Naz Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West, forced marriage survivor and author of “Honoured: Survival, Strength and My Path to Politics”, will lead Savera UK’s annual “March to End HBA” and deliver a keynote speech at this year’s “Culture is Beautiful” festival on Saturday 29th August 2026.

A tireless campaigner against ‘honour’-based abuse and harmful practices, Naz was born in Bradford but sent to Pakistan by her mother at the age of twelve to escape the attentions of her mother’s abuser. There, she was forced into a marriage at the age of fifteen. When she was twenty, her mother was convicted of the murder of her abuser. Naz was instrumental in campaigning for and securing a reduction of her mother’s tariff and this year shared her story in her first book Honoured.

Naz will share her personal experience and her campaigning work at Savera UK’s ‘Culture is Beautiful’ festival 2026 at St Luke’s Bombed Out Church, after leading its annual “March to End HBA” from Williamson Square alongside founding partners of the event, Zonta UK and charity CEO and founder, Afrah Qassim.

 

Under the theme ‘Culture is Beautiful: No Excuse for Abuse’, the event seeks to raise awareness of the issue of HBA and harmful practices, how these forms of abuse are often wrongly conflated with culture or religion, and highlight these practices as human rights violations.

During the festival there will be performances from Katumba Drumming & Movement, The Dancing Queens, an award-winning intergenerational dance, wellbeing and carnival collective, artistically directed by Ithalia Johnson; renowned drummer and percussionist Felix Ngindu, the Community Music Group from RAWD a disability-led performing arts charity dedicated to creating creative opportunities for disabled artists; powerful dance performances from MD Productions, who use movement, music, and storytelling to spark conversations, celebrate identity, and promote unity, Luma Creation’s Inti Tusuy, a Latin American dance group led by Valeria Cazas and Liverpool Rainbow Chorus, an inclusive LGBTQIA+ community choir that has been bringing people together through music since 2008

The event will feature a free henna station and a craft tent, where people will be able learn how to write their names in Arabic, with the team from the Liverpool Arabic Centre, and try their hands at origami and carnival mask decorating, supported by Savera UK volunteers.

Visitors will be able to view artworks created by pupils from Barlows Primary School, Florence Melly Primary School, St Paul & St Timothy’s Catholic Infant School, St Margaret’s, and Faith Primary Academy, as part of Savera UK’s cultural education activity, Hands of Heritage.

The project encouraged pupils to explore the tradition of henna painting, learning about the stories, symbolism, and celebrations woven into this beautiful art form, before creating their own henna-inspired designs.

There will also be stalls featuring a fundraising raffle and prize draw to win a three-night stay at a five-star caravan at Thornley Leisure, a Savera UK information stand, local services and businesses, and Eat Up Gud serving up flavours of the Caribbean.

Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and Founder, said: “We are excited to be joined by Naz Shah MP for our march and festival this year. As a tireless campaigner to end HBA and harmful practices, an advocate for survivors and those at risk and as a survivor of forced marriage and ‘honour’-based abuse herself, her story and voice is incredibly powerful, and we are grateful for her time and support.

“Each year we hold this event to remind people that these forms of abuse are not a part of any culture or faith and can never be excused as such. It is also an opportunity to celebrate what culture really is, the traditions, music, dance and food that create our identity, give us a place to belong and – when shared – have the power to unite us.

“In a time of increasing division, it is important to remember that we are always stronger together, and together we can end these forms of abuse for good. We look forward to welcoming as many people as possible to celebrate the beauty and diversity of our communities and join our mission to end HBA and harmful practices.”

Festival sponsors for 2026 include Thornley Leisure, Merseyrail and Auteur Media and Festival Supporters are Morecrofts and MSB Solicitors. The event will be delivered in partnership with Zonta UK, part of Zonta International, who established the March to end HBA with Savera UK in 2022, and venue partner, St Luke’s Bombed Out Church.

To find out more about “Culture is Beautiful: March to End HBA & Culture at the Bombed Out Church” visit: https://www.saverauk.co.uk/culture-is-beautiful/

 

Savera UK, a leading charity established in Merseyside to help people affected by ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices, has revealed the acts set to perform at a vibrant free celebration of culture at Liverpool’s iconic Bombed Out Church on Saturday 29th August.

