetrators taking place?

How do the more general cuts to services and legal aid affect violence against women and girls and what do they tell us about the government’s commitment to combating this kind of violence?

Join us to discuss these questions and look at the reality behind the myth. Click the main link for the Facebook event, click below for the flyer:

http://db.tt/730nZpxu

FREE COURSE - Achieving best evidence: supporting survivors making applications under the domestic violence rule – Imkaan and Rights of Women

Fri, 31 May 2013 14:44:19 +0100

27 June 2013, London

Meeting the needs of women who are seeking to secure their position in the UK by making an application under the domestic violence rule is incredibly challenging; in addition to having to provide supporting evidence yourself you have to be up-to-date in one of the most frequently changing areas of law.

This expert led, one-day course delivered in partnership by Rights of Women and Imkaan, will give you the skills and knowledge you need to confidently support a woman who has experienced domestic violence and is seeking ILR under the domestic violence rule. This course has been updated to incorporate recent crucial changes to the Immigration Rules as well as changes to the way women can access financial support in the form of the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession.

Participants will:

Understand the complex disadvantages and dilemmas that face a woman survivor of domestic violence with insecure immigration status
Understand the domestic violence rule and application process
Feel confident providing letters of support for their service users who are making domestic violence rule applications
Be able to reflect on their own practice supporting women survivors with insecure immigration status

Download the booking form here.

For all enquiries and to return your booking form, contact the Training Officer at Rights of Women: training@row.org.uk or 020 7251 6575.

Moving in the Shadows: Violence in the Lives of Minority Women and Children - A review by Purna Sen

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:19:52 +0100

Moving in the Shadows: Violence in the Lives of Minority Women and Children - A review by Purna Sen:

The book, edited by Yasmin Rehman, Liz Kelly and Hannana Siddiqui, was over a year in the making–a project that sought to extend the groups of minority women and the forms of violence addressed. The authors wrote about not just domestic and sexual violence, but also forced marriage, ‘honour-based’ violence, female genital mutilation, ritualised abuse and polygyny. Many chapters raise contentious issues and stretch understandings.

The book was launched at London Metropolitan University in March, creating a space in which some of the issues and debates were aired.

Here, Purna Sen writes about the event with reflection on the political landscape, the women’s movement, the relationship between race and gender and the impact of religiously defined debates around violence against women and girls. She describes the event as a joining of ‘hearts and minds’, and of ‘real sisterhood’.

Job opportunity at Latin American Women's Aid, London

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:02:03 +0100

Latin American Women’s Aid empowers Latin American and other Spanish/Portuguese speaking women and children who are fleeing from domestic violence, through advice, advocacy services and refuge accommodation.

Latin American Women’s Aid is seeking a highly motivated and dynamic woman to deliver a London-wide Family Outreach Support Project, working closely with children and their mothers affected by domestic violence to prevent long term mental health impacts of the abuse they experienced.

Family Outreach Support Advisor

Salary: £28,771 pro rata (£23,017 actual salary) including inner London weighting

Hours: 28 hours per week

This post is open to women only and is exempt under the Sex Discrimination Act 7(2) (d) and (e) 1976. No agencies.

For an application pack, send an email to: recruitment@lawadv.org.uk.

Closing date: Wednesday 22nd May 2013, Interviews: Last week of May 2013

Newham Borough Surgery for Women's Organisations

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:24:00 +0100

Are you an organisation providing services to women affected by violence?

Are you a women’s network, project or organisation?

Are you trying to improve your organisation’s financial situation?

Come and join us at this FREE event!

Date: Tuesday 14th May 2013

Time: 9:30am – 2:45pm

Venue: St Marks Community Centre, 218 Tollgate Road, Beckton, E6 5YA

This event will bring together local organisations working to support women, local commissioners and experts from the Women’s Resource Centre, Imkaan and Rights of Women. You will receive practical support and have the opportunity to network with organisations in Newham and surrounding boroughs.

Network for BME women and their organisations

Imkaan will be hosting a BME Networking Session before the open session. The BME Networking Session is open to black women workers from both BME specialist organisations and other organisations who define as Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) and who face racism and discrimination in Britain.

