Articles
A workshop in action
Taking community work from Exeter to Hebron
Last year alumna and PhD student, Charlotte Littlewood (Applied Security and Strategy, 2015), spent four months working with young people in Hebron, Palestine, delivering community workshops and training people to support victims of domestic violence.
After leaving Exeter, Charlotte worked in the public sector before founding her community interest company, Become the Voice. The organisation delivers training programmes around the UK to develop community cohesion and encourage equality.
In 2018 Charlotte partnered with local agencies in Palestine to take her work to new communities. During her visit, twenty-five young people were trained in how to deliver domestic violence awareness workshops and participants reported an increased understanding of women’s rights; a willingness to make a positive change in society; and an appreciation of learning new skills in presenting and communication.
Charlotte said: “The impact of our work so far in Hebron has shown just how critical awareness raising and training really is. The youth group reported feeling empowered and inspired to do more positive community work and the benefiting women's group reported the need to discuss such 'taboo' subjects, new knowledge of services available and the wish for us to return to do further training with them. Such positive work not only raises awareness of issues facing women and support available but also builds awareness and resilience to extremism in the region.”
Charlotte is now planning to revisit the region to run further workshops and engage with a larger group of people, prior to returning to Exeter in January.
Date: 12 July 2019