This presentation was delivered by the IARS International Institute at the Erasmus+ Learning Networks event held on December 3.

1. Abused No More: Safeguarding Youth and
Empowering Professionals
Widening Participation
Dr Natalia Paszkiewicz
N.Paszkiewicz@iars.org.uk
The Programme is funded by Erasmus+ under
2015-1-UK01-KA205-012555
Cardiff
3 December 2015

2. • IARS is a leading, international think-tank with a charitable mission
to give everyone a chance to forge a safer, fairer and more
inclusive society. We achieve our charitable aims by producing
evidence-based solutions to current social problems, sharing best
practice and by supporting young people and the community to
shape decision making. IARS is an international expert in criminal
justice, restorative justice, human rights and inclusion,
citizenship and user-led research.
• IARS was founded upon the principles of; user & civic participation;
restorative justice & dialogue; and individual empowerment &
responsibility
• The IARS International Institute has stayed true to its founding
values and been striving to achieve its mission and vision
officially for the past 10 years
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About IARS

3. 3
Theory of change

4. • In line with our ethos as a charity that produces community-led solutions for
a better society, we used PAR (Participatory Action Research) in our work
with refugee and asylum-seeking women under Comic relief-funded Abused
No More project, and supported a group of 12 women to carry out their own
research into their peers’ experiences of health and legal services. The
findings have been published in the IARS 2013 book Abused No More:
Voices of Refugee and Asylum-seeking Women.
• On the basis of the findings, the same project designed an evidence-based
training and awareness raising programme for professionals and service
providers focusing on the impact of gender-related violence on refugee and
asylum-seeking women. The Gender Sensitivity training has been
accredited with CPD status and is delivered directly by the affected women.
• Women’s Advisory Board (WAB) - what is unique about our programmes is
that refugee and asylum-seeking women are directly involved in design,
delivery and evaluation of our projects.
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User-led approach

5. 1. Building trust
2. Time
3. Communicating empathy
4. Gender sensitivity
5. Travel, refreshments and childcare expenses
6. Barriers to engagement: destitution, language, limited
literacy
7. Cultural competence
8. Reciprocity (e.g. support with asylum claims)
9. Flexibility
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Widening participation - refugee and asylum-seeking women

6. 6
IARS Hardship Fund for refugee and asylum-seeking women
http://www.iars.org.uk/content/iars-hardship-fund-refugee-and-asylum-
seeking-women

7. The IARS International Institute
14 Dock Offices
Surrey Quays Road
London SE16 2XU
United Kingdom
www.iars.org.uk
contact@iars.org.uk
Tel. (0044) 207 064 4380
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IARS contact details