The festival will take place following the charity’s annual “March to End HBA” with Brazilian drums and spectacular choreography from Katumba Drumming & Movement bringing a melting pot of UK club music and the carnivals of Northeast Brazil to open the event.

There will also be vibrant performances from The Dancing Queens, the award-winning intergenerational dance, wellbeing and carnival collective of the Black Women’s Health Forum, renowned drummer and percussionist Felix Ngindu, and the Community Music Group from RAWD a disability-led performing arts charity dedicated to creating creative opportunities for disabled artists.

There will be powerful dance performances from MD Productions, who use movement, music, and storytelling to spark conversations, celebrate identity, and promote unity, and Luma Creation’s Inti Tusuy, a Latin American group led by Valeria Cazas performing folk dances from Bolivia, Mexico and Colombia.

They will also be joined by Liverpool Rainbow Chorus, an inclusive LGBTQIA+ community choir that has been bringing people together through music since 2008, performing a diverse repertoire of contemporary music. The stage will be hosted by Motormouf (Alex Young) and will also feature soon-to-be announced guest speakers and readings from the charity’s clients and team.

The event will also feature a free henna station and a craft tent, where children and adults will be able learn how to write their names in Arabic, with the team from the Liverpool Arabic Centre, and try their hands at origami and carnival mask decorating, supported by Savera UK volunteers.

There will be stalls featuring a fundraising raffle and prize draw to win a three-night stay at a five-star caravan at Thornley Leisure, a Savera UK information stand, local services and businesses, and food stalls including Eat Up Gud, serving up flavours of the Caribbean.

Festival sponsors include Thornley Leisure, Merseyrail and Auteur Media and Performance Supporters are Morecrofts and MSB Solicitors. The event will be delivered in partnership with Zonta UK, part of Zonta International, who established the March to end HBA with Savera UK in 2022, and venue partner, St Luke’s Bombed Out Church.

Under the theme ‘Culture is Beautiful: No Excuse for Abuse’ the events seek to raise awareness of the issue of HBA and harmful practices and how these forms of abuse can easily be missed due to lack of recognition and understanding.

It also aims to separate these forms of abuse from culture or certain communities, defining them instead as a collection of abuse characteristics and a violation of human rights that can affect anyone regardless of culture, background, gender, age, sexuality or disability.

Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and Founder, said: “Too often the issues that we work to end – HBA and harmful practices like forced marriage, FGM, conversion ‘therapy’ and spiritual abuse – are wrongly conflated with culture. Those who practice these forms abuse use faith and traditions to excuse them. This event seeks to break that connection.

“Our first March to End HBA took place in 2022 with 50 supporters marching from the Bombed Out Church to celebrate culture rather than allowing it to be an excuse for abuse. Last year, through creativity and community collaboration we were able to expand this message to a full festival to celebrate the true meaning of culture even more widely.

“Culture is beautiful. It is music, dance, food and traditions that create a sense of safety, identity, belonging, pride and community wherever we might be. It is never abuse. These are all things that make a place home. Us sharing them with Liverpool invites people into that home, uniting communities and strengthening pride and love for our city.”

David Thornley, Managing Director at festival sponsor Thornley Leisure said: “Supporting Savera UK is incredibly important to us as a family business. The work they do to protect and support individuals is life-changing, giving people the chance for a new beginning and a safer future. At Thornley Leisure Parks, we’re passionate about creating safe spaces where people can relax, feel secure and make lasting memories with their loved ones. Being able to support a charity that helps others rebuild their lives and look ahead with hope is something we’re very proud to be part of.”

Suzanne Grant, Chief Commercial Officer & Deputy MD of Merseyrail said: “Women and girls are disproportionately affected by ‘honour’-based abuse and harmful practices, so we are proud to support this festival and the important role it plays in raising awareness and empowering women. Its values closely align with our commitment to female safety and creating environments where women feel respected, supported and safe. We are delighted to stand alongside our partners and the wider community in supporting this important cause.”

Last year, more than 1,000 people attended the march and festival over the course of the day. With the event taking place over the bank holiday weekend, this year’s event is expected to be even bigger.

The “March to End HBA”, supported by Merseyside Police & Crime Commissioner, Emily Spurrell, will start at Williamson Square at 12noon, arriving at the Bombed Out Church at 1pm, with the festival starting shortly after. The festival site and stalls will be open from 12noon.

