Last Friday, in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University’s Manchester Centre for Youth Studies, we held an event focused on empowering women and girls and what we are doing to help young girls at risk of exploitation. The event, ‘Standing Up for Women and Girls’, provided an opportunity to shed light on our Getting Out for Good Project. This initiative, centres around us using sports such as boxing and street dance, along with one-on-one mentoring sessions, to steer the girls away from youth violence.
The event commenced with an opening by Deb Jump, MMU Lecturer & Researcher, setting the tone for an engaging discussion. Among the speakers, Kate Green, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Combined Authority, shared insights into the crucial efforts of the Violence Reduction Unit, underscoring the collective commitment to safeguarding women and girls in our community. Rina Dabhi, Director from our organisation gave an insight into the Getting Out for Good project and the work we have been doing. Hayley Harewood spoke about Keeping Our Girls Safe and their story as an organisation helping and working with young girls to support, empower and educate on grooming and child sexual exploitation.
Additionally, on the Panel Discussion – Arooj Shah, the leader of Oldham Council discussed the importance of the work we are doing to help young girls and emphasised the significance of men also supporting this effort. Our representatives, Rina Dhabi Director, and Paul Axon our CEO were also on the panel, and they delved further into the learnings we have had as an organisation and the barriers from waiting on funding to continue projects such as Getting Out for Good and the work Keep Our Girls Safe are doing.
The representatives came together for a lively panel discussion. They discussed important topics about the political landscape affecting women and girls, the need for changes in service procedures, and the importance of centring women and girls’ voices in local efforts. Most importantly what will be happening as a result of the event taking place to help make change.
We extend our gratitude to the notable organisations: Manchester Centre for Youth Studies, Violence Reduction Unit and Keeping Our Girls Safe for their invaluable contributions to making the event a resounding success!
