Tag: male violence

A new report released today by Rosa details the impact of the Stand With Us Fund and gives concrete examples of how collective action and the investment in women’s and girls’ organisations can transform lives and create lasting change.

In recent months the news has been filled with distressing scenes of racism and islamophobia, driven mostly by violent men on our streets, and what feels like endless stories of men abusing their power to harm, control and kill women and girls. It is hard not to feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of it all and harder still to feel like society is making any progress on making the UK safer for women and girls.

Rosa knows one of the biggest barriers to progress in addressing the impact male violence has on women and girls is the lack of investment in the organisations working to do just that, and this is why Rosa’s Stand With Us Fund exists. In 2022, with funding raised by Reclaim These Streets in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, Rosa created a fund to help strengthen and sustain the violence against women and girls (VAWG) sector.

The Stand With Us Fund Impact Report provides some hope of what can be achieved when we work together to address VAWG and when women’s and girls’ organisations are given the right investment. The organisations that received grants from the Fund quadrupled Rosa’s investment, raising £4 for every £1 invested, to a total of £2.1 million. Their work impacted 13,359 women and girls in one year alone.

The depth and breadth of the work done by women’s and girls’ organisations working to address male violence cannot be overstated. They provide emergency help for women and children and a safe space to escape to. They offer unique and critical services, such as employment training, psychological and legal support, confidence building, and relocation help, such as with tenancies or finding new schooling, to help women and children to stay safe.

We are hugely grateful to everyone who donated to, supported, championed, designed and delivered the Stand With Us Fund. We are incredibly proud of the impact the funding has had on the organisations that received it.

There is still more to do and the fight must continue to ensure women and girls can live in a society in which they are safe, healthy and equal.

Read the report here.

The second round of the Stand With Us Fund is now open and offers one-year grants of up to £25k to organisations delivering frontline services addressing male violence against women and girls in the UK.

Originally started with money raised by Reclaim These Streets in the wake of the appalling kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police Officer, the Fund was designed in close consultation with violence against women and girls sector experts and aims to strengthen organisations run by and for women who stand up and take action every single day to build safer futures for women and girls.

Women-led charities are vital in supporting women and girls who are affected by male violence but many of these organisations face severe underfunding and are struggling to meet escalating costs amid rising demand.

The Stand With Us Fund exists to address these challenges. The Fund supports organisations to become stronger and more effective; better meeting the needs of women and girls and influencing wider change for all women and girls across the UK. Organisations can apply for up to £25,000 to fund areas related to organisational development, including strategy, governance, leadership, movement building, alliances, fundraising, impact, systems and processes.

Rebecca Gill, CEO of Rosa said:

“The depth and breadth of the work done by women’s and girls’ organisations working to address male violence cannot be overstated. They provide emergency help for women and children and a safe space to escape to. They offer unique and critical services, such as employment training, psychological support and legal advice, confidence building, and relocation help, such as with tenancies or finding new schooling, to help women and children to stay safe.”

The Stand With Us Fund aims to enable organisations to be in a stronger position to survive, thrive and grow by investing in organisational development work. The Fund will close for applications on 5pm on Tuesday 30th July 2024. Visit the fund page for more information about the Stand With Us fund, including how to apply, application guidance and FAQs.

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Towards the end of March, we highlighted our Stand With Us fund, which was established with the funds raised by Reclaim These Streets in the wake of Sarah Everard’s kidnap and murder in March 2021 by a serving Met Police officer.

The BBC aired the documentary Sarah Everard: The Search For Justice, and BBC London produced extensive coverage to share how the money raised by Reclaim These Streets had supported abuse survivors through charities such as Ella’s and Maa Shanti. I spoke on BBC London Radio and one of the journalists responsible for the documentary, Frankie McCamley, interviewed me for BBC London News, which was filmed and featured in print.

In the TV interview, I emphasised that the Stand With Us fund received 10 times the number of applications than we could fund and the urgent need for increased and sustained funding for women’s and girls’ organisations working to address male violence against women and girls.

Sadly, Sarah’s murder is not an isolated event.

Last year, two women were killed by men every week in the UK. Cases of male violence against women and girls are rising, so many of the organisations that exist to support them are themselves battling rising demand and increased costs. This situation is unsustainable. These organisations require a funding model that enables them to thrive rather than merely survive. Funders and the wider philanthropy sector, along with central and local Government all have a role to play in driving this change.

Male violence manifests itself in women’s and girls’ lives in many ways; as street harassment, intimate partner violence including psychological, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, coercive control, financial or economic abuse, harassment and stalking, and online or digital abuse, to name just a few.

The depth and breadth of the work done by women’s and girls’ organisations working to address male violence cannot be overstated. They provide emergency help for women and children and a safe space to escape to. They offer unique and critical services, such as employment training, psychological and legal support, confidence building, and relocation help, such as with tenancies or finding new schooling, to help women and children to stay safe.

One of the points I felt it was important to raise in the TV interview was that it should not take the death of a woman such as Sarah Everard for vital funds to be raised for these organisations. It must be acknowledged that misogyny, sexism and discrimination against women and girls persist and that the women and girls sector needs consistent, regular and reliable funding to address the range of issues that arise from this.  Funding these organisations must be top priority.

You can DONATE to the Stand with Us fund to support the crucial frontline organisations addressing male violence against women and girls.

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