Stay tuned to social media @SaveraUK for festival announcements. If you would like to sponsor or support the event through volunteering, opportunities are still available, find out more at saverauk.co.uk/culture-is-beautiful/ or contact [email protected].

Band: Band 2 – Senior Admin / Officers
Salary: £28,500 FTE (pro rata)
Location: Liverpool office (with occasional travel as required)
Contract: Part-time (3 days per week, Wednesday–Friday, 9am–5pm. 12 month fixed-term contract, subject to continued funding)
Reporting to: CEO

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Join Savera UK

Are you passionate about human rights and committed to ending ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices? We are seeking a Senior Operations & Executive Support Officer to provide high-level executive, governance, financial and operational support to our CEO, Senior Management Team and Board of Trustees. This is a vital behind-the-scenes role, keeping our organisation running smoothly so we can continue to safeguard, advocate for and empower those at risk.

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The Role

• This role forms part of a shared senior operational support function, delivered by two part-time postholders to ensure consistent coverage across the week
• The postholder will provide high-level executive, governance, financial and operational support to the CEO, Senior Management Team and Board of Trustees
• The role is responsible for ensuring effective organisational administration, supporting compliance and governance requirements, and maintaining efficient day-to-day operations
• This is not an entry-level administrative role. It requires autonomy, discretion, strong organisational capability and the ability to manage sensitive and confidential information

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About You

We’re looking for someone with:

• Minimum three years’ experience in a senior administrative or operational support role
• Experience supporting Directors or senior leadership teams
• Experience coordinating Board or Committee processes
• Financial administration experience, including invoice processing and payroll liaison
• Strong information governance and record-keeping experience
• Ability to manage sensitive information with discretion

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What We Offer

• 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• Wellbeing support and external supervision
• Ongoing training and development opportunities
• Employer pension contribution (3%)

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Equality & Occupational Requirement

This post is open to anyone with the right experience and skills required to succeed. We welcome and encourage applications from women all backgrounds.

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How to Apply

Before applying, please read the job description carefully to understand the role and its requirements.

You will also need to download and complete the ‘Equal Opportunities Monitoring’ form. This must be uploaded as part of your application.

When you’re ready, click the button below to start your application. To be considered, you must complete all required sections of the application form and clearly demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the role requirements.

Start your application

This vacancy may close earlier than advertised if a high number of applications are received.

For an informal discussion, please contact Jenny at [email protected]

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Application Documents

1. Savera UK Job Description and Person Specification (click here)
2. Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form (click here)
   

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Deadline: Friday 24th July 2026

This vacancy may close earlier than advertised if a high number of applications are received.

Collaboration and knowledge sharing is a vital element of Savera UK’s work, not just on a local/regional level, but also on an international level.

On Friday 22nd May, 2026, representatives for the social service and education departments of Kristianstad Municipality, an administrative area in southern Sweden, met with the Savera UK team to exchange learnings on supporting survivors and those at risk of ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) and harmful practices, as part of a two-year project called “Break the violence in the name of honor”.

The project is co-financed by the European Union, and its goal is to enhance professionals’ competence regarding HBA. The 11 people from Kristianstad Municipality who participated in the study visit included individuals who work directly with persons that face violence in the name of ‘honour’, as well as strategists and leaders. The event was hosted by Savera UK’s research partners, the University of Liverpool.

Savera UK CEO and founder, Afrah Qassim delivered a presentations on the charity’s range of services and activities, including its frontline direct intervention work, community engagement, training and development for professionals and its research partnerships, before inviting Michelle Hulse, from Liverpool City Council to explain Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC), Merseyside’s HBA protocol and how they are utilised to safeguard survivors and those at risk of HBA and harmful practices in Merseyside.

The Swedish delegation then shared information on the study project, how Kristianstad Municipality works with HBA and delivered a short presentation of the legal framework regarding HBA in Sweden, before the floor was opened to questions, allowing for an afternoon of fruitful, intriguing and instructive conversation.

Paula Nauckhoff, Project Leader against honour-based violence and oppression, Work and Social Welfare Department said: “The objective of our study project is to improve our service towards survivors and people at risk of HBA, in terms of prevention, protection and long-term support. Through our visit we were keen to understand how Savera UK and its partners work with this issue and if there is some best practice that can be relevant for Kristianstad Municipality.

