Getting on Board Conference Time Table

Getting on Board - Conference agenda draft

•          Creating organic workplaces for maximum productivity that benefit employers and employees
•          Presenting a compelling business case for more women operating at board level
•          Exploring through role play, challenging assumptions and demonstrating the benefit of gender balanced boards in western European and North American cultures
•          Appreciating  strengths and different  leadership operating styles
•          Developing the talent pipeline dramatically to bring women into leadership positions
•      Embedding strategies for conquering unconscious bias

Timing	Session and objectives	Lead
8.30-9.00	Registration and coffee
	Kazuri Minds Welcome and Housekeeping	Farah
	Introduction to the day – programme, the corporate gender landscape, purpose of the day	Catrina
	Mindfulness and expression for openness	Vajradaka
	Proposed legislation – what it means and implication for companies Written questions	Flo
	Coffee break
	Q and A Flo answers 2-3 most popular questions	Flo
	Felt sense Meditation	Vajradaka
	Discussion section: What barriers do you see or have you seen to women’s advancement	Paul
	Exercise on policy  review using part of diagnostic tool	Steve and Paul
	Change management – implications of making a change	Paul?
12.30-13.30	Lunch
	Professor Liz Kelly - keynote
	Group discussion - Confronting uncomfortable and difficult issues,
	Leadership behaviours	Catrina
	Motivation and values	Vajradaka
	Organisational and personal values charter	Steve /Paul
4.20-4.30	Plenary – individual take aways and actions, evaluation	Farah

Christian Candy development plan threatens death of essential homelessness and trauma services for vulnerable women in Camden

Kazuri Properties, a small social enterprise has operated from this building since June 2013. We operate an office, emergency and crisis services for women who have suffered domestic violence, are at risk of homelessness or fleeing terror. This is an essential community service.

We have developed a plan to build much needed refuge and transitional accommodation in a run down part of Camden with high levels of social exclusion and deprivation. This has the support of over 40 local third sector organisations and 400 people so far, have signed our petition to retain the building. Andy's Taverna on the ground floor is a much loved local restaurant. After it is refurbished, the owner has agreed to let us run a training kitchen, like Jamie's 15, until noon every day for women to learn catering and cooking skills.

We were in negotiations with the landlord for over a year and raised private and grant funds to purchase the building. We paid towards the development,  planning and implementation costs. The building was obtained illegally by Rev 1 LTD's directors  Evan Ivey and JP Tolaini after Stefan Bobolecki, Rob Sprunt (former director of development for LB Brent) & Stephen Gilbert FRICS who were working as consultants for Kazuri, took commercially sensitive information to JP Tolaini. They scuppered our deal and passed privileged material in breach of their professional duties to a rival commercial developer who cares nothing about the community and is cited in the local paper   "I believe I can build people beautiful, higher-quality living spaces with dashes of flair and panache that will be a joy to live in."  This would have been his first foray into property development, his background is in marketing. Mr Ivey plans to put in more yuppy flats (13) and an art gallery. Andy's restaurant is a much loved Camden institution.

Evan Ivey, JP Tolaini and Colin Sanders a director of a specialist lending company, Omni Capital which is funded by Christian Candy and JP Tolaini are being investigated by Holborn burglary squad for breaking and entering, theft, violations of the Landlord Tenant Act and the Protection from Eviction Act. Crime Reference number 2325478/14.

In March 2014, they broke into the property and changed the locks before they owned it, aided and abetted by Mayfair property consultant, Tony Lorenz.

When the locks were changed illegally, 2 very vulnerable women were living in the property and were further traumatised by their actions. One was 19, fleeing FGM and the other a 23 year old who had left a domestic violence situation. Her former partner had pushed her down the stairs. He knew she was pregnant so he kicked her in the stomach. She lost her baby. You can read their stories below.

