Walking With Women

For over 25 years, our teams have protected women fleeing gender-base violence by providing pro bono legal representation, shelter, food, and medical accompaniment. We work on three continents, supporting women in gaining legal status in safe countries and rebuilding their lives.

Woman wearing white head covering and yellow shirt stands in doorway, looking forward.

We identify women fleeing forced marriage, domestic violence, sexual slavery in war, sex trafficking and other forms of gender-based harm.  We provide shelter, food, and protection. We build legal cases enabling survivors of violence to relocate to safe countries. Then, we provide two more years of support to help them rebuild their lives. We've helped hundreds of women and families move from danger to dignity.

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Walking With Women

From Fear to Freedom

Women define their journey. We accompany them.

Our program is based on the concept of accompaniment. We meet women where they are and walk with them until they are safe. The women lead the journey. They define their needs and goals. 

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Urgent Protection Needs

The first step in our relationship with a woman is to identify her most urgent needs. Often, her priorities are shelter, food and medical care. We provide this support.

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Pro Bono Legal Representation

The second step is to understand a woman's history. This may take time as we build trust and uncover trauma. The goal is to build a legal case enabling her to resettle in a safe country.

Woman in a headscarf holds a baby. Both look somber, outside with tents in the background.

Community

Women often escape violence and suffer more harm in flight.  They often face detention and exclusion. Our program is focused on protection and inclusion. We aim to create safe communities for all women everywhere.

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Accompaniment

The third step in our relationship is to learn what makes a woman smile. What are her hopes and dreams? We create settlement plans in safe countries based on these hopes and dreams. 

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Walking With Women

We meet women where they are most at-risk, and walk with them until they are safe.

We began representing women fleeing violence in 2000. We worked in North and Central America for a decade, later extending our reach to Europe and the Middle East. We built our mobile legal clinic in 2010. We built our end-to-end protection program in 2011. We established our programs in Jordan and Greece in 2015/16, our program with Canada in 2019, and our program in Mexico in 2024.

We accompany women for years, striving to earn trust, understand needs, and be of service. Our goal is to make a big impact in the world one woman at a time.

100%

Success rate in cases.

25 Years

Representing women

500+

Safe women and families

13

Countries where we've worked.

An Innovative Program with a Life-Changinge Impact

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Two women embrace near a body of water; one wears a hijab, the other a black jacket.
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FAQs

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Where do you work?

Our teams are currently based in Jordan, Greece, Canada, the UK and US.  We work with partners in Mexico, Egypt, Lebanon, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti. 

How do you identify women at risk?

We team up with women's NGOs in the countries where we work. Those organizations refer women at risk to our program. Our teams do intake interviews to identify the women at highest risk of harm, and we accept those women into our program. We also accept referrals from Doctors without Borders, the Center for Victims of Torture, the UN Refugee Agency, and government agencies.

What are the legal pathways for protection?

Traditional pathways to protection include humanitarian visas, UN resettlement, private sponsorship, and family reunification. We have also developed a unique partnership with the government of Canada, which is specifically for resettlement of women at risk.

How much does it cost to help a woman?

We provide protection from the point of flight to point of self-reliance in a safe country. Our support continues for two years after a woman arrives in her new homeland. We provide this level of support because the women we walk with have suffered multiple traumas, are at high risk of repeat violence, have often conceived children through violence, and they need support to heal and rebuild their lives. The cost to support a woman and her family averages $35,000 USD per year.

Our Global Team

Our core values are kindness, humility, and service. We have team members on 3 continents. We speak 13 languages. We are artists, writers, advocates, doctors, lawyers, anthropologists, educators, creators, innovators and leaders.

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Jayne E. Fleming

Global Director

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Allan Rock

Global Strategy

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Polly Rossdale

Global Program Design

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Dr. Mary Fabri

Global Mental Health

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Kolbassia Haoussou

Global Survivor Engagement

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Dr. Daryn Reicherter

Global Medical

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Omar Al Jarah

Global Security

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Louise Truc

Europe Housing Coordinator

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Erica Pressiani

Europe Strategy

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Clemence Malleret

Europe Creativity Director

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Alexandra Apostolou

Greece Field Coordinator

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Isabel Brum

North America Event Planner

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Duane Sigelko

North America Legal

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Hanna Gros

Canada Legal

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Dimitris Athanasapoulos

Greece Legal

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Sura Smadi

Jordan Legal

Patricia Fleming

Poet, Humanitarian, Survivor

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Patricia Fleming was born into poverty. Although she was valedictorian of her high school class, her family couldn't afford to send her to college. She became a Navy wife and started a family. Her husband died in a plane crash returning from Vietnam at age 35. She began working as a nurse to feed her 5 children.


Patricia was also a poet, humanitarian, and advocate for social justice. Although of limited means, she supported dozens of projects around the world, from fish farming in Malawi to women's programs in Guatemala.


A month before she died of breast cancer, she asked her daughter Jayne to give all her dresses to women in Haiti. This mission, which took place two weeks after her death, was the beginning of the Patricia Fleming Foundation. Since then, the organization has served hundreds of women around the world.

Women in Our Program



Healing, Dreaming, Building

Woman in blue shirt looks over shoulder at sunset in field.

Today, my heart is as big as the sea and my dreams as big as the sky. I feel that my soul is free to go wherever it wants. I feel like I have been released from the cage of my childhood. 


Fatemeh

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The program changed my life in so many ways. It took away the thought of suicide and gave me a reason to start all over again. The team made me feel human, took me and my family from a dark cold winter night to a shelter, and made me realise that no matter the situation I am going through, I shouldn't give up because there is a bright future ahead.

Milona

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You are the ones who lit up my life again, despite my sadness and torment in the world. You are the ones who made me strong.


Kefaya

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The Patricia Fleming Foundation is a registered charity and donations are tax deductible.

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