“We learned a lot from this lovely and meaningful event and we were impressed by Savera UK’s wide range of work, from their work with community, their creative work through art, their collaboration with researchers and local authorities, especially social service.

“We believe that future collaboration with Savera UK will be possible, especially considering the range of information and common grounds that we have identified and we look forward to working together in the future.”

Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and founder, added: “We would like to thank the team from Kristianstad Municipality for visiting us as part of their study project and for the important discussions and opportunity to share knowledge.

“Globally, there is still limited data around HBA and a lack of understanding of the issue, particularly amongst professionals. It is absolutely vital that the individuals and organisations who are working relentlessly to end HBA and harmful practices come together to share approaches, discuss challenges and find ways to work together collaboratively.

“By working together, with groups like our friends from Kristianstad Municipality, we can improve identification, responses and outcomes for survivors and people at risk around the world.”

Savera UK’s fourth research paper, in partnership with the University of Liverpool, has been published in the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling.

The research, ‘A Critical Exploration of the Divergence of ‘Honour’-Based Abuse Characteristics Across Geographical Origins’ (Ritchie, Rebecca, Almond, Louise, Qassim, Afrah, McManus, Michelle and Chantler, Khatidja. 2026) aimed to obtain base rate information on survivors’ geographical origin and determine if characteristics of ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA) are significantly associated with the geographical origin of survivors.

With limited research examining variations in HBA characteristics based on the demographics and geographical origin of survivors, the investigation seeks to fill this void.

The paper used data originally obtained from Savera UK for the 2022 descriptive study ‘HBA: A descriptive study of survivor, perpetrator, and abuse characteristics’ (Ridley et al 2022) and comprised 149 cases in which the geographical origin of the survivor was known, with 29 nationalities identified.

To investigate characteristics based on the geographical origin of survivors, their nationality was grouped into five categories based on their geographical continent: Middle Eastern (31.5%), South Asian (36.9%), African (22.1%), European (8.1%) and Other* (1.3%). 

The analysis found eight significant differences, including ‘language barrier’, which was considerably more prevalent in the Middle Eastern group than in the South Asian group, ‘Perpetrator is a family member’ which was more prevalent in the Middle Eastern and South Asian samples than in the African sample, and ‘threats to remove children’ being more prominent in Middle Eastern and African groups, compared to South Asian survivors.

The European group demonstrated the most distinctive prevalent characteristics compared to other categories, including ‘location risk’, ‘perpetrator history of violence’ and ‘court proceedings’, with the latter in particular suggesting that European survivors have a higher success rate when trying to access justice. Due to the limited sample size for this group, these findings should be viewed with caution but also serve as an argument for further research examining a larger sample size, as HBA in European communities is understudied at present.

Overall, the study demonstrates that not all HBA cases are the same and that characteristics and perpetrators can vary based on place of origin. This finding is important because better understanding of these differences can aid in the identification of future cases, particularly in those cases hidden within ‘traditional’ forms of domestic abuse, where police and frontline practitioners’ preconceived notions about HBA may prevent early intervention, putting survivors at risk.

The results of the study reveal an opportunity to develop a HBA specific risk assessment that would help public bodies and non-profits better identify abuse and support survivors, while professional training utilising this information may also aid better future identification of HBA and increase understanding of this nuanced and complex offence.

Rebecca Ritchie, University of Liverpool teacher and PhD student, said: “Research within this area is crucial given the heterogeneity of HBA cases. This can understandably complicate the identification of HBA. This current study helps to provide evidence for these differences, which not only serves as validation for survivors of HBA but also contributes towards an evidence base for organisations who assist survivors of this form of abuse.”

Professor Louise Almond, University of Liverpool, said: “Through our research partnership with Savera UK, we seek to produce robust evidence that informs policy, practice, and public understanding. This latest paper examines the similarities and differences between geographical origins, providing valuable insights to support the delivery of tailored interventions for survivors of honour-based abuse (HBA)”

Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and Founder, said: “We continue to build on our research with our partners at the University of Liverpool to fill the gaps in knowledge about HBA and harmful practices. Limited data and lack of research in this area is allowing people at risk to slip through the net and perpetrators to abuse with impunity. Greater understanding of the nuances of this type of abuse will increase identification and improve outcomes for survivors.”

Read the full paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jip.70018

*Due to its small sample size, the ‘other’ category was removed from analysis.