The Clewer Initiative deepens its partnership with Mothers’ Union

Mothers’ Union (MU) and The Clewer Initiative have joined forces to create a new national programme that will train a cohort of anti-slavery ambassadors, equipping them to inspire and mobilise the 35,000+ members of the Mothers’ Union in Britain and Ireland.

Mothers’ Union has four national programmes of activity, each one focusing on social injustice. Working within their communities, members reach out and support people in need. Modern Slavery is one of these programmes, along with domestic abuse, prisons work and respite holidays and activities for vulnerable families.

Through their new partnership and certification programme, The Clewer Initiative and Mothers’ Union hope to train dozens of volunteer ambassadors who will then deliver modern slavery awareness training to Mothers’ Union members with the aim of inspiring and mobilising the entire network to prevention and intervention grassroots activity.

The organisations hope the campaign will follow the success of Mothers’ Union domestic violence campaign, 'RISE UP' which focused on raising awareness about domestic abuse across Britain and Ireland. Since 2024, MU has issued 235 awards recognising local activities connected to the campaign.

Over the next few months, The Clewer Initiative and Mothers’ Union will work closely to develop the certification programme and bespoke resources. This will include:
• Posters and resources for parishioners and MU members to use.
• Awareness training available on MU's e-learning platform.
• Input for key ambassadors to help deliver training and engage action in their local contexts and multiply impact.

Lois Bosatta, Director of The Clewer Initiative, comments: "We are thrilled to announce this next phase in our ongoing partnership with the Mothers’ Union. This strategic project will together enable us to mobilise an army of Christian women who care about the exploitation of vulnerable people and protecting those at risk. We believe this cascade model of training up volunteer ambassadors through a formal certification programme and then empowering them to pass their knowledge on to others will be extremely effective in spreading awareness across Britain and Ireland. We are excited about the rollout of the programme and working closely with the Mothers’ Union to develop bespoke resources."

Steph Nunn, Director of Membership at Mothers’ Union adds: "This partnership is based on our shared Christian hope that drives us to show love to people on the edges of society. As an active grassroots membership movement, we work from within our local communities to support people that need us. Acting against modern slavery is relevant to all – modern slavery exists in every community and can affect men and women of all ages and backgrounds. We pray that through this national programme of activity more Mothers’ Union members will become aware of this unreported, unseen, and devastating crime, and equipped to respond more impactfully."