To celebrate White Ribbon Day, Kingston Council is delivering a day of workshops on preventing violence against women and girls on 30 November.

The sessions will include inspiring young people to change the culture, a workshop for parents, guardians and teachers, domestic abuse awareness and empowerment session, as well as Frontline Trauma Informed Practice. All workshops are to be held at Kingston University.

White Ribbon Day (25 November) is a widely recognised global movement organised by White Ribbon UK, the leading charity engaging with men and boys to end violence against women and girls (VAWG).  pledging its continuing support to the campaign to end male violence against women and girls (VAWG). 

Kingston Council celebrated White Ribbon Day by marking the beginning of the international 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign. This year's theme is #ChangeTheStory.  

The council's Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Cllr Sabeh Hamed said: "This White Ribbon Day we continue with our pledge to raise awareness, provide support and tackle violence against women and girls." 

Achieving White Ribbon accreditation on 8 November 2021, the council made a plan to appoint volunteer male ambassadors as advocates to end violence against women and raising awareness of the issue within the local community.  

 Cllr Hamed added: "Kingston is one of the safest boroughs in London, and the council is committed to working with partners and communities to make it even fairer and safer for everyone." 

Met police data from February 2022 and January 2023 rated Kingston as the sixth safest borough in London. 

Kingston Council states it has been working hard to raise awareness of actions everyone can take to challenge unacceptable behaviours through initiatives such as its active bystander training, which highlights the role everyone can play in calling out violent or unacceptable behaviour.  

Over 20 sessions have been delivered to organisations, community groups, professionals and residents in the past 8 months, training to almost 500 people. 

At the South West London Safer Streets conference earlier this year the borough launched its Women's Night Safety Charter to support women to feel safer when out in the borough in the evening.  

The conference also saw the launch of the #StepUpSWLondon campaign to encourage men and boys to take an active stand against unacceptable behaviour towards women and girls. The campaign included approaching businesses with five different ways to step up against violence against women and girls. 

 You can sign up for the White Ribbon Promise here.