Imkaan's History
Imkaan was created in November 1998 with the Newham Asian Women's Project (NAWP), winners of the BBC ASIA Community Award, in conjunction with the Asian Women's Resource Centre (AWRC) in Brent.
The project was established as a centralised co-ordinating body to act as a collective voice for Asian women and children across the country, which was based on the combined history and expertise of these two projects. Imkaan was managed by these two projects and we were able to benefit from their invaluable experience over three decades of community history, policy and service provision.
Imkaan developed out of a critical need for a more centralised body to act as a collective voice for Asian women's refuges across the country. Imkaan's own research and experience indicates that in recent years Asian women's refuges have become increasingly vulnerable to closure due to a variety of factors. These include lack of resources, lack of staff and potential for investment in services, an increasingly competitive climate, a fragile infrastructure and few opportunities for professional development.
This is often compounded by the fact that Asian women's refuges remain isolated and marginalised from mainstream networks of peer support, decision-making and consultative forums. Furthermore, the need for refuges to adapt ever changing policies of central government, policy and service planners and funders in order to remain 'innovative' has placed endless pressure on small specialist agencies who require support to sustain their existing core structures.
Imkaan was set up to provide strategic advocacy and targeted organisational support to refuges serving the needs of Asian women and children experiencing domestic violence.
We undertake community-based research; promote strategic advocacy and capacity building and training to refuge staff and those involved with domestic violence policy and services.
In September 2004 Imkaan became an independent registered charity.
