Safety4Sisters NW

Who we are

About Safety4Sisters North West

S4S is a grassroots Manchester based anti-racist, feminist organisation working to uphold the rights of black and minoritised migrant women with no recourse to public funds who have experienced gender-based violence (GBV). We are a small but growing organisation, currently employing four staff members as well as a small rosta of sessional workers and volunteers. Established in 2011 and a registered charity since 2020, our dynamic organisation delivers specialist holistic services including advocacy, refuge, group work and individual counselling to highly marginalised survivors of gender-based violence.

S4S has built up a reputation both regionally and nationally by campaigning to improve migrant women’s rights to safety. Our S4S refuge, Abonsh House, is the first high quality specialist refuge for migrant women with no recourse to public funds and who are fleeing domestic abuse in the UK. Our specialist refuge workers and advocacy workers work collaboratively with local legal aid lawyers and other organisations to ensure that women are supported to regularise their immigration status and rebuild their lives.

Looking to the future, we want to ensure that the women we support have real space and influence within the organisation. To do this S4S is in the process of developing a user-led model which recognises that migrant women survivors need to be involved in the development and decision-making process of S4S. A survivor's council aims to empower women through opening channels of communication and influence between themselves, staff and trustees at S4S.

We would encourage candidates to learn more about our work by exploring our website, reading recent publications such as our ‘Locked in abuse, locked out of safety’ report, and watching the launch video for our ‘This is We’ anthology.