Abianda is a social enterprise that works with young women affected by gangs, and the professionals that work with them. We offer one-to-one, group work and employment opportunities to gang-affected young women. And for professionals we offer training and support so they can work more confidently and effectively with gang-affected young women. We set up Abianda to address the gap in services for gang-affected young women and to change the way services are delivered to them, so we can more effectively respond to their needs. We do this through our unique model of practice – we address the barriers that stop young women seeking help & work alongside them to design & deliver our services. Our guiding principles are: · That people affected by a problem are best placed to find the solutions · To value young women as experts on their own lives · To shift traditional power hierarchies in service delivery in order to enable young women’s participation in solution building, and support young women to have their voices heard in order that they can influence the design and delivery of services · A fundamental belief in young women’s innate resources, competence and resilience Founder Abi Billinghurst received a New Radicals award from Nesta and the Guardian in 2016.