Working with Faith Communities to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls
On 27 November 2018 I co-organised and curated a conference discussing a relatively unexplored area of work in London's non-BME women's sector, that of working with faith and religious communities to respond appropriately to domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls. The conference showcased some of the organisations, groups and communities that the SAFE Communities project (which I coordinate at Standing Together Against Domestic Violence ) works with to combat domestic abuse at a grassroots level.
The diversity of feminist organisations, community groups, charities and religiously inspired projects that work with communities was vast as was the collective knowledge base in that conference room. Whilst the experiences and presentations varied hugely from each other, several themes were clearly identified in terms of issues that such organisations deal with, the barriers that women and communities faced to seeking support and the challenges facing mainstream and secular organisations in responding to the needs of survivors and engaging communities.
One of the aims of the conference was to shed a light on the richness and diversity that already exists at a grassroots level that is working to end domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. In addition, it was crucial to create a safe learning environment for all attendees to ask questions, reflecting on personal and professional assumptions as well as scrutinise their practice. The presence of professional artists and illustrators from the wonderful Scriberia to draw and illustrate the conversations that were had at the conference and enable participants to share their main take aways, questions or light bulb moments produced a wonderful wall of illustration that everyone contributed to and can be seen by all. All attendees received a pdf version of the wall so that they may use it in their professional settings as a prompt and guide when working with survivors and faith communities.
The conference was organized along the three main pillars of the SAFE Communities Programme which are bridge-building, integrity and empowerment. A selection of experts and professionals in the field of VAWG and community work presented and discussed ways in which they implemented and practised of one of these values. The conference was delighted to welcome representatives from Latin American Women's Rights Service, Forward, Consultant Social Worker from Hackney, Muslim Youth Helpline, Jewish Women's Aid, Restored, Broke Bride Campaign, Single Homeless Project in Lambeth, Mizan The Poet, The Centre for Gender Violence Research, Bristol University and member of Catholic Bishops Conference Domestic Abuse Working Group. For a copy of the presentations, please get in touch using the contact form on this website.
