Prevent in Southwark – 2009-2010
Evaluation Report
By
Alison Rooke and Imogen Slater
The Centre for Urban and Community Research
October 2010
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Kevin Dykes in Southwark’s’ Communities, Law and Governance Unit, and Emma Kehoe, Prevent Lead, Safer Southwark Partnership team for their co-operation and help with conducting this research. We would also like to thank The Southwark Prevent Steering Group for their valuable contribution to the research, Chris Hayden and Sadiq Hoque at Southwark TV, Shane Carey and Michael Stickland at Eclectic Productions and Chelle, Tarek and Rasheed at Reprezent / South City Radio. We would also like to thank everyone who participated in the project focus group and the Steering group evaluation workshops.
The Year at a Glance…..
The Prevent Programme in Southwark 2009 – 2010 had a budget of £145k
18 projects were funded in total with grants ranging from £2000 to £35000
Southwark’s Prevent work is recognised widely as being particularly successful and in the forefront with its innovative community development approach. They recently had a ‘Beacon Day’ to celebrate their Beacon Award for their Prevent and Cohesion work at the Tate Modern.
“[T]he project’s success is as much about building relationships and trust as the more quantifiable outputs and broadcasts”
Revealed: A voice for Young Muslims in South London, Eclectic Productions End of Year Report, April 2010
Looking back over the 2009-2010 delivery of Prevent, what do you think has worked well and why?
“Building good relationship with mosques and focusing on cohesion issues worked. Unfortunately the same thing can’t be said about other boroughs where the programme was received with suspicion.”
Steering Group feedback
“Most importantly it’s making Muslims feel a part of the community and giving them access to contribute to the community....”
Participant – Prevent Funded Project
1 Executive Summary 3
2 Introduction 3
2.1 Evaluation Aims and Approach 3
3 The National and Local Context and Southwark’s ‘shared endeavour’ Approach 3
3.1 The Local Delivery of Prevent 3
3.2 Evaluating Prevent 3
4 Prevent in Southwark 3
5 Themes arising from 2009-2010 work 3
5.1 Snapshot Case Studies 3
5.2 Media as a Space of Dialogue 3
5.2.1 Individual Impacts 3
5.2.2 Case Study: Revealed: A Voice for Young Muslims in South London 3
5.2.3 Case Study: The Southwark Mosques Documentary 3
6 Findings 3
6.1 Evaluation of Southwark’s performance against national indicator 35. 3
6.1.1 Understanding of and engagement with, Muslim communities. 3
6.1.2 Knowledge and understanding of the drivers and causes of violent extremism and the PREVENT objectives 3
6.1.3 Development of a risk-based PREVENT action plan, in support of the PREVENT objectives 3
6.1.4 Effective oversight, delivery and evaluation of projects and action 3
7 Progress on priority areas identified in the 2008-2009 Evaluation 3
7.1.1 Engaging and Celebrating: Working with Southwark’s Muslim Youth. 3
7.1.2 Positive Parenting: Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s Muslim parents to protect their children from risks. 3
7.1.3 Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s Muslim community infrastructure 3
7.1.4 Respect and Understanding: Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s frontline delivery staff to address the needs of and risks to Muslims residents 3
7.1.5 Arenas for ‘having difficult conversations’: 3
7.2 Process 3
7.3 Monitoring and Evaluation 3
8 Recommendations 3
8.1 Legacy 3
8.1.1 Research and development 3
8.1.2 Evaluation and Monitoring. 3
8.1.3 The Steering Group’s Role and the Strategic Management of the Prevent Legacy 3
9 Appendix 1 National Indicator 35 – Building communities resilient to violent extremism. 3
10 Appendix 2: Southwark Prevent Projects Evaluation Form 3
1 Executive Summary
The local delivery of Prevent in Southwark is framed by an ongoing commitment to community safety and cohesion. The Southwark approach is one which has prioritised engaging the Muslim community/ies in the borough, understanding their needs, building a strong network of Muslim organisations working in partnership with local agencies through a dialogical community development approach. The strength of the Prevent network and the degree of cross fertilisation, mutual support and dialogue between projects are evidenced by this evaluation.
The Southwark approach acknowledges and supports the contribution of Muslims to life in Southwark as active citizens. While no single part of Southwark’s Prevent work focuses solely on countering violent extremism, (with the possible exception of the Youth Offending Service plan), there is a consistent pattern in Southwark’s Safer Communities / Prevent programme of giving a platform to the strong moderate voices of Islam and of supporting Muslim communities in their desire to reject violent extremist ideologies.
Prevent, has been delivered by a cross departmental, inter-agency, community based partnership. Its work has contributed to other agendas and partnerships within Southwark including the work of the Youth Offending Team (YOT) and Communities, Law and Governance Unit (formerly the Community Involvement and Development Unit - CIDU).
Within Southwark the local authority has worked to carefully ensure that all communities are treated fairly. Therefore the council has consistently taken an approach to Prevent which seeks to support the Muslim community as equal partners in the shared endeavour of promoting cohesion and understanding between people and organisations in the borough.
Within this approach inter-faith strategies have formed a central part of Southwark’s work. By not working with Muslim communities in isolation, Southwark’s work may have avoided key criticisms of the national programme such as the perpetuation Islamaphobia.
Furthermore, Southwark’s approach of targeting youth in a way which links the dangers of faith-based extremism with other pertinent issues such as gang or drug related lifestyles, which are recognised as significant risks to the well being of the borough’s young people and wider communities, has contributed to a range of other initiatives and agendas across the borough.
