Funded by the CAF Covid 19 Emergency Fund, the four Women’s Aid Federations (Welsh Women’s Aid, Scottish Women’s Aid, Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, Women’s Aid Federation of England) and Imkaan (the only UK-based, umbrella women’s organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls) have been working to create and develop meaningful survivor engagement opportunities in our work.
Over the past three years we have been developing our approach to enabling diverse survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) to have increased opportunities to influence local practice, policy and national decision-making. We have been working together to share our knowledge and experience, and today we are pleased to launch our joint best practice guide on survivor engagement. Whilst there can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this critical work, we hope this guide will help others to listen to the experiences of survivors, hear their voices and understand their perspectives in a deeper and more meaningful way. The guide is intended for anyone in the VAWG sector who would like to begin or develop adult survivor engagement in their work, and we hope you find it useful.