Communities in Action

It doesn’t have any official responsibility, it doesn’t exist in any legal sense, and no one is officially ‘in charge’. Instead, GMHAN brings together people with lived experience, people working on the frontline, and public sector decision makers to share perspectives and create collective action. Some of those involved will share how, with little more than a website and a mailing list, the Network has moved Greater Manchester to become one of the most innovative and trailblazing places in the world on one of our most pressing social issues.

Asylum seekers and refugee women move to the UK to achieve a better life, yet they still experience different levels of inequalities in the UK. If women are not equal, it is all of society's responsibility. Based on her own experiences working with Doosti, a Salford based community organisation promoting community cohesion and social inclusion of refugees, Safieh will discuss the roots causing these inequalities, how they impact asylum seekers and refugee women, and how the communities and policy makers can provide solutions.

Drawing on the Local Matters research programme, Carl and Louisa will explore how poverty, power and place interact across low-income communities in Greater Manchester. They will critique current understandings of poverty and advance a progressive, locally based response, predicated on communities building and delivering research that matters to them and is grounded in social justice.