Act now or do not act at all....

Recently things have picked up a pace. It appears the the Somali Advocacy and Advice Network [S.A.A.N] could be in a position to be active in a number of areas:



[1] The Prevent counter terrorism officer for the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has approached S.A.A.N to help them prepare a seminar that would comprise their interactive community exercise targeting the Somalis in the borough. To quote the official line:



The workshops ...... enable community groups from any background to be Counter Terrorism Officers for the day in a bid to strike up dialogue and debate. The unique engagement style allows communities and particularly young people to discuss any perceptions they might have in a safe environment .



This scenario provides the ideal opportunity to raise the concerns of the community that have become apparent over the last 12 months [see the previous posts regarding incidents involving Somalis from the London boroughs of Ealing and Camden].



With the support from the local authorities, public sector bodies and other interested community and voluntary services the activities surrounding this particular topic shall take place in December 2009.



[2] The Head of Youth Services for the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham has approached S.A.A.N about working to produce an outreach programme that could be interpreted as a best practice model across London. This would involve engaging with Somali inmates in the Feltham Youth Offenders Institute and targeting those individuals who reside in the borough [and eventually those that reside in the wider set of boroughs that comprise the West London Alliance]. The programme would be focused on re-integrating these individuals back into mainstream society utilising existing services to help them take the necessary steps. The Muslim Chaplains of the Feltham Youth Offenders Institute and HMP Wormwood Scrubs would be involved in the process, along with the Governors and other interested individuals/bodies.



There is also the need to help communicate information regarding the criminal justice system to those families who have previously only come into contact with the Police and representatives of the legal profession through their children/siblings/relatives who have been accused of a crime.

To this end, S.A.A.N would be involved in trying to address these communication issues and engage other Somali community groups in a bid to producing a concerted effort to solve these problems.



[3] Collaborating with London Citizens on shared horizontal areas of activity [promoting the Living Wage, looking at poverty reduction strategies, increasing levels of employment and skills etc] that could be relevant to the Somali community. The scenario being that they could make their resources available for the work that S.A.A.N wants to get underway in the West London area, utilising their activities that could be applied to other communities and other areas of the capital. This could be pertinent for example when considering the possibility of making the Act Now series of seminars available to the different communities in London.


In the coming weeks we hope to have our base at the Urban Partnership Group office on the Uxbridge Road and be in a position to begin project related activities in the near future. Watch this space.......