Meet & speak to local commissioners

Presentations by experts on:

How to influence locally & how to get your voice heard to hold public bodies to account.
The Equality Act 2010
Building partnerships
Funding ideas that work for your organisation

Networking with other organisations working in your area.

Spaces are limited. A light lunch will be offered.

To book a place at the borough surgery (and/or the BME network event) please complete the booking form and email to skye@wrc.org.uk.

If you have any queries call 020 7324 3030.

ASCENT, funded by London Councils, part of the London VAWG Consortium.

Consultation with Victims-Survivors of Violence Against Women and Girls - Imkaan/MOPAC

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:56:19 +0100

Imkaan has been commissioned by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to collate the views of women and girls affected by gender-based violence via a series of focus groups and interviews to inform the development of the second London VAWG strategy. This work provides the opportunity for women and girls to influence future planning in London. We would like to involve:

Former-service users of voluntary sector specialist provision, statutory services and criminal justice agencies. This will include women exiting prostitution.
BME (Black, Minority and Ethnic) women and girls including those who have experienced forced marriage, female genital mutilation and “honour”-based violence.
Young women under the age of 18 including those who have been/are associated to gangs.
We will explore any barriers to accessing service provision e.g. disability, sexual identity, and age.

The objective of this piece is to obtain the perspectives of women and girls to strengthen our understanding of service gaps and needs, pathways through which women and girls in London access protection and support and identification of promising practice in prevention work. We will also develop recommendations on effective service models, and a report will be produced in June 2013.

If you work in this area and would like to contribute to the project please contact ika@imkaan.org.uk or call 020 7250 3933.

Representations of Gender in Advertising. Original by Sarah...

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:34:00 +0100

Representations of Gender in Advertising. Original by Sarah Zelinski, Kayla Hatzel, and Dylan Lambi-Raine for their women and gender studies class.

Health & Equality Capacity Training for the women’s voluntary & community sector

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:28:00 +0100

Imkaan has been commissioned by the Women’s Health and Equality Consortium to deliver a series of health and equality capacity training sessions:

Wednesday 5th June 2013 - MANCHESTER

Tuesday 11th June 2013 - LONDON

Tuesday 18th June 2013 - BIRMINGHAM

Tuesday 25th June 2013 - SHEFFIELD

Wednesday 17 July 2013 - BRISTOL

COURSE CONTENT:

Strategies for engaging with Health & Wellbeing Boards and Clinical Commissioning Groups
Linking your work to the local priorities on health and wellbeing
Demonstrating & evidencing your contribution to health outcomes
Contributing to Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health & Wellbeing Strategies
Building local networks of women’s organisations

To book contact: janet@imkaan.org.uk or ring 0782 7878 143

Job Opportunity at the Kiran Project, London

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:58:24 +0100

Advocacy & Resettlement Worker

2½ year fixed term part-time contract

21 hours per week

Salary: £15,312 incl. ILW

must be educated to “A” level or equivalent

The post holder will be responsible for providing resettlement support to women and children leaving the refuge, advice, assistance and counselling to BAMER women facing domestic violence and homelessness, advocate and raise public awareness of domestic violence and its impact on BAMER women and children

Applicants will need to have a current CRB

For all the above posts the ability to speak at least 1 Asian language is essential as is the understanding of domestic violence and its effects on BAMER women and children.

Due to the nature of the project the post is only open to women.

The post is funded by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund.

NB These posts are advertised under section 5 2 (D) of the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Sex Discrimination Act under section 7 2 (E) 1975

Closing date for applications is 5.00pm Friday 17^th May 2013

For an application pack please email: Kiran.admin@kiranproject.org.uk or telephone: 020 85581986

Kiran Project is a registered charity 1114148 & Company Limited by Guarantee No 5727907

"I could open up and expose my vulnerabilities (ignorance, assumptions, and thoughts on diversity..."

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:28:20 +0100

“I could open up and expose my vulnerabilities (ignorance, assumptions, and thoughts on diversity issues) be challenged, supported and nurtured all at once and not feel bad about it. I think this in itself says something about how the trainers were able to hold this and facilitate this so well.”

- Participant, Imkaan Train the Trainer accredited course, February 2013

New resource available, "The Road to Sustainability - Summary findings: A review of Black, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BMER) organisations working with women on health and gender-based violence"

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 17:35:00 +0100

New resource available, "The Road to Sustainability - Summary findings: A review of Black, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BMER) organisations working with women on health and gender-based violence":

This updated summary was produced by Imkaan.

