North Herts Council achieves White Ribbon Accreditation, committing to end violence against women

As a White Ribbon Accredited organisation, North Herts Council will deliver a comprehensive multi-year plan to transform our staff culture, systems, and the wider community we operate in. White Ribbon Accreditation is an opportunity to make our workplace a safe place for men and women, and to upskill our staff to become changemakers.

The Council will be marking White Ribbon Day on 25 November, with the launch of a number of activities to support this movement. We’ll be encouraging members of staff to sign up as Ambassadors or Champions to advocate positive behaviour, as well as raising awareness within our local community. Later on in the year, as part of a new Women and Girls Safety Charter, we’ll be working with licensed premises to raise awareness of violence against women and girls out in our community.

Cllr Val Bryant, North Herts Council’s Executive Member for Community, said: “I would like to thank SADA (Stevenage Against Domestic Abuse) who have worked in partnership with us to help us achieve this status, which is an important step to ending violence against women and girls.

“As a council, we have a duty to create safe spaces and build a culture of respect both within our teams and across the community. We’re committed to working with White Ribbon UK to ensure that our actions make a lasting impact.”

Anthea Sully, Chief Executive of White Ribbon UK said, “White Ribbon Accredited Organisations can make a real difference towards ending violence against women by promoting a culture of respect and equality among their staff and wider communities. By raising awareness among employees, people can learn how to become allies and call out violent and abusive behaviour when they see it.  We are delighted to welcome North Herts Council one of our White Ribbon Accredited organisations and are looking forward to working with them towards ending violence against women once and for all”.

Photo: Cllr Val Bryant, North Herts Council’s Executive Member for Communities and Partnerships (third from left) with council officers on the White Ribbon Steering group.