Forward Thinking gives oral evidence to CLG select committee on Prevent

On 30 November 2009 Huda Jawad, UK Programme Director, gave oral evidence in support of Forward Thinking's submission on Prevent Programme to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Inquiry.

When asked about the advice to government about Muslim Communities, Huda emphasised the superficial understanding of the nature of Muslim communities and the lack of engagement with their diversity at grassroots level.

This, combined with the attachment of Prevent to a number of local authority services such as youth services, schools, leisure services and agendas such as community cohesion, haas caused alarm and confusion resulting in rejection of Prevent funding and automatic suspicion of government.

However, Prevent has offered, albeit erroneously and through the prism of security, a platform for engagement between Muslim communities and authorities like never before.

Ms. Jawad reiterated that, as seen in numerous other instances throughout Forward Thinking's experience with grassroots communities, communication and perception play a major role in shaping opinion ad reaction within communities. As a consequence, whom the Government talk to and what it is being told and for which reasons are of a vital importance.

Furthermore, Forward Thinking believes that while Prevent has engaged the Muslim community on a high number of projects, the quality of approach and the actual result have yet to be fully understood and evaluated.

Forward thinking remains actively engaged with both muslim grassroots organisations and the Establishment searching for a more effective engagement through a nuanced approach to empowering communities for the benefit of all in society.

The video of the session can be viewed here

The uncorrected evidence is available for download from our website (in the upper right corner) and for viewing at the Publications and Records website as HC 65-i here