APRIL 2007 NEWSLETTER

International

Portugal

We took part in a Parliamentary Hearing about violence against Women which took place in the Portuguese National Assembly. The campaign there ordered 3000 embroidered ribbons from us.

On the way there we passed a large body of young police officers and I mentioned to one of the other delegates that I would rather have spent a day training them. All the police officers then marched in to the Parliament and took up their places in the back row of the hearing to listen and learn. The event received a lot of press coverage.

Greece

We were invited to present the work of the White Ribbon campaign at the National Meeting for Injuries and Violence, Athens, Greece, 27-28 April 2007 organised by the European Anti-Violence Network and also held meetings with other colleagues involved in anti violence against women campaigning.

KPMG Varsity Match
Rather less successfully we were invited to have a stand at the University rugby game between Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester University. I set up a stand outside, with 5 banners, next to the bar so everyone had to go past, but no-one seemed interested in our work despite prominence given to the support shown by leading professional rugby players both in Great Britain and around the world , so we’ll have to think of other ways of engaging with young male rugby players.

Other Developments

Downloadable Flash Animations
These became available and look great. We’re looking now for lots more people to have them on their websites giving us good publicity.

Charitable Status
We continue our progress towards achieving full charitable status

Placement Students
Work continued with volunteer students from MMU, and our second placement student from Holland was confirmed for October. We continue to look for some long term placement students to drive forward a range of campaigns.

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