About Us
Imkaan is a UK-based, Black feminist organisation. We are the only national umbrella women’s organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls i.e. women and girls which are defined in policy terms as Black and ‘Minority Ethnic’ (BME).
The organisation holds over two decades of experience of working around issues such as domestic violence, forced marriage and ‘honour-based’ violence. We work at local, national and international level, and in partnership with a range of organisations, to improve policy and practice responses to Black and minoritised women and girls.
Imkaan works with its member organisations to represent the expertise and perspectives of frontline, specialist and dedicated Black and minoritised women’s organisations that work to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Imkaan delivers a unique package of support to VAWG groups which includes: quality assurance; accredited training and peer education; sustainability support to frontline Black and minoritised organisations; and facilitation of space for community engagement and development.
Our research activities support the ongoing development of a robust evidence base around the needs and aspirations of Black and minoritised women and girls, as well as promoting practice approaches to addressing violence. Imkaan is at the forefront of programmes and initiatives relating to forms of violence that disproportionately affect Black and minoritised women and girls.
Our campaigning activities and support for community activism improves policy and services aimed at ending violence against women and girls (VAWG), through leadership, collaboration, trainingand support, and we are committed to challenging those statutory sector practices that otherwise inevitably lead to femicide.
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Specialist “by and for” services
A definition by the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Evidence shows that ethnic minority, disabled and LGBT women are disproportionately impacted by domestic abuse. Despite this, they face greater barriers to reporting the abuse, accessing support services, and engaging with the criminal justice system. The barriers are compounded where these characteristics intersect with migrant status.
Specialist domestic abuse support services, led by and for these communities, play a vital role in overcoming these barriers, providing services and spaces to help survivors escape and recover from abuse and to engage with the justice system.
Such ‘by and for’ services have developed specialised understandings of the forms of VAWG experienced by these groups. They are experts in the nuanced contexts in which the abuse occurs, and the barriers women face to reporting their abuse.
This allows women in these groups to feel safe to seek support from these services, when they may not feel able to do so from non-specialist services or in the criminal justice system. However, currently specialist by and for services are too scarce.
They are poorly and precariously funded. It is crucial that the value of specialist by and for services is recognised by both the UK government and commissioning bodies and reflected in funding allocations.
[Parliamentary Briefing on Specialist Services 2020 https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:0b36ec61-6e38-4fcb-85f7-af7986e2e24e ]
