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Birmingham Domestic Violence Forum is now the Birmingham Violence Against Women Board and will be covering a wider spectrum of gendered violence, including

The Board will be adopting the United Nations definition of violence against women:

‘Violence and abuse directed at a woman because she is a woman or acts of violence which are suffered disproportionately by women. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty” (United Nations 2006).

The Board’s role includes facilitating the development and implementation of a Pan-Birmingham Violence Against Women Strategy and ensuring that work on violence against women is carried out across the areas of prevention, protection, provision, participation and public reassurance

Prevention
– to prevent, remove or diminish the risk of violence against women and its impacts on children and young people
Protection
– to protect women from victimisation, repeat victimisation or harassment by perpetrators, to protect the children and young people affected and to provide public reassurance
Provision
– to provide adequate services to deal with the consequences of violence against women and children to help them to rebuild their lives
Participation
– to ensure policy making and practice development around violence against women is shaped by the experiences, needs and views of women and children

Film and speakers on addressing Female Genital Mutilation, @ The Drum, 7pm on 12 May. An exciting opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the difficult subject of female genital mutilation. Birmingham & Solihull Women's Aid, with Women2Gether and Equality Now have organized a showing of a film that looks at FGM and the grassroots movement to eliminate it. There will be 2 guest speakers - African women who are undertaking work on FGM in Africa. This is a rare opportunity to engage in discussion of how this practice is being addressed

New resources to combat Female Genital Mutilation. A new A3 poster and booklet have been published by four government departments, and are available to download from the Resources area of our site or contact us for hard copies.

Birmingham Sanctuary Scheme picked up a Secured by Design Innovation Award 2010 at the National Crime Design Advisers Conference. The Sanctuary scheme offers victims of domestic violence enhanced security to their homes, irrespective of tenure, to enable them to remain in their home and avoid homelessness or the upheaval of moving children to new areas and schools.

The award comes with £10,000 prize fund which will be re-invested to further develop the scheme. This is excellent news for Birmingham and further endorses what great partnership working can achieve!

For more information, contact: Dawn Goodenough, Policy and Development Officer on 0121 464 2683.

Anamwim, the women’s advocacy and support service, has opened a new Women’s Centre in Lozells.

The charity supports women who are working in, or wish to leave, the sex industry, assisting them to access finances, housing, health services, employment and training and offering emotional support to rebuild confidence and self-esteem.

Women are welcome to call at the Barker Street centre, as well as access their services at Birmingham Settlement, Phoenix Futures, Terrace, Care First and EDAS.

For more information, contact 0121 554 8928 or 0121 507 1112. A leaflet about Anawim can be downloaded here

The West Midlands Group of the Crown Prosecution Service have launched their new website, which contains information about:

There are also press releases, information for victims and witnesses, details of how we work with the community, what the proceeds of crime act is, links to relevant external websites and the procedure for applying for work experience: www.cps.gov.uk/westmidlands