How we work

Started initially as a volunteer-run tech for good project, Chayn has now evolved into a hybrid organisation that operates collaboratively through the power of a team of paid staff and a committed volunteer network, many of whom are survivors ourselves. Most of our volunteers join because they experienced trauma first or second hand and they want to contribute to a feminist future free from violence and abuse.

• Lived experience is at the core of our governance model and strategy, and shapes the organisation.
• We believe in radical transparency, participatory design and community-driven decision-making. Our volunteers are invited to operational and strategy meetings – including board and budget meetings – and are encouraged to give input.
• We flip the design default, and put the experience of marginalised people at the heart of what we do, opening up access to our resources for all.
• We care that our work is proactively anti-racist, decolonising and equity-based.

Values

We’re a trauma-informed organisation that cares not just about what we’re doing and why. The same principles apply to how we organise and treat each other within and outside of Chayn.

• Feminist with an intersectional lens
• Survivor-centred
• Transparent
• Generous
  
• Inclusive
  

To read more about our values, visit this page.
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Our trauma-informed design principles approach can be found here. We’re also signed up to the Design Justice principles.