Marsh Charitable Trust – Marsh Awards for Community Activism in Combatting Modern Slavery

Marsh Awards for Community Activism in Combatting Modern Slavery

The Awards celebrated groups and individuals who raise awareness of modern slavery through community and innovative events, and encouraging inter-organisational collaboration.

Until 2015, these Awards recognised a film which increased awareness of modern day slavery.

These Awards were run in partnership with anti-trafficking charity Unchosen.

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Jodie Green, Rosie Carter, Fiona Campbell, Dr Alison Gardener and Petya Nestorova 2017

Outstanding Individual – Jodie Green and Rosie Carter

Jodie and Rosie are members of the Kensington Modern Slavery and Exploitation Group and worked with Unchosen to run a very successful event in Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. As a result, 97% of the 70 people in the audience said that they would tell others about modern slavery, and 95% said they felt more confident to look out for signs of slavery in their area.

Rosie and Joie worked tirelessly to advertise the event to the council, Modern Slavery partnerships, local authorities and community groups to bring together a diverse audience. The panellists were from Kalayaan, the Human Trafficking Foundation, rahab, ECPAT and the Serious Organised Crime unit. Four Unchosen films were shown during the event and Unchosen gave a presentation about their work. Their work has contributed to a greater understanding of modern slavery in Kensington and the surrounding area.

Local Engagement – Fiona Campbell

Fiona Campbell works with the Border Force at Heathrow Airport. On Anti-Slavery Day in 2016, Unchosen collaborated with Fiona and her team at Terminal 4 to hand out Unchosen’s resources, including ‘spot the signs of modern slavery’ cards, to the general public as well as airport staff. They spoke to over 200 people throughout the day, handing out the cards and giving people a phone number to call if they thought they had spotted the signs of slavery in the UK. Fiona and her team were keen to work with Unchosen and very appreciative of the information that they provided them with.

Collaboration – Dr Alison Gardner and Petya Nestorova

Alison is a research fellow for Slavery-Free communities at the University of Nottingham and works hard to collaborate with different sectors of society to make Nottingham a slavery free city. Unchosen partnered with Nottingham University’s Research Priority Area in Rights and Justice and Antislavery Usable Past Project to work towards a slavery free Nottingham. Around 40 people, including local activists, social workers and faith leaders, attended a Nottingham Stands Against Slavery event to hear from the expert panel and discuss three of Unchosen’s films. The evening concluded with an introduction from Alison to the ‘Slavery-free Communities’ programme in Nottinghamshire and an invitation for the audience to explore in more detail how they could get involved. The event was extremely successful, and people grew in their knowledge of the topics discussed and watched Unchosen films to learn more.

Petya is Executive Secretary at the Council of Europe. The Secretariat worked with Unchosen to host an event on Anti-Slavery Day in 2016, to mark the 10^th European Anti-Trafficking Day. Unchosen films were shown, and CEO Melissa Blackburn gave a presentation to staff and workers at the Council of Europe, followed by an animated Q&A with the audience. The event was an example of cross-European collaboration and gave workers at the Council of Europe a fresh understanding of modern slavery.

Previous Winners

Robert Alexander, Emma Scott, Rebecca Avery

Outstanding Individual
Robert Alexander volunteers with Stop the Traffik in Devon and Cornwall and has helped to organise events in partnership with Unchosen throughout the UK. He has particularly enabled Unchosen to reach out to rural communities.

Local Engagement
Emma Scott is passionate about tackling modern slavery in her local town of Dorchester. Working with West Dorset District Council and Unchosen, she has organised two successful events which engaged the local community and led to an increase in the town’s awareness of the issue.

Collaboration
Rebecca Avery is an outreach worker with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in Cambridgeshire. She organised an event which brought together a number of organisations including Cambridgeshire police, the Salvation Army, Hope for Justice and the Red Cross, and her event received news coverage from the BBC and ITV.

David Kennedy, Tim Knappett, Matjaz Korosec and the Diocese of Middlesbrough Women’s Commission

Outstanding Individual – David Kennedy

David is a volunteer with Stop the Traffick in Peterborough where he has made a great impact in raising awareness of modern slavery in his local community. He worked with Unchosen to run a successful event for around 150 members of the public which features a panel of experts talking about human trafficking. The community of Peterborough is now more informed and have been empowered to make positive changes to combat modern slavery.

Local Engagement – Tim Knappett

Tim works at Envision where he develops platforms for young people to develop new skills and become active citizens. He helped them to orchestrate an event which raised awareness of modern slavery among a high number of young people. The event involved spoken word, film and music alongside a panel of high profile anti-slavery experts who provided information on the subject.

Local Engagement – Matjaz Korosec

Matjaz works with Hull based events company Mogo and collaborated with Unchosen to screen anti-trafficking films at the 2014 Hull Freedom Festival, successfully turning one of the company’s caravans into a cinema. This was an innovative project which helped to engage new audiences and raise awareness of modern slavery.

Collaboration – Diocese of Middlesbrough Women’s Commission

This group of women ran an anti-trafficking event which brought together a range of organisations involved in this area of work, including Hope for Justice, Barnardo’s, Victim Support, as well as local authorities. The event provided the opportunity for people from a variety of backgrounds and sectors to share their knowledge and learn about modern slavery.

Phoebe Ruguru, Tim Keeling, Jonathan Kemp, Aleksandra Czenczek and Johannes Richard Voelkel

Best Young Filmmaker – Phoebe Ruguru

Phoebe won the Award for her film ‘Help’ which sees a young man in his twenties speak about his traumatizing experience of forced labour, in a place far from home where he has nowhere to turn for help.

Best Filmmaker – Tim Keeling

Tim directed the film ‘Yoke Farm’ which follows Henry who runs a corner shop in a sleepy coastal English town. When his new egg supplier brings some nervous Eastern European men to do their weekly shop, Henry begins to wonder if the new supplier is as ethical as he seems.

Best Forced Labour Film (UK Consumer) – Jonathan Kemp

Jonathan won the Award for his film ‘Michael’, the story of a homeless man who was promised a better life working on a farm, but finds himself a prisoner there yearning for escape.

Best Forced Labour Film (UK Production) – Aleksandra Czenczek

Aleksandra was recognised for ‘My Friend Ivor’ which follows the story of Peter, a sixty-year-old man from a small Polish village who meets a man who promises him good work in England. He makes the journey with his friend Ivor, but they soon find out that their dreams have been shattered and they have been lured into forced labour.

Best Forced Labour Film (International) – Johannes Richard Voelkel

Johannes won this Award for ‘Tanatalum’, a film which follows a wealthy business woman who discovers the human cost of conflict minerals.

Matthew Howsam

Matthew is a Media Arts student at Royal Holloway University and was recognised for his film ‘Georgina’.

The film is based on the true story of Georgina, a West African girl who was trafficked to the UK and forced into domestic servitude. The film tracks Georgina through her everyday life as a victim of modern slavery, conveying her emotions and experiences. Matthew’s film will tour the country with the aim of raising awareness of child trafficking and forced labour in the UK.