Affiliate Member Organisations of Shakti Community Council Inc.

• Shakti Asian Women's Centre Inc - Auckland

• Shakti Asian Women's Safehouse Inc. (2 Refuges) - Auckland

• Shakti Migrant Community Education Centre Inc. - Auckland

• Shakti Family Settlement & Social Services Inc- Auckland

• Shakti Education Training & Advisory Company (SETAC) *NZQA-Registered training & education provider (Auckland and nationwide)

• The New Zealand Sikh Women's Association Inc - Auckland

• Shakti Ethnic Women's Support Group-Central Region Inc. (formerly Disha Bay of Plenty Ethnic Women's Support Group Trust - Tauranga)

• Shakti Ethnic Women's Support Group - Christchurch -Multipurpose House and refuge

WELCOME to the first 2006 Newsletter of Shakti Community Council Inc. & Member Organisations. We have made several attempts in the past to produce a regular monthly Newsletter and we sincerely hope, with this edition, we will be able to maintain the continuity.

The Newsletter is the outcome of increasing interest in Shakti, its activities and services, not only from members of the ethnic community but also agencies, ministries and funders. Our aim is to provide regular updates of developments within Shakti and its various member organisations. We hope that the information provided will be useful to all our readers, clients and other well-wishers.

Event Highlights this month

Shakti Asian Women's Centre & Shakti Asian Women's Safehouse celebrated International Women's Day event on March 8. More than 50 members of the community and representatives from organizations including Child, Youth & Family, Problem Gambling and Tough Love attended the event. We decided to use the occasion to flag off a support group for Young Ethnic Women, many of whom had either undergone parental abuse or domestic violence within marriage. We had among us victims and former victims with their infants in tow. A core team for the group is being identified where young women between the ages of 17 to 25 will formulate their aims and objectives and the support they can provide to young women like themselves. Later that evening our colleagues including the National Coordinator participated at the meeting organized by the Trade Union (Service & Food Workers). The National Coordinator presented the plight of workers (low wages) in the non-profit sector and issue of exploitation of ethnic women in the restaurant industry.

Shakti Ethnic Women's Support Group has appointed a new Coordinator who is currently under training. The centre which also hosts emergency accommodation for victims of domestic violence has , this month, begun drop-in services for information and advocacy from a room in the Community House building.

The New Zealand Sikh Women's Association has appointed a Support Worker who will attend to casework for drop-in clients as well as outreach.

The National Coordinator and National Coordinator-Domestic Violence Intervention were invited by the Zonta Club International to make a presentation of Shakti and its activities at their meeting held at Whangaporoa, this month. Several questions were raised on the cultural factors around domestic violence in ethnic communities and the difficulties faced by victims without residential status.

Senior Sgt Dave Ryan, District Family Violence Manager of North Shore/Waitakere/Rodney districts visited the Shakti Asian Women's Centre to provide a clear orientation of the role of the police with regard to domestic violence/family violence cases. His visit was much appreciated by the social workers and refuge workers.

The project, `Women Against Violence' initiated by Farida Sultana has started work overseas. Farida and a colleague have visited Malaysia , Singapore and Bangladesh and are now in India . The aim of this trip is to interact with women's organisations, other agencies and ministries there and get a realistic assessment of the work being done in the domestic violence area at the ground level in these countries. They will be back in April and will present a detailed report, which will be put up on their website http://wav.org.nz.tripod.com

Our sincere thanks to Jane Wen who has developed and put up the Shakti website www.shakti.org.nz