This is a summary report of The Road to Sustainability, a piece of research commissioned by the Women’s Health and Equality Consortium (WHEC) in 2010. The WHEC is a coalition of women’s organisations who are a strategic partner of the Department of Health. The WHEC was set up to improve engagement between statutory health bodies and the women’s third sector to ensure that the diverse needs and experiences of women and girls are reflected within health and social care policy.

This summary report provides an overview of the current situation of BMER women’s organisations and other specialist health services. The primary focus of the study was on small specialist BMER women’s organisations that work in the area of violence against women and girls (VAWG) including domestic and sexual violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation and ‘honour-based’ violence. The research identifies key issues and challenges which are having an impact on the resilience and sustainability of the women’s health and social care voluntary sector. The research aims to inform and assist commissioners who are developing their thinking on the commissioning of BMER specialist services within the health and social care sector.

Briefing: Model Outcomes Framework and Service Standards for Violence Against Women and Girls services

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:44:00 +0100

Women’s Aid and Imkaan in partnership are developing a model outcomes framework for survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and, based on this framework, are issuing new National Service Standards for VAWG Services.

The outcomes framework will serve multiple purposes. At a local level, organisations will be able to continuously identify survivor needs and develop their services accordingly, ensuring improved responses to VAWG . The framework will also provide a set of survivor-identified outcomes to inform funders’ commissioning processes.

At a national level, the outcomes framework will enable nationwide data collection to build a clear evidence base of the nature and extent of VAWG, to assess the effectiveness of the range of support and interventions available, and to provide an opportunity for benchmarking and best practice development.

The service standards will serve as a set of guidelines for commissioners and funders looking to fund and/or evaluate services. They will further enable sector-wide improvement, service responsiveness and development.

The outcomes framework and service standards will have an integrated human rights framework to ensure services and interventions are human rights focused and are in line with national and international duties to protect survivors, prevent VAWG, and to improve justice responses to survivors through partnership working.

We are working with voluntary sector organisations with specialisms across the equalities strands to ensure outcomes of survivors with protected characteristics are encompassed in the framework.

We are additionally sharing information and knowledge with Respect, a national membership organisation that provides helpline support to male victims of domestic abuse, with a view to enabling the development of a male survivors’ outcome framework. This is in response to emerging evidence of the different needs of male survivors and therefore the different service responses required.

The outcomes framework and service standards are being developed in on-going consultation with support staff, management, and survivor representatives from Imkaan and Women’s Aid member organisations. The draft outcomes framework will be presented at Women’s Aid conference in July 2013.

For more information contact the Capacity Building team: Camille Kumar , Katy Taylor or Janet McDermott: info@ayaproject.org.uk

Check out our newest poster on black feminism! Available to buy...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:27:12 +0100

Check out our newest poster on black feminism! Available to buy at www.imkaan.goodsie.com

Imkaan's Accredited Training Programme is Open for Bookings

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:52:57 +0100

Accredited Training Programme

24-25 April Understanding the effects of DV on BME women
OCN Levels One and Two
London

15-16 May Understanding the effects of DV on BME women
OCN Levels One and Two
Sheffield

26-27 June Understanding forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence; Risk and Case Management
OCN Level Two
London

10-11 July Understanding forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence; Risk and Case Management
OCN Level Two
Sheffield

To book a place on any of these courses, or to request in-house training, please email bookings@imkaan.org.uk.

For more information about Imkaan’s training programme click here.

Hi, I am writing to you from Montreal, Canada, as I am presently working on Honour based violence in order to inform public policy development on this important issue. I was told you have produced a recent study, called the Missing Link, on harmful practices and emerging good practices to deal with the issue, but I can't seem to find it on your site. I would appreciate it if you could send me the document for consultation. I thank you in advance.

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:52:36 +0000

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in Imkaan’s work. We published The Missing Link: a joined up approach to addressing harmful practices in London at the end of 2011. It is available to download here.

If you have trouble downloading it, please email admin@imkaan.org.uk and we will send a copy to you.

