Professionals across South Yorkshire learnt more on modern day slavery in their area

01 Jun 2018

Late last year and early into 2018, Enable2 funded several workshops in Barnsley, Sheffield and Doncaster. The information sessions were delivered by international charity Hope for Justice, with attendees comprising of various professionals including health workers, police officers and council staff members. The purpose was to provide those who attended with a better understanding and awareness of slavery today; what is happening in their cities and what Hope for Justice does to tackle this problem whilst supporting victims. The outcome? For delegates to spot the signs of modern slavery and report these to the charity who can then support the victims.

All the sessions were run by Hope for Justice trainer Lauren Batty. She has delivered sessions to the police force, local authorities, charities and private sector organisations across the UK.

The attendees were provided with a handbook, multi-lingual flyers, posters and case study exercises. 

Feedback

The feedback was extremely positive, here are some quotes from the delegates:

A participant from Barnsley “I just wanted to say a huge thank you for providing Barnsley with such an excellent training event.  The session was full of exceptionally useful information and guidance.  The training delivery was first class and extremely thought provoking.  Hope for Justice provide a crucial service in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.”

Another attendee from Doncaster “We found the sessions provided by Hope for Justice incredibly informative and our staff are now more aware of modern slavery in the Doncaster area, with many already planning to use what they have learned to identify any signs in their local communities. Because of the success of these sessions, we are already looking to book another session for them later in the year with plans to open these up to a wider audience”.

Why did Enable2 look to fund this?

Enable2’s Social Return Manager Helen Hoyle commented on why funding this workshop was so crucial:

“Sadly, modern slavery is currently a huge problem in the UK. Victims are going unnoticed because of the lack of knowledge about this issue. At Enable2, our professional interpreters work with Hope for Justice and see many harrowing cases of human trafficking. We felt compelled to support the charity to ensure more professionals across the Region were able to access these workshops. Hope for Justice have already seen an increase in referrals since the South Yorkshire workshops. Enable2 look forward to continuing to support the charity in this vital work.”

Some who attended had little knowledge about this subject beforehand and so the workshops proved eye opening. Given that an article in the Guardian reported that the global estimate of people in slavery today is 40.3 million (a very modest figure they note) it is critical that the word is spread throughout the UK and people are educated on the impact of this to help find and support these victims.

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