The borough’s leading Prevent projects came together in March, highlighting the strengths of local communities approach to keeping vulnerable children and adults safe from harm and exploitation.
The impacts of terrorism in Manchester, Westminster, London Bridge and Finsbury Park in 2017 and the recent mosques attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand is a reminder of ongoing dangers.
The community event hosted by Ealing Council’s Prevent Team attracted around 100 community leaders and residents all keen to understand the successes and hurdles in delivering Prevent projects. It was also an opportunity for everyone to share their ideas.
Ealing CVS, London Tigers, Somali Advice & Development Centre, GOSAD & Yeelo2 Education and Southall Community Alliance were the six project providers who spoke about their experiences in raising awareness of Prevent.
“We need to raise the awareness of what safeguarding is…”
“Prevent is an area that not everyone understands, and it can be sensitive. We need to raise the awareness of what safeguarding is and how Prevent fits into that space. An event like this helps other groups in the local community to understand the work that we’re doing,” said Muslimah Matters project lead, Jaspal Gill.
Within the last three years around 4,000 people have been engaged through local community providers and around 25% are under 21 years. The projects provide opportunities to up skill, raise safeguarding concerns and raise awareness of the dangers and harms of radicalisation, empowering communities to take action.
“As a sector we don’t promote ourselves and our achievements enough. Part of this event was to promote success but on the other hand it was to share good practice and things that we’ve learnt. Perhaps other projects or community groups from across Ealing can pick up the good things that we’ve achieved and import them into their projects,” Southall Community Alliance Manager, Janpal Basran said.
Councillor Joanna Camadoo, cabinet member for community safety and inclusion, said: “Listening to the project leads on the night was a great reminder of community spirit within the borough. It provided a fantastic insight into the invaluable work of our project groups to maintain local social cohesion. Supporting our communities to deliver effective Prevent projects is a key component in delivering our commitment to making Ealing safer from the risk of radicalisation. We are grateful to everyone involved in the projects for their continued hard work and dedication.”
Prevent is part of Ealing’s safeguarding objectives, keeping vulnerable children and adults safe from harm and exploitation. The local Prevent programme is designed to work closely with families, the local community and professionals to help build resilience against the threat of radicalisation.
For further information on Ealing Prevent visit www.ealing.gov.uk.
