feature: Away from extremism
14 September 2007
A new Forum for Muslim women will be established in Haringey to help them get more involved with the communities in which they live.
This and other similar planned projects for young Muslims is part of a strategy to discourage affinity to extreme Muslim organisations.
The Forum will provide a platform for local Muslim women to network, learn how to access local services and develop skills that will enable them to become active citizens.
The funding for the projects was promised in a speech by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown under the umbrella of the Preventing Violent Extremism Project.
He said:
“Over the next three years we will provide an additional £70 million to support local authorities and community groups in improving the capacity of local communities to resist violent extremism. This will include developing leadership programmes for young people, strengthening the capacity of women’s groups, and local projects to build citizenship.”
Cllr Nilgun Canver, Haringey Council’s cabinet member for enforcement and safer communities, has been instrumental in setting up the Forum and has worked with several Muslim organisations to get guidance on the project.
She says:
“For many years we have worked with representatives from the Wightman Road Mosque which has members from many different cultures and nationalities. It is one of the few mosques in Haringey that provides facilities for women.
“Here we identified a need to engage the women in civic activities and provide further opportunities for them to become more fully engaged in society. We are very excited about this project and hope all Muslim women in the borough benefit from it.”
To help shape the project council officers met with Haringey Muslim women’s organisations, with two of them, the African Women’s Welfare group and the Joint Association of Nissa Trust (JAN), being awarded grants to provide activities for the Forum.
The council is currently recruiting a part time Women’s Outreach Worker to support the project, which will link with Haringey Race Equality Council’s already established Muslim Forum, set up in 2005.
One of the first tasks of the outreach worker will be to identify the specific needs of Muslim women in the borough so that resources can be sought and allocated to addressing the most pressing issues.
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