Earlier this year, we received 22 applications for our Rights Organization Capacity-Building Initiative, representing nearly every corner of the U.K. rights landscape. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce the cohort of organizations selected to participate in this groundbreaking program.
These six organizations were chosen not just for what they do, but for who they are. They reflect a deep diversity—of geography, size, focus areas, approaches, staff demographics, and structure. Some are small and scrappy, others more established; some are led by people with lived experience of the injustices they fight; others are youth-run, diaspora-rooted, or collectively governed.
Together, they represent a cross-section of the ecosystem working toward justice, liberation, and human dignity.
Meet the Cohort
Chayn: Chayn is a survivor-led nonprofit creating trauma-informed, multilingual digital resources for people facing gender-based violence—including domestic, sexual, and tech-facilitated abuse—with a focus on accessibility and intersectional design.
Counterpoints Arts: Counterpoints Arts supports and produces art by, with, and about migrants and refugees, using creative work to spark dialogue, inspire participation, and shape a more just and inclusive cultural landscape.
Food and Solidarity: Food and Solidarity is a democratic, member-led organization fighting food insecurity and housing injustice through direct action, collective care, and grassroots power—not charity.
FORWARD: FORWARD (Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development) is an African women-led organization working to end violence against African women and girls, from FGM and child marriage to domestic abuse, through a combination of community support, leadership development, and strategic advocacy.
MAC-UK: MAC-UK takes mental health out of clinics and into communities, co-creating therapeutic projects with young people most affected by inequality to shift systems and support collective wellbeing.
misery: misery is a radical mental health hub, sober rave, grief healing space and outdoor education program based in London—led by and for queer, trans, intersex, Black people and people of color.
Why These Orgs?
This cohort brings together abolitionist organizers, mental health advocates, LGBTQ+ campaigners, anti-racist educators, and more—all grounded in community and committed to transformation. While most are based in London, their work extends across the U.K., reaching a wide range of communities and issues.
We made a deliberate effort to build a cohort that mirrors the richness and complexity of the rights landscape today. That meant looking beyond polish or profile. It meant asking: Who is doing vital work, even with limited capacity and support? Who is innovating under pressure? Who can articulate a plan to embody learnings to support new ways of being, relating, and leading?
We intentionally selected a diverse group, reflecting a wide range of:
- Organizational sizes: from small grassroots collectives to established nonprofits.
- Focus areas: including migration, mental health, gender-based violence, housing justice, and arts advocacy.
- Structures and leadership: including teams that are youth-led, BIPOC-led, queer-led, and collectivist models.
- Geographic contexts: though London-based, many serve wider regional or national communities and bring grounded, lived insight into systemic challenges.
It’s a cohort that reflects the reality of today’s rights ecosystem—and a commitment to the kind of visionary, values-driven leadership we need to meet this moment.
What Comes Next
Over the next year, each organization will move through a layered, trauma-informed capacity-building journey. This begins with a foundational immersion in the Resilience Toolkit for staff, leadership, trustees, and core volunteers, followed by dedicated time to integrate new practices. From there, select representatives will continue into Certification and receive tailored mentorship to support implementation within their specific organizational context. Throughout, the process centers relational trust, somatic tools, and sustainable practice—building not just skills, but the conditions for long-term transformation.
We’ll be sharing learnings and reflections along the way. This is more than a training program. It’s an invitation to reimagine what’s possible when healing, justice, and sustainability are non-negotiable.
With deep gratitude to our funders, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and community supporters, thank you for making this work possible.
We get free together.
