Welsh Women’s Aid
Annual Impact Report
2017/2018
In January 2018 Welsh Women’s Aid began a year of commemorating our 40th anniversary as a movement to end violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in Wales. Our ’40 Voices 40 years’ project celebrated and paid tribute to all those involved in our movement, including our network of specialist services across Wales and the many courageous and inspirational survivors we work with.
Our members of specialist services, and the survivors of abuse they support, are central to our work. They have built a wealth of knowledge and expertise in local communities, informed by a gendered, equality and human rights framework, and form part of a UK network of provision, and we know how vital these life-saving and life-changing support services are.
In 2017-18 alone, our members supported over 12,000 survivors of abuse; referrals to community based outreach provision increased by a third from the previous year, and even though 95% of survivors reported feeling safer after using refuge-based support, we know 431 survivors of abuse were unable to be supported when they needed help, due to service lack of resources and capacity. Similarly, referrals to our membership of sexual violence services increased to 1008 through the year, but in March 2018, there were 292 women on waiting lists for counselling support.
Sadly these represent only a fraction of survivors of abuse in Wales. One in three women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by domestic abuse, sexual violence, prostitution, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, ‘honour’ based violence, stalking and sexual harassment. Violence against women and girls is a violation of human rights and is rooted in inequality between women and men, which intersects with discrimination based on ethnicity, age, class, sexuality and disability to impact on experiences of abuse, and routes to support.
We have seen several positive changes in recent years. Our members now work within a suite of national standards and an accreditation framework created specifically for domestic abuse services, sexual violence services , services by and for Black and minoritised women, and perpetrator programmes and interventions in Wales. Several of our member services also deliver training and educational programmes, group-work with survivors, work to prevent sexual harassment and abuse, and some have separate services dedicated to meet the needs of male victims, and to deliver interventions to change perpetrators’ behaviour whilst continuing to place the safety of survivors central to their work.
Yet many things remain the same. Specialist services’ funding remains precarious in many parts of Wales, and we continue to advocate for delivery of the National Strategy commitment to ensure sustainable funding for specialist services. We also know that legislation often fail to make a difference for survivors most marginalised from services. So we continue to advocate and provide a voice for those who face discrimination and multiple disadvantages in local communities.
It’s this ongoing focus on placing survivors at the heart of all we do which makes the Welsh Women’s Aid movement in Wales a continuing and necessary, energetic and effective force for change in Wales. Thanks to all who worked with our highly skilled charitable Trustees and our experienced and professional teams through the year to help us make the change we aim to achieve possible. A special thanks to our funders and supporters, who believe that we can make a difference.
As we collaborate and consult on our new strategy for the years ahead to create real change that lasts, join us to help create the social and cultural change needed for ending violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence for good.
Eleri Butler, CEO and Paula Walters, Chair of the Board of Trustees
Welsh Women’s Aid
