About Us .

An independent strategic advocacy and policy organisation that specifically focuses on the needs of black and minority women.

Project Resist is a new and exciting independent strategic advocacy and policy organisation that specifically focuses on the needs of black and minority women. It draws on four decades of the frontline experience of its two key founding members: Pragna Patel and Rosie Lewis. They have previously led trail blazing specialist organisations and conducted pioneering and award-winning cases, policy work and campaigns in support of women’s rights to justice and self-determination in the face of gender-based violence and related issues of racism and social, economic and political discrimination and inequality.

Project Resist will be proactive in using opportunities and spaces for partnership and solidarity work with women and families facing injustice across social and racial divides. Without losing sight of the specificities of our experiences as women, our aim is to find ways of forging connections and supporting each other in recognition of the urgent need to develop shared political values and to move away from the divisive and destructive aspects of identity politics.

Our Vision

Our vision strives to empower marginalised black and minority women to realise their rights and freedoms in all aspects of their lives, civil, social, political, economic and cultural. Through fearless advocacy, we strive to challenge all systems of power, privilege and censorship that stand in the way of women’s access to equality, dignity, peace and security.

Our Mission

Our mission aims to use all the legal and advocacy tools and mechanisms available to remove barriers that prevent black and minority women’s access to justice, human rights and democratic inclusion; to hold state and community institutions to account and to mobilise women to advance our feminist agenda for liberation, equality and justice through campaigns and activism.

Our Aims & Objectives

01

AIM Roots

Engage with and strengthen strategic partnerships with a range of front line black and minority women’s organisations working on violence against women and related issues.

Our objectives:

  • •Engage with and strengthen strategic partnerships and networks with a range of front line black and minoritised women’s organisations working on violence against women and girls and related issues.
  • •Co-operatively develop networks and provide support to black and minoritised organisations focusing particularly on the most isolated and marginalised groups. This will enable them to improve their capacity to advocate effectively at local and regional levels, strengthen their knowledge base and resilience in the face of multiple challenges.
  • •Identify and strategise on key issues and themes arising from front line casework to support legal, policy and campaigning work.
  • •Work with others to hold key state and community institutions to account.
  • •Undertake research and policy work in collaboration with a range of appropriate organisations, experts and individuals to address equality and justice deficits in law and social policy.
02

AIM Resistance

Undertake high quality strategic advocacy, legal and policy work on violence against women and girls and related issues.

Our objectives:

  • •Support women to use the law to challenge discrimination and injustice when accessing state and community support.
  • •Undertake strategic litigation and intervene in legal cases of violence against women and girls and related issues that are of wider public interest.
  • •Provide expertise on the needs and experiences of black and minority women in legal cases where appropriate.
  • •Participate as advocates or experts in domestic homicide reviews (DHR’s), inquests and other legal and public hearings and inquiries.
  • •Advocate on behalf of black and minority women at a range of legal, policy and political forums.
  • •Amplify the voices and experiences of black and minoritised women in the media.
  • •Collate evidence and data relevant to advocacy work.
03

AIM Solidarity

Draw on our work and experiences to defend key principles of democracy and human rights that we see as a perquisite to the realisation of women’s substantive rights.

Our objectives:

  • •Highlight, analyse and critique state and community institutions and processes that impact on the democratic rights of black and minoritised women and girls.
  • •Create spaces and make connections between social justice movements that challenge sex, race, class and other forms of oppression.
  • •Undertake and support campaigns at the domestic and international level in defence of key equality and democratic principles in line with our vision, aims and objectives.

What We Do

  • We use our expertise and experience to support and strengthen strategic partnerships and networks with a range of front line BME women’s organisations, especially those that work in the most isolated and tight knit communities and face some of the most heightened forms of inequality, racism and patriarchal control.
  • We undertake high quality strategic advocacy, legal and policy work on violence against women and girls and related issues.
  • We engage with and strengthen strategic partnerships with a range of front line black and minority women’s organisations working on violence against women and related issues.
  • We draw on our work and experiences to defend key principles of secular democracy and human rights, which we see as a prerequisite to the realisation of women’s substantive rights.
  • Project Resist will be proactive in using opportunities and spaces for partnership and solidarity work with women and families facing injustice across social and racial divides. Without losing sight of the specificities of our experiences as women, our aim is to find ways of forging connections and supporting each other in recognition of the urgent need to develop shared political values and to move away from the divisive and destructive aspects of identity politics.

Our Values

Our aim is to work towards solidarity and unity based on the following values:

01

Feminist, anti-racist and anti-fundamentalist

02

Secular and socialist

03

Transparent and open

04

Participatory and proactive

05

Inclusive and supportive

06

Compassionate and empathetic

07

Respect and solidarity