Shakti has launched a crowdfunding campaign for 16 days of activism against gender violence for the immediate survival of Shakti Wellington Refuge and Shakti Youth’s work to end forced and underage marriages.

The crowdfunding campaign will feature the release of 16 portraits of 16 activists working to end gender violence in Asian, Middle Eastern and African communities in Aotearoa across the country.

After over 5 years of advocacy and negotiations with the relevant department in the Ministry of Social Development, Shakti Wellington has once again been denied allocated contracted funding.

“We were very hopeful when the government announced the increase in funding for the family violence sector. While this new government has been more sympathetic, this has not translated into contracted funding for Shakti Wellington Refuge. We have not been given an explanation for MSD's decision” says Mengzhu Fu, Shakti spokesperson.

“This decision as a continuation of institutional racism against migrant women. It has been a humiliating and frustrating process to beg for funding year after year only to be denied the essential funding over and over again,” Fu continues.

“We now have no choice but to turn to the community for emergency financial support. The holiday period is the busiest time of year for crisis calls and we need community support to help to get us through this period,” says Fu.

The petition to Save Shakti Wellington Refuge will be delivered to parliament on the 6th of December. Shakti aims to reach 5,000 signatures before the delivery of the petition.

16 days of activism against gender violence is a global campaign to highlight the ongoing problem of violence against women and girls. It began on the 25th of November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and end on December 10th, International Human Rights Day.

The 16 portraits for 16 days of activism will be released across Shakti’s social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The original portraits and other donations of artworks will be available at the Art Exhibition/ Auction fundraiser “Empowered women empower women” happening on the 5th of December at Studio One Toi Tū in Auckland.

The Stand With Shakti Survivors crowdfunding campaign is found here: https://chuffed.org/project/stand-with-shakti-survivors

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