KairosWWT Welcomes a New Chair
We were delighted to welcome a new Chair to our Board of Trustees at last night’s Annual General Meeting.
Dr Jane Osmond stepped down after 4 years of service as Chair. Jane has been involved with KairosWWT since 2010 when she joined our team of Street Outreach and Drop In Volunteers. Jane went on to join the Board in 2011 and brought her wealth of experience and passion in Research, Project Management, Gender Issues, Violence against Women and Girls and Social Policy. Jane has been a source of great strength, resilience and drive for KairosWWT and her tenure has seen much growth including two successful Big Lottery Grants, the expansion of the staff team (doubling in capacity), the first accredited quality mark for our organisation and significant work around brand identity and long-term strategy. Jane’s tenure has also seen the launch of new projects responding to the sexual exploitation of young women in Coventry and the growing numbers of women coming to the UK for the purpose of prostitution. We are delighted that Jane will continue to serve on the Board and that we will continue to benefit from her expertise and skills.
We now welcome our new Chair; Diane Phimister who has served on the Board since 2014. Diane brings with her a strong background in mental health nursing and is currently involved in researching issues related to mothers and domestic violence. She has a personal commitment to supporting, enabling and empowering women from all walks of life to achieve positive change, growth and freedom from living in compromised environments. We are looking forward to this next chapter in KairosWWT’s journey and working under the direction of Diane, with the support of the Board and staff team.
Annual Report
The focus of Project Manager Lucia Leon’s report was revisiting the foundations of the organisation. With stable funding in place over the last year, we were able to invest resources into reviewing both the HOW and the WHY of our work, motivated by our unfailing drive to understand and respond to the needs of our service-users in the best way that we can.
Our vision is a world free from the exploitation of women
Our purpose is to increase the life chances, choices and well-being of women caught up in prostitution, affected by, or at risk of sexual exploitation in Coventry
We strive for this because…
Not everyone in life started out with the same experiences.
The experiences of a child can dramatically influence their life chances and choices. Of women caught up in street-based prostitution in Coventry, 60% were sexually abused as a girl, 52% had experiences in care and half experienced violence perpetrated by a relative. These childhood experiences can have a lasting impact on self-belief, self-confidence and feelings of self-worth.
KairosWWT believes in the value and dignity of all women. We provide multiple and individual solutions to support those caught up in prostitution and those vulnerable to it. We do this by building long-term, women-centric relationships and will be there for as long as needed. Over the last 16 years, we have worked in Coventry with women caught up in on-street prostitution. Our approach focuses on:
1. Safety: minimising harm for those most at risk
2. Stability: addressing individual needs and barriers (such as housing, healthcare, substance misuse interventions)
3. Self-belief: supporting women to develop skills and confidence to make their own choices for the future
Our experience means we can also identify those young women most at risk of sexual exploitation and we then work with them to increase their understanding and build their self-belief as a route to resilience and a path away from sexual exploitation.
Building self-belief in a different future and breaking down the barriers that stand in the way isn’t easy. It’s complex. And it takes time.
That’s why we’re here..and that’s why we need your support.
Our Annual Report is now available and can be downloaded here.
There are many ways you can support our work including opportunities to volunteer and make a donation.