Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women'S Group CIC

During the financial year, the principal activities of Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women's Group CIC comprised the provision of community-embedded support, systemic policy advocacy, and early intervention services for ethnic minority women and their families across Aberdeen. Operating as a volunteer-led community interest company, the organisation focused on the following core areas of activity: 1. Community Interest & Support Infrastructure: Establishing a trusted, active regional network of over 90 registered members representing more than 30 nationalities to combat socio-economic and geographic isolation in urban priority areas. 2. Civic Leadership & Landmark Women's Conferences: Establishing a historic civic precedent by coordinating three formal, landmark women's conferences held directly within the Aberdeen City Council Chambers. Designed and delivered entirely by ethnic minority women for ethnic minority women, these first-of-its-kind events placed minority women and youth ambassadors into leadership roles within statutory civic spaces, establishing a transformative consultative bridge directly to local governance, regional councillors, and Members of Parliament. 3. Environmental Advocacy & Just Transition Consultations: Organising dedicated community-led consultations and curating specialised eco-feminist walks and climate-focused workshops to ensure that ethnic minority women's perspectives, priorities, and unique socio-economic vulnerabilities were formally represented within regional Just Transition frameworks. This activity directly bridged the gap between national climate strategy and localised social inclusion. 4. Strategic Legislative Policy Briefings: Utilising the momentum and digital reach of the conference platforms to directly brief local and Scottish Government representatives on vital, overlooked gaps in domestic abuse and family policies. This provided a secure, structured platform for members to present lived-experience testimonies to politicians and policy experts, highlighting how cross-border and international Child Maintenance Service (CMS) collections are weaponised by perpetrators, and how forced post-separation contact arrangements cause severe mental health deterioration for vulnerable families. 5. Crisis Intervention & Safeguarding Advocacy: Delivering targeted, culturally sensitive domestic abuse awareness modules across faith-based and community settings, alongside providing practical, peer-led court accompaniment, Scots law cross-sector expert engagement, and institutional referral pathways. 6. Maternity Equity & Health Support: Providing language-accessible, structured postpartum and pregnancy peer support to isolated minority mothers navigating regional health systems, alongside advising healthcare governance frameworks. 7. Educational & Civic Rights Advocacy: Conducting direct advocacy with local authorities and Members of Parliament to secure statutory school placements for minor children facing prolonged administrative delays, and campaigning for equitable access to local educational and workplace training resources. 8. Social Enterprise & Circular Economy Incubation: Developing the "Sunflower Model" cooperative business framework to support micro-business incubation, traditional craft skills preservation, and financial independence paths for marginalised women. There have been no significant changes in the nature of these principal activities during the period under review.