Best wishes,

Imkaan

Job Opportunities at Women's Aid

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:46:59 +0000

Job Opportunities at Women's Aid:

Women’s Aid is currently recruiting to four roles:

Director of Policy, Voice and Membership
Director of Business Development and Communications (Maternity cover to September 2013)
Policy and Public Affairs Officer (6 month temporary contract)
Media Relations Officer

You can click the link above for more information, or visit the Women’s Aid website.

You can also email recruitment@womensaid.org.uk for an application pack.

Imkaan contributions to the 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women now available on our website

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:25:19 +0000

Over the past two weeks, Marai Larasi (Executive Director at Imkaan) has contributed to five sessions at the Commission on the Status of Women; for the UN, the Home Office, the Canadian Government, and two NGO forums. Marai also lobbied on behalf of UK VAWG services at other sessions during this time.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the United Nation’s principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide.

You can view some of Marai’s contributions to this year’s CSW on our Resources page, under ‘External Contributions and Mentions’.

The CSW has now agreed conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of VAWG. Amongst the agreed conclusions, Imkaan particularly welcomes those that promote equal access to education, encourage appropriate responses to VAWG by statutory services, recognise the specific needs of women in conflict and post-conflict situations, migrants, and women with HIV, and the important role of the media and ICT in eliminating VAWG.

We have provided a small briefing on the agreed conclusions on our website here, and the full list of agreed conclusions should be available on the CSW website soon.

While there is much work to be done, the CSW conclusions present a critical opportunity for states to implement, strengthen and monitor the work to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls. We will continue to lobby UK government to encourage targeted efforts to ensure that the conclusions are adopted to strengthen existing work on VAWG in the UK.

The Commission on the Status of Women agrees conclusions on the elimination and prevention of all forms of VAWG

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:13:27 +0000

The 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women has taken place in New York over the last two weeks.

Amongst the agreed conclusions, Imkaan particularly welcomes conclusions that promote equal access to education, encourage appropriate responses to VAWG by statutory services, recognise the specific needs of women in conflict and post-conflict situations, migrants, and women with HIV, and the important role of the media and ICT in eliminating VAWG:

The acknowledgement of the important role of prevention and elimination of discrimination.
The right to education as a human right, and the elimination of illiteracy, ensuring equal access to education, in particular in remote and rural areas and closing the gender gap at all levels of education, empowers women and girls and thereby contributes to eliminating all forms of discrimination and VAWG.
The commission urges states to strongly condemn all forms of VAWG and to refrain from invoking custom, tradition or religion to avoid their obligations as set out in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence agains Women.
Ensure women and girls access to justice and effective legal assistance and processes.
Develop and implement multisectoral national policies, strategies and programmes with the effective participation of women and girls which include measures for prevention, protection, support services, data collection, research, monitoring and evaluation and national benchmarks for results to be achieved.
Adopt and fund policy reforms and programmes, and support education to train and strengthen the capacity of the judiciary, police, military, those working in education, health, social welfare, justice, defence and immigration; hold public officials accountable for not complying with laws and regulations related to VAWG.
Recognise the important role of the media in the elimination of gender stereotypes and in promoting non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive reporting, and in improving public awareness on VAWG, to train those who work in the media and to develop and strengthen self-regulatory mechanisms to promote balanced and non-stereotypical portrayals of women as creative human beings, key actors and contributors to and beneficiaries of the process of development.
Support the development and use of ICT and social media as a resource for the empowerment of women and girls including access to information on prevention and responses to VAWG and mechanisms to combat the use of ICT and social media to perpetrate sexual harassment, exploitation, child pornography, trafficking, cyber stalking and bullying.
Adopt and implement measures to ensure the social and legal inclusion and protection of women migrants, including women migrant workers.
Eliminate discrimination and violence against women and girls living with HIV.
Ensure that in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, sexual and gender based violence are prioritised and addressed through investigation, prosecution and punishment of perpetrators to end impunity and remove barriers to women’s access to justice. This includes establishing mechanisms of complaint and reporting, access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health services.

The CSW conclusions provide a critical opportunity for states to implement, strengthen and monitor the work to eliminate and prevent all forms of violence against women and girls. The UK Government has been participating in these disucssions and we hope to see targeted efforts from government to ensure that the conclusions are adopted to strengthen existing work on VAWG in the UK.