Khulisa has significant experience delivering behaviour-change programmes to men in prison that support violence reduction, improved well-being, reduced reoffending and increased employability. In consultation and co-design with a range of sector partners to reflect the different needs and challenges women in prison face, we are delighted to launch our first female pilot at HMP Downview. Alongside our partner, Working Chance, we will support the development of women’s well-being, confidence and resilience to help them to realise their potential through employment. - Dominique Airey, Khulisa CEO
Building on our aim to scale and deepen the impact of our work, Khulisa join forces with Working Chance to launch our first ever pilot in a female estate at HMP Downview.
Since 2009, Khulisa has successfully delivered our Silence the Violence programme in 7 establishments within the male prison estate. Our programmes which are proven to reduce reoffending (participants in our silence the violence programme are 4 times less likely to reoffend) have a strong track record of supporting offenders to develop their capacity to engage with employment/training.
We welcome the opportunity to pilot our programme at HMP Downview. Our significant experience of delivering programmes across the male prison estate and our work with young people has taught us that our programmes are relevant regardless of gender.
We are cognizant of the evidence base which suggests that female offenders present much more complex needs. As such our pilot programme will be a hybrid version of our flagship Silence the Violence progamme and Shine, a programme methodology developed by Khulisa to focus on women’s experience of violence both as victim and perpetrator.
Our vision is to support female offenders to be ready to engage with employment, training and education that would otherwise allude them and prolong their inability to support themselves effectively in society. Working Chance will support us in broadening participation and will refer beneficiaries of our programme into their employment programme.
This programme is kindly supported by The Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund.
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