COMMUNITY LEADERS EVENT

Lutfur Rahman, the Executive  Mayor of Tower Hamlets joined Independent Columnist Yasmin Alibhai Brown to address participants at a special Leadership dinner for participants of a bespoke Community Leadership Programme. The Community Leadership Programme was proposed as part of a package of Accelerated Delivery projects that were approved by the Council in 2009. In his speech the Mayor said: “Effective community leadership is the cornerstone for representing and empowering local people and is provided in many ways, both formally and informally and at different local levels.

“The ‘Community Leadership Programme’ will enable 30 people living or working in this Borough to improve leadership skills and support the individuals to fulfill their potential through a bespoke, structured and consorted action plan and place them firmly within the community with enhanced leadership quality. I am committed to ensuring the running of this programme next year.” Professor Werner Menski, Programme Co-Convenor said: “Nurturing and cultivating the foundations of community leadership, especially in environments facing the challenges of diversity, is vital if we are to appropriately address urgent social issues surrounding identity, citizenship, belonging, and human rights.”

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a leading commentator on race, multiculturalism and human rights, writing for the Independent and Guardian, appearing regularly on TV and Radio. Her family history is one of constant displacement and repeated relocation, in which the feeling of being settled has come not from putting down roots, but from taking up a pot and creating a feast that tastes and smells like home.

The columnist talked about her new publication; The Settler’s Cookbook, A Memoir of Love, Migration and Food, which follows her complicated family story and brings it to life describing the food they cooked. Sultana Khanom, a participant on the programme said: “For me the community leadership course has given both a theoretical and reflective platform to learn, debate and understand internal and external factors that continue to impact us on a micro and community level and thus view leadership with a broader diversity lens.

“On an individual level, most of us are trying to find that work-life balance and this course has been well designed to facilitate the individual needs of the students so that we can benefit from such academic programmes. “The network event with the Mayor of Tower Hamlets and professionals such as Yasmin Ali-Brown was one of many opportunities for us to share our learning and discuss our future investment within the borough.

“At the event I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Shah Prakash, who has published extensively on legal issues affecting diaspora communities especially in relation to immigration; he listened attentively as I shared my own experience of working with new communities and my opinions and ideas on various topical subjects, which have developed throughout the course. And it was one of those rare occasions where I felt free to share my thoughts and felt inspired by his silent modesty.” Shahanara Begum said: “The Community leadership course is designed in a way in order to be accessible to those who are working, those unable to fund training for themselves or have caring responsibilities; this ensures talent across the spectrum of the community is tapped into.

The dinner was an important way of recognising the contributions the Community Leadeship course participants have made and will continue to make using the transferable learning we have made on this programme.

I found the evening very motivational, enjoyable and educational.” Luthfa Begum said: “In my honest opinion, I feel this course is absolutely fantastic in giving opportunities to community leaders to equip themselves with the tools to be successful as Community Leaders.” Sabina, who is Luthfa’s fellow participant was also very complimentary about the programme, adding: “With years of working in Tower Hamlets and striving alongside others to make difference – finally we have a programme that recognises and celebrates the work contributed to the community by activists hidden behind the scenes. “Not only has this programme been insiprational, but extremely motivational.

Through seminars, network dinners, and assigned tasks, the programme has created a platform of lucrative thought, intelligent discourse, and the broadening of horizons.” The Community Leadership Programme, a project being delivered by the Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in coordination with the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations (CEMVO), and is being funded by Tower Hamlet’s Council to develop and refine leadership skills in relation to a cohort of individuals who are, or wish to be, community leaders.

The delivery agency will develop, refine and cultivate leadership skills to be delivered through a structured programme conducted by SOAS which is a world renowned University, to equip attendees to become more effective leaders in their respective communities. The cohort are being put through an innovative, bespoke, accredited SOAS postgraduate programme, which connects academic, theoretical and practical expertise, including uniquely focused illustrations of how current business and organisational skills and knowledge can be utilised to aid community-based leadership. Individuals are challenged to critically review their knowledge and skills-set, before being equipped with a comprehensive ‘tool-kit’, with the core aim of empowering individuals so that they may become the next generation of community leaders across our society.

The interdisciplinary programme covers a wide-range of topics, united by the thread of improving the lives of people in the community. Topics include: civic participation, research methods, understanding and facilitating the many voices and cultures in the community, especially in relation to education, mental health, the criminal justice system, tackling discrimination, disadvanatge, racial harassment and violence, the nature and role of law, the place of advocacy, diversity of leadership and management styles, and key organisational and business knowledge, including how to make a business case and raise funds for organisations. Opportunity is provided to individuals to focus on the areas that interest them the most, an aim further enhanced by the cultivation of lifelong personal development planning skills.