WHO WE ARE

Refugee Women’s Centre

is a grassroots, women for women organisation, committed to creating safe spaces for women and children.

We provide services on the ground as well as advocating for access to shelter and for other human rights to be met.We are a team of 3 salaried ground staff and up to 14 female volunteers in northern France with support from a small remote team.

We are a members only charity specialised in supporting displaced women on the border between France and England. We are a mobile service, operating from vehicles and moving to different locations to offer support. (We once had a day centre, for more information about RWC developments since we began, read more in the Her-Story section below.)

OUr funders & partners

Our annual reports

Who we support

We support women and families: this includes parents with their children; unaccompanied women; single parents; and families who have become separated during their journey. They come from many different countries and backgrounds and there are many reasons why they have left their home countries. One thing in common is that they are all seeking a suitable place to build a home and create a secure future.

It is estimated that up to 70% of people arriving to northern France already have unfinished or failed asylum claims in other EU member states, and this is reflected in the families we encounter. Many have experienced long and difficult journeys from their home countries and through the European asylum system. Amongst the displaced populations here, stories of physical and sexual violence, torture, and repeat victimisation at the hands of both states and members of the smuggling network are not uncommon.

The displaced women and families we support experience multiple barriers to education, justice, healthcare and other rights. People are living with either limited or no access to adequate shelter, and often rely on NGOs to provide the material means to survive. Many experience regular police evictions of their living sites, a result of a state policy of deterrence and invisibilisation. The continued presence of displaced women and families in northern France points to the ongoing need to seek safety, the women and families’ own resilience and the futility of this policy.

What we do

The Refugee Women’s Centre provides holistic support for displaced women and families living in informal outdoor settlements in Calais and Dunkirk and in accommodation centres in surrounding areas. Our support includes:

Creating safer spaces for women and families.
Coordinating material distributions of NFI, items such as clothing, hygiene products and bedding materials.
Facilitating psychosocial support activities such as arts and crafts or pampering sessions, informal language exchanges and movement-based activities.
Providing information about and ensuring access to other services that women might need such as medical care.
Advocating for women and families’ right to shelter and other fundamental rights to be met.

Access to Shelter

The options available to displaced people for shelter and accommodation in northern France are precarious and limited. Since no adequate housing is provided to displaced communities by state authorities (offering an alternative to informal camps), we advocate for access to shelter. While we continue to work on advocacy projects to better the living conditions and to increase the number of spaces in the state-provided accommodation, we also try to assist with immediate needs where possible. We do this by paying for hotel nights, creating and managing a network of citizen accommodation, orienting people into state accommodation if appropriate and continuing to support them there .