Winners of the Guardian Charity Awards 2010
Al-Hasaniya
The Al Hasaniya Centre for Moroccan Women seeks to serve the health, welfare, educational and cultural needs of Arabic-speaking women and their families.
Last year Al Hasaniya celebrated 25 years of service. This year the founder of the organisation Ms. Souad Talsi has been named in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
The centre was founded to help Moroccan women and their families access services. One of few small charities to have survived from the days of its inception, it has grown to serve all Arabic-speaking women and is today the first port of call for Arabic women in need of help.
Al Hasaniya seeks to improve the well being of its users by tackling the root causes of disadvantage experienced by its communities. Ultimately Al Hasaniya strives to enable its users to participate fully in their communities, preventing current problems from perpetuating themselves in future generations.
Bag Books
Established in 1993, Bag Books is a national charity producing multi-sensory stories for people with severe and profound and multiple learning disabilities. Bag Books are not like ordinary books – they are specially created tales which can be emotionally understood through voice and action, not words and pictures. Each page of the book comprises a different sensory element to engage the senses – sight, sound, touch, smell and motion. There are 39 titles aimed at children, teenagers and adults.
In addition, Bag Books provides multi-sensory storytelling sessions at schools and libraries across the UK and trains people – teachers, librarians, parents and carers – in multi-sensory storytelling technique. The prize money from the Guardian Charity Award will enable Bag Books to introduce a programme of multi-sensory storytelling at adult residential homes and day centres. Bag Books believes that everyone with learning disabilities deserves the right to access the wonderful world of storytelling and to reach his or her potential.
Kalayaan
Kalayaan is a registered charity established in 1987 to provide support, legal advice and advocacy services to migrant domestic workers. Migrant domestic workers are typically housekeepers and nannies that accompany their employers to the UK. Due to the isolated nature of their work, they are vulnerable to exploitative and abusive practices, including physical, psychological and sexual abuse, non payment of wages and no time off. Some are victims of trafficking for domestic servitude. Services at Kalayaan include individual advice on immigration and employment rights, emergency accommodation for workers who have escaped abusive employers, English classes and further training. In addition to offering immediate support, Kalayaan works to eliminate root causes of exploitation. It has successfully campaigned for migrant domestic workers' right to be protected by employment law and to be allowed to change employer, and it continues to work to improve the policy and legislative environment around them.
One25
One25 reaches out to vulnerable women trapped in street sex-work, supporting them to break free and build new lives away from violence, poverty and addiction.
Of the women we see on the streets, 66% are homeless, 99% are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol and all are chronically ill. Last year, they suffered 173 violent attacks and in the last 7 years, 13 young women have died.
One25 gives them the intensive support needed to step away from the streets through 4 services: outreach, drop-in, casework and our mother and baby home, Naomi House. 'Beth', wrote: "If it wasn't for One25 I wouldn't be where I am today – cleaned up, looking after my family, even going back into education…Without your support I definitely wouldn't be alive. You gave me hope when no one else cared about me"
Last year One25 supported 25 women like Beth to escape the streets for good.
My Life My Choice
My Life My Choice is a charity run by and for people with learning disabilities based in Oxfordshire. We have moved from strength to strength since our inception in 1999. We have over 400 members, and attract over 200 people to our Stingray nightclub, we work in the community at our aptly named, 'My Café.' We employ people to inspect Social and Healthcare Services from Gateshead to Brighton, in partnership with the Care Quality Commission. We have trained 20 Champions to speak up about the inequalities that we face in healthcare, work, education, and even having the right to a relationship. We have a creative, vibrant and skilled training team called 'Power Up,' who have powered up hundreds of people. We have travel buddies who mentor their peers to travel independently. To cut a long story short, we get things done!