Maa Shanti supports South Asian mothers affected by domestic abuse, including forced marriage, human trafficking and coercive control. We visited to learn more about their vital work.
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Maa Shanti was originally set up in 1998 by a group of women in Islington who saw the need for culturally informed support for South Asian women who had nowhere else to turn.
“Many women we work with have often already experienced extreme isolation and, when they leave an abusive relationship, they also experience stigmatisation from family and friends,” says Catherine Skinner, Director of Maa Shanti. “We provide women with advice and support on multiple issues, including understanding their rights, accessing relevant benefits, getting into employment, budgeting and safety planning. We also provide emotional support and social activities and events online and in-person. ‘Maa’ is a universal word for mother and ‘shanti’ means peace. This is how we want women to feel when they visit us – and they say that they do.”
“We’ve had a fantastic experience working with the Lloyds Bank Foundation and we have been so grateful for their support over the last four years. Outcomes of the funding and organisational development support have included improving our approach to social enterprise by enhancing our training package, consultancy support for our financial strategy, creating communications plans, refocusing fundraising priorities, HR policy support, access to support from a network of other charities, health and wellbeing training, and ongoing visits and support from the Foundation’s staff."
“The fact that the funding we receive is unrestricted is so important because it provides us with flexibility to allocate funds where we need them the most, but it also sends a strong message to the sector that non-profit organisations can be trusted to make decisions on what they do themselves. We, as small charities, are experts in our respective fields and Lloyds Bank Foundation genuinely respects that.”
