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Sharpen Her: the African Women's Network
- Membership number 5719
- Charity registered in Scotland SC050897
Sharpen Her was born on International Women’s Day in 2019 to bring together African women living in the UK to support each other, network, connect, socialise, motivate, and build each other’s capacity. The concept of sharpening is derived from the saying ‘iron sharpens iron’. It is therefore our mission to encourage women to ‘sharpen’ each other. Our initial modus operandi was to bring women together to listen to a motivational story from a fellow woman and how they defeated challenges to get to where they are. In this vein we commemorate key events such as International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day to raise the profiles of women. Other events have themes such as A Mother and More, No Woman Left Behind, and The Strength of a Woman. We exist to foster cohesion, collaboration, and networking amongst African women. We also work to support integration and capacity building for our members into Scottish society. Our goal is to support African Women to be active citizens in the community they now call home. As women migrants they often face challenges based on various factors such as their race, ethnicity, educational status, disability, religion, sexuality, immigration status which compounds the inequalities that they may already be experiencing based on their gender. In addition, the women also face inner challenges such as low self-esteem and confidence, poor mental health, and physical health too. At Sharpen Her, we work towards mitigating as many of the consequences of these challenges within our capacity as much as we can. We share information, signpost, collaborate with other organisations, offer emotional and practical support, connect women at a social level utilising the skills assets, knowledge, and experience within our group to support each other. We deliver workshops, social outings for women and families, deliver training, participate in confidence building work and take part in consultations that ensure our voices are heard in decision making spaces. So far, we have contributed to the Scottish Government's Women's Health Plan, Mental Health Law Review, Online Harm Strategy, Covid Hesitancy Research, engaged in sensitisation for the Scottish Census, NHS Digital Healthcare "Telecare" consultation. This ensures that we get our voices heard and thereby we can influence policy and decisions that affect us.
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