A partnership of Manchester charities has appointed Safia Griffin as Women’s Influencer Worker to amplify the voices of women who have experienced challenges including homelessness, addiction and mental illness and ensure they have a say on services. 
Safia has been appointed into the newly created role to work with funders and partners to create spaces for women’s voices and experiences to influence change in areas that matter to them.
She will be based at MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health), a charity which supports female sex workers but will be working with all women experiencing multiple disadvantage.
Safia takes up the role following two years at Healthwatch Salford as an Engagement Officer where she managed a series of projects and patient engagement activities to ensure the seldom heard and marginalised voices were heard on both a system and service level. She also worked with commissioners and providers and their service users to improve service pathways and standards.
She will bring her previous experience to the role of Women’s Influence Worker to equip women to undertake peer research and support them in influencing policy and service development in Manchester.
Safia Griffin, said; “I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring women together, meet new people and help to create a platform to influence positive changes for women in our city who are facing real challenges.
“I strongly believe that we can make change by working collaboratively with other partners and groups and I’ve already been fortunate to meet many of them and hear about their great work to date in my first few weeks.”
Safia will also be using a proportion of her time to lead on service user involvement at MASH, ensuring female sex workers have the opportunity to help shape the charity and its services to meet their needs.
Cate Allison, chief executive at MASH, said; “Women experiencing multiple disadvantage are rarely able to get their voices heard or influence the services they use or need. I’m so pleased that we’ve had the opportunity to create this new role and have no doubt that Safia’s experience, energy and enthusiasm will enable us all to build new relationships, change attitudes and make positive changes.”
The role is jointly funded by MASH, Inspiring Change Manchester and the Our Manchester Investment Fund.
For further information, visit: www.mash.org.uk. Safia is happy to be contacted by women and organisations keen to work with her, email: [email protected]