London Black Women's Project (LBWP) is a voluntary sector organization providing support services to BME women in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. Known as Newham Asian Women's Project (NAWP) until 2017, the organization was established in 1987 to provide women's refuges and other support services to Asian women in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by ...

Newham Asian Women's Project

Newham Asian Women's Collective (NAWC), a predecessor of NAWP, was established in 1981 to campaign for and support the needs of

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

women in Newham. NAWC found that

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

obstructed access to services for South Asian women experiencing

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

. NAWC expanded into neighbouring boroughs in

, resulting in the founding of East London Asian Women's Group (ELAWG).London Black Women's Project: History
/ref> Entering Newham - geograph

In 1987 Newham Asian Women's Project was established, opening a hostel providing emergency accommodation to women and children escaping domestic violence. Gulshun Rehman was one of the founders. NAWP subsequently grew to include a resource centre, refuge and second-stage hostel. In 1997 a counselling service was established for girls and women aged 12 to 55. NAWP offered information, advice, counselling and befriending services in the five major languages of Gujarati,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Punjabi and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. Analysis of the women attending its mental health and counselling support groups showed that three out of five of its clients attempted self-harm. The project's 1998 research report, ''Growing Up Young, Asian and Female in Britain'', aimed to understand why

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

and

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

were so prevalent among young British Asian women, and make recommendations aimed at improving the situation.

London Black Women's Project

In 2015 it was agreed to expand the project's provision, and rename the project accordingly, and on

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

2016 the project was renamed London Black Women's Project. As part of a nationwide funding crisis for specialist providers of BME refuges, the London Black Women's Project was threatened in 2019 with the loss of its council contract to run Newham's refuges for domestic and sexual violence victims. After protests from local campaigners and women's organizations,Women’s Groups call for Newham Mayor to reinstate funding for BME refuges
''The Voice'', 30 October 2019. Accessed 5 August 2020. the decision was reversed in November 2019, and LBWP's contract was extended for another year.Andrew Brookes
London Black Women’s Project to continue running domestic violence service as council restarts new contract tender process
''Newham Recorder'', 8 November 2019. Accessed 5 August 2020. The organization's patron is the actress and writer

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is an English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and by portraying Sanjeev's grandmoth ...

References

External links

London Black Women's Project

Data on Victims of domestic abuse in the United Kingdom
{{Authority control Organizations established in 1987 Charities based in London Organisations based in the London Borough of Newham * Women's shelters Women's organisations based in England Women in London

Newham Asian Women's Project

London Black Women's Project

See also

References

External links