A RAPE crisis centre in Ayrshire is set to launch a '16 Days of Activism' campaign against gender-based violence.

The STAR Centre is working alongside the East Ayrshire Violence Against Women Partnership to educate and raise awareness about gender-based violence.

16 Days of Activism, also known as 16 Days of Action, is an international campaign that starts on November 25 and ends on December 10, during which the centre will hold various events.

The initiative hopes to educate people about what gender-based violence is, how to tackle it, and how to prevent it.

16 Days of Activism begins on November 25 (Image: Star Centre Ayrshire) Emma Hackney, sexual violence prevention worker, said: "16 Days of Activism is all about actively doing things, hence the name, that directly tackle gender based violence. 

"It’s very easy to say gender based violence is bad and that we should stop it, but it takes a lot more work to turn round and say how are we going to stop it, how are we going to tackle it, is it through different approaches, funding, preventative education?

"I really like seeing people from all over Ayrshire take a stand over the 16 days and commit to actively doing things to change the culture."

The centre is running the campaign with the aim of getting people to speak out about sexual violence, and acknowledge that it happens in Ayrshire.

It also wants to bring hope and belief to survivors, by showing there are organisations that are fighting it, and places you can go to if you experience abuse.

Last year they launched their 'Survivors Can't Wait' campaign, which fought for more long-term funding for rape crisis centres and led to them receiving an extension being given to the money they had.

The campaign aims to get people to speak out about sexual violence (Image: Star Centre Ayrshire) This time they will be looking back on the previous #SurvivorsCantWait campaign, and stressing the need for long term and reliable funding to keep the service running effectively.

Emma added: “There's loads of different ways to do activism, it doesn’t even need to be political activism, it could be calling out your friend that’s made a bit of a dodgy joke or making a report if you see something happen that doesn’t look right, that’s still sexual violence prevention, we all have a role to play.

“I want people to be able to feel empowered to do whatever they can whether it’s a fundraiser for an organisation or talking about gender based violence, or challenging sexism. 

"I want people to know there are things they can do to stop it."

The events will start on November 26 with a talk by the Improvement Service about the Safe & Together model in Scotland and the impact of domestic-abuse-informed systems, services, and workforces.

Other events include a talk on November 28 by CSE Aware about women with learning disabilities involved in selling or exchanging sex in Scotland, and a talk on December 2 by East Ayrshire Women’s Aid about technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

The STAR Centre will also host a talk on December 4 about 'the manosphere,' which is misogyny on the internet and those who participate in it.

The group ran the campaign last year, and have taken part in other initiatives such as 'Reclaim the Night' marches, and International Women's Day.

To learn more about the campaign and the work the centre does, go to https://www.starcentreayrshire.org/.