This is what Christian Candy's money supports, developments which gazzump services to combat violence against women and girls. Please stop the Candys and developers like Evan Ivey, JP Tolaini and Omni Capital encroaching on Camden's vital and vibrant community life and services.

This matter is now before the Central London County Court where Deputy District Judge Dagnall expressed specific concerns about how the purchase was based on professional trust being broken.  

Help save this important community resource - sign our petition to ask Eric Pickles, Secretary of State to intervene here

Christian Candy - developer not known for his taste in design and famously involved in a row with HH Prince Charles and the Emir of Qatar over the Chelsea barracks development.

FGM/C is a practice that goes right to the heart of a girl’s ability to make decisions about her own life and her own body. It results in severe pain, difficulties urinating and menstruating, pain during sex, serious problems in childbirth, physical disability and psychological damage.

Mala’s Story , 19
I am a woman who was born and raised in east London.  When I reached 16, my mother told me I had to be cut, it is the tradition in our culture. I was very frightened and I  ran away  to my aunt but she was scared of the family so she returned me to my family. My father beat me that night until I bled and my eyes were shut  swollen from bruises. He threw me out of the house and said I had shamed the family. He locked the door and said I should not come home, I was dead to him. 

I ran away but the police did not know what to do. Finally, I was told about a charity that helps women with housing but I had no money and no way to pay for anything, but the people were very kind. They gave me one bedroom in a flat in Camden, to share with another woman. I am attending cooking classes and sewing classes and I do volunteering as a sales assistant in a local charity shop. When I came home one afternoon in March, the locks had been changed.  I was very frightened, I thought  I had done something bad and the charity had evicted me. I called the manager and she was very angry and surprised. I was crying in the streets, I had nowhere to go. 

My biggest fear is that I will be returned to my family and I will be cut. I have cousin sisters who have been cut. They get infections; it is painful to go to the toilet.  One of them had a baby and almost died because she lost too much blood in childbirth.

One of the workers of the charity came and got a key and she let us in, they promised us they did not change the locks and they did not know what was happening. My flatmate was also very scared and frightened; we did not want to go to the police or social services, they do not know what to do with women in our situation. They never believe us. 

One in four women will at some point in their life be beaten or abused by someone in their home. About 4,000 of them die each year, with 75% of them getting killed when they try to leave or after they’ve left the abuser.

Anise’s Story 23
I was pregnant the first time he hit me. I fell backwards down the stairs, He punched my face, he kicked my stomach with his work boots on.

I lost the baby. I was 21. Two years later I got pregnant again and he hit me again.  He told me I was too ugly to have his baby. This time I ran out of the house and neighbours called the police. When they came they said I had provoked him and we should not bring the police into our arguments.

I had nowhere to go, the local council didn’t have anywhere for me. A friend of my sister was doing some voluntary work for a social enterprise and she called the owner and asked if they had anywhere I could stay. It was three days before Xmas. The lady put me up in a flat in Camden, where I have lived for 10 months. It’s a cosy flat, not luxury,  and it has everything we need, sheets, towels, there was even food in the fridge and the bed had been made for me when I  stayed the first night. For the first few months I was scared to be by myself, than I got a flat mate and we could cook together and clean the flat together.

I was at a counselling session that afternoon, I walked home because it was a lovely sunny day. I got to the flat and my key wouldn’t turn in the lock. The restaurant owner came out and told me the keys had been changed by the new owner. I was angry and scared. I thought we had been locked out. When the lady came from  Kazuri, the restaurant owner gave her the new key but I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach again. It took a long time to feel safe and having the locks changed on our home was a mean thing to do. 

Help us beat the bullies - Camden doesn't need "flats with panache" or One Hyde Park monstrosities. You can support us by tweeting about it, sharing on Facebook and signing our petition to Eric Pickles. 

Carers or Captors?

