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1. Winning Hearts & Minds with helping hands: Higher ratio of unemployment among young British Muslims, Islamophobia, racial discrimination, health inequalities and more recently Anger over invasion of Iraq, Afganistan and tribal areas of Pakistan as a part of global war on terror makes them vulnerable to be exploited by extremist ideas and influences. Hate crimes and unfair attitude of mainstream media ignite this anger that further deepen social segregation. Winning hearts & minds with helping hands is an inclusive project for the benefit of vulnerable and isolated young Muslim men and women. Our objective is to get those people engaged in healthy mainstream activities, equip them with knowledge, skills and self-confidence to enable them to reject violent extremist ideas. Winning hearts & minds with helping hands is an innovative and groundbreaking national project that places young people at the heart of its service delivery, purpose and function. It supports and trains young people, building their capacity to enable them to reach their full potential to be of service to their peers, their communities and neighbourhoods. It places great emphasis on the neighbourhood as a site of shared belonging, seeks where possible to strengthen this by working with young people, and nurturing relationships across the wider community. Although we promote interfaith dialogue and community cohesion at all levels, but we also provide all essential support (mentoring, befriending, advocacy etc) to equip Muslim young men and women with knowledge & skills to a level when they become independent and confident to act as role models for other community fellows.
Research findings: Since 9/11 and 7/7 terrible incidents, interfaith dialogue and engagement and empowerment of young Muslims are the recommended ways forwarded by U.K policy think tanks to tackle increasing violant extremist influences in young British Muslims. In the most comprehensive research of its kind to date, Prof Martin Innes, of the Universities' Police Science Institute in Cardiff, led a team of researchers which carried out face-to-face and telephone interviews with more than 600 Muslims in London, Birmingham and Oldham. They found that the radicalisation of young British Muslims was more widespread than previously feared, with "a disturbing proportion" expressing support for extremist elements. The report says: "Bringing people through faster might be a way of trying to limit the risks of detection prior to going operational. It concludes: "Increasing numbers of young Muslim people are becoming sufficiently disaffected with their lives in liberal-democratic-capitalist societies that they might be willing to support violent terrorism to articulate their disillusionment and disengagement.
Aims of project: • To provide a friendly, welcoming & easily accessible support service for the young Muslim men and women; • To equip and empower young Muslim men and women to integrate into the wider community & contribute towards the development of a peaceful, harmonious and vibrant British society; • To enhance the emploability of young Muslim men and women to become independent and lead others as role models....
Activities: Basic I.T. skills courses for young Muslim boys & girls;• Supervised football matches to engage young Muslim boys & girls in sports;• English Language & Citizenship classes;• Beauty therapy/Henna sessions for Muslim Women.• Healthy eating advice sessions;• Music/Nasheed sessions;• Yoga /meditation classes;• Creative art competitions...
Future: Our national advisory council recommended the following steps to be taken to tackle extremist ideas and influences in coming years: • To facilitate meaningful dialogue between government and young people on the experience of being a young Muslim; • To explore the causes and impact of violent extremism and underlying causes of disaffection on Muslim young people and Muslim communities; • Engage proactively with the media to ensure that positive images of young Muslim people are portrayed and to stimulate a positive debate around the issue’s affecting young Muslims in Great Britain. • Generate ideas for practical solutions to issues identified through wider consultation with other young people and existing projects • To support and encourage young people to be active in their communities in order to tackle disaffection, increase civic engagement and respond to concerns felt by other young people; • To support young people to develop confidence and skills and in making appropriate contributions to the development of their communities.
2. Multi-faith Health Forum: CHIEF has been fortunate to secure links with many different organisations within Greater Manchester and has proven history and experience in ability to encourage individuals from different faiths to attend Health Seminars to discuss health issues and the impact of those issues on the community. CHIEF had taken these partnerships one step further and sat up a dedicated multi-faith health Forum which would become the nucleus of activity in raising health awareness throughout the faith communities in Greater Manchester. This forum meets on a monthly basis to discuss how faith and culture has an impact on each community and develop activities to reduce health inequalities, share understanding, improve the quality oflife of individuals and bring people together who would otherwise not communicate. The Project has been funded by Department of Communities & Local Government via CDF`s Connecting Communities Plus grant scheme and Big Lottery Fund via Awards for All.
Aims & Objectives: • Improved access to health information for a variety of cultures and faiths; • Better understanding and awareness of culturally-sensitive issues; • Enhanced awareness of the impact of faith in BME communities; • Increased opportunities for all communities in Greater Manchester; Community cohesion and social inclusion; • Improved quality of life of faith communities within Greater Manchester; • Tried and tested formula that can be shared with other areas within the UK. • Shared learning of issues affecting different communities within Greater Manchester; The 10 participating faith groups include: Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha’i faith, Jainism, Christianity, Humanism & Paganism. The 10 faith related health topics are: Diabetes, Stroke, Healthy eating habits, Healthy living styles, High Blood Pressure, Organ Donation, Blood Donation, Contraception, Drugs addiction, Alcohol abuse.
3. Promoting effective use of Internet in BME Communities: People from ethnic backgrounds are usually very least interested in participating in `online` activities. They already suffer due to language barriers, lack of understanding, social isolation, racial discrimination, cultural stigmas, and religious taboos, and become more vulnerable to common health disorders like Diabetes, Hypertension, Depression, Stroke, Coronary Heart Disease, Hepatitis and so on. Over the past 4 years, we have actively been involved to get them online and encourage using latest Information over the internet. Our informative website (www.chiefcic.com ), huge mailing list, and a large network of BME organisations is co-ordinated by a team of native health professionals. More than 10,000 subscribers receive weekly E-newsletter and may ask any health question and get answer within 24 hours via interactive website or e-mail attachments. CHIEF is linked via internet with G.Ps, Specialist Nurses, Public Health Advisors & Consultant Physicians. If necessary, they are asked for their educational support or expert opinion. The service users are provided with hyperlinks of other useful websites and PDF files in other languages too if English is not their first language. The project is eco-friendly as it is online – so no prints, no waste.
4. Healing minds without magic: ‘Healing minds without magic’ is a health & social welfare project for the benefit of vulnerable and isolated Asian women. Raising health awareness in the public will give them confidence & insight of a particular health issue such as Depression. Raising cultural awareness among service providers saves their time and resources when they design and deliver health and social care services for deprived, isolated, and under-privileged community groups such as Asian women. Our objective is to get those depressed Muslim women involved in healthy mainstream activities.
5. Building Healthier Communities: A series of 25 bi-monthly Health Awareness Seminars delivered to the community by health service providers to raise awareness of common health issues that impact on the BME community. Dr Syed Abidi had been engaged to organise and facilitate this series with the support of local volunteers. The topical seminars were attended by the members of BME community, PCT officials and the local residents.
6. Minority Ethnic Health Awareness (M.E.H.A Project UK): Our publications, `Modern Preventive Medicine` in English and `Solution to common health issues` in Urdu, and U.K`s first-ever bilingual (English/Urdu) book, `Prevention is always better than cure` proved to be very useful self-help health guide for the lay public. Around 5000 copies have been distributed to public, and hospital libraries, NHS walk-in centres and G.P surgeries across the U.K.
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