Report to the Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry on asylum

By Flo Krause, Farah Damji and Nanki Chawla

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1      This submission examines asylum through a gendered lens, with a focus on housing as a human right. Through our interactions with the women tenants of G4S  we propose policy recommendations with regards to both housing and the contracts and subcontractors in charge of this.

2      We conclude that the current asylum system fails women as a particularly vulnerable group, and must be overhauled in its entirety in order for gender mainstreaming to take place. We assert that housing contracts should only be given to housing associations, rather than corporations, and suggest the Housing First model as an alternative to the current system. We urge an immediate review of the current contractors, in order to assess their capabilities in fulfilling their current mandate, and to ensure that the vulnerable are not being ignored. We also point out that accountability mechanisms and transparency processes are vital to ensuring a fairer, more inclusive new system. We call for trauma sensitivity training for the officials which interact with this group of vulnerable people.

 “The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

Maya Angelou 

This is an extract from a report to the Home Afairs Select Committee on asylum, that will be published  in parliament on June 4 2013 at an event hosted by Jeremy Corbyn MP. For further information please email info@kazuri.org.uk

Mindfulness in your creative life

We are very pleased to welcome Buddhist teacher and mindfulness practitioner, Vajradaka to the Women's Resilience Centre for a five week course on mindfulness in your creative life.

Week 1, Thursday the 4th of April 

Your inner life determines your outer life

Simple and easy to use mindfulness methods for finding what is important for you

Exploration of what effectively helps you achieve your direction and values

Coming into  a sense of  confidence in your strengths and being effective

Week 2, Thursday the 11th  of April

Have everything going in the same direction

Dealing with distraction and keeping a sense of direction

Entering into a sense of wholeheartedness and motivation

The relationship between discipline and spontaneity

Week 3, Thursday the 18th  of April 

Being engaged and fully present

Dealing creatively with obstacles to decisiveness

Keeping a sense of momentum 

Skills for breaking out of habit

Week 4, Thursday the 25th  of April

The fun/serious dichotomy

Having a big picture of what is in your best interests

Working from your strengths

Enjoying the process of personal development, even when it's hard

Week 5, Thursday the 2nd  of May 

Overcoming expectations and getting real

Understanding what being in a process means

The creative process of being receptive and keeping the initiative

Dealing the double-edged consequences of being successful

Although this course is for women it is led by a man. 

Vajradaka  is an ordained Buddhist who is acclaimed as  one of the most experienced practitioners and teachers of mindfulness and creativity globally. 

Because of his long experience of leading communities and teaching mindfulness  and our own personal perception and experiences  of him as a teacher who is safe and supports the vision of the women's resilience centre, we have invited him to help us seed the vision of our centre to lead this course.

 The Kazuri team.

Celebrating the Success of Women

The Financial Mail Women’s Forum (FMWF) is hosting an event, in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group and Halifax, on the 27^th November. This evening will see the winners of the Fresh Start Awards announced, these awards are for women with great business ideas, who hope to become entrepreneurs when they leave prison.

Best selling author, Martina Cole, who was head of the judging panel will be handing out the awards. Fiona Cannon of Lloyds banking Group will also be attending, it was her vision that led to Lloyds sponsoring these awards and her support is vital for the Financial Freedom newsletter.

Lisa Buckingham, chair of the FMWF, editor of the Financial Mail on Sunday and editor of Financial Freedom, when describing the event said “I have been truly impressed by the quality of the entries, the clear desire of our contestants to give something back to society and the sheer bravery of the women who have had the courage to allow their business ideas to be judged.”

In other news, the deadline for the Breaking the Mould Awards is fast approaching – 15^th November. These awards, run in partnership with the 30% Club, celebrate the achievements of companies who are creating a platform for talented females who will become the women leaders of tomorrow.

This Christmas event, is a ‘Black handbags’ do, so bring along a black handbag to donate to Dress for Success, a charity that helps disadvantage women enter the workplace, and in return you will get a raffle ticket to the prize draw on the night.

For more information, visit: www.fmwf.com