Legacy and Recommendations
The change in central government has brought the future of Prevent funding under review as part of a national public sector spending review. It is likely that the programmes’ funding is will be significantly reduced or removed. This raises the question of the most effective ways to ensure that the outcomes of the programme are taken forward and embedded in Southwark’s local communities, organisations and agencies, while being supported by Southwark staff in departments responsible for community cohesion and community development. The following recommendations are made with full consideration of the current political climate and its implications for funding.
· Follow up on the Southwark Ummah Report; there is clearly scope for continued work in researching the demographics of Southwark’s Muslim community and developing a strategy for identifying the community’s needs
· Develop a community engagement strategy with Southwark’s Muslim communities based on the Southwark Ummah Report, with the community engagement team working with local representatives to continue to support community engagement with/ within Southwark’s Muslim community.
· Continue to support activities which bring the Muslim community together across differences of faith, ethnicity and geography through celebratory events. These events build cohesion and are opportunities for Southwark’s Muslim communities to work towards a common goal of celebrating Muslim culture in the borough and recognising of the contribution of Muslim people as local citizens.
· Continue to support inclusive and participatory community-based media projects. These vehicles do important work in countering negative media and stereotypical representations of Islam.
· To continue to support Muslim communities, groups and organisations through capacity building. In particular to offer fundraising training in order to empower voluntary organisations in the Borough to be able to successfully bid for other funding sources, thereby increasing independence and sustainability.
Findings
The Southwark Prevent programme 2009-and 2010 has been successful in addressing both the priority areas which were set out in the 2008-2009 evaluation report. These were:
Engaging and Celebrating: Working with Southwark’s Muslim Youth There have been significant numbers of youth based projects with lots of progress and successes.
Positive Parenting: Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s Muslim parents to protect their children from risks. Work with parents has continued, and some links with agencies established. This year has seen development of inter-generational work thereby bringing young people together with older adults / parents.
Respect and Understanding: Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s frontline delivery staff to address the needs of and risks to Muslims residents. Evidence of informal and experiential learning through other parts of the Prevent programme. However given the success of the formal training in the past this should also be delivered if resources allow.
Engagement & Dialogue: Creating a confident and outward-looking Muslim community in Southwark. This is an area where Southwark have excelled and set examples of good practice in linking Prevent and cohesion agendas in creative and innovative projects working with diverse group.
Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s Muslim community infrastructure. Networks between Muslim groups have strengthened and expanded through Southwark funded Prevent work. Networking with various agencies has also increased thereby assisting in their capacity building.
Themes arising from the evaluation of the 2008-2009 period are:
Networks & Partnerships –There now exists a strong, diverse and action-oriented network of Muslim and non-Muslim organisations in Southwark working with the Muslim community on common concerns. The growth of this network is foundational for much of the other work done and will provide a platform for future projects. This is therefore likely to be the key legacy of the Prevent programme in the Borough.
Spaces for dialogue - difficult conversations, exploration, interaction, exchange, expression, discussion have been created. Several projects identified and directly tackled key issues of concern for both the Muslim and wider community/ies in Southwark.
Media and Arts - A number of projects have provided opportunities the opportunity for positive portrayals of Muslim people that challenge negative media.
Celebration & Events – A number of celebrations and events send a strong message to Southwark’s Muslim communities that they are recognised and respected by local agencies who are keen to work with them in identifying joint action to address local issues. I this processes new partnerships have been created and existing ones consolidated. They also provided showcases for local arts
Capacity Building - The programme has offered some groups the chance to apply for (relatively) small amounts of funding that have not only been effectively used but offer high value for money through the commitment of those involved. This seems to be a first step towards not only building their work within their target groups / communities, but also networking them into the wider Prevent network.
Citizenship and Cohesion - Several projects that in exploring issues related to violent extremism offer alternatives that relate to principles of citizenship. By taking part in the Prevent network Southwark’s Muslims have become engaged in civic society and democratic processes at a variety of scales.
Youth - Southwark has strategically increased its focus on youth related projects, some of which are age specific whilst others encourage inter-generational engagement. This work has reached large audiences of young Muslims in the borough and there has been a huge amount of positive feedback from these events which evidences the strength of his impact.
Learning - Information, advice, understanding and exchange. In previous years this has been best represented by formal training however the last year has seen an increase in opportunities for informal learning and exchange. These learning processes, and in particular the peer research-led Ummah research report provided valuable information for the Council and other agencies working with and providing for Muslim communities in Southwark.
Parents & Intergenerational Work - Work with parents has developed to include intergenerational work that aims to connect for example young people with parents / older generations.
2 Introduction
The evaluation of Southwark’s Prevent Programme 2009 – 2010 has been undertaken by the Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR), Goldsmiths College. It follows on from two previous evaluations conducted by the Centre; the evaluation of the Muslim Parents Forum 07-08 and the evaluation of the Southwark’s Prevent Programme 08-09. This evaluation considers the programme of work developed and delivered by Southwark’s Prevent network, led by the Safer Southwark Partnership team in partnership with CIDU (Community Involvement and Development Unit)[1]. There are strands of Prevent work in Southwark, specifically work delivered through the Youth Offending team and Counter-Terrorism squad of the Metropolitan police in Southwark, which is not covered by this evaluation
In 2007 Southwark Council was awarded money from the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund. Southwark Council has also received money from the Government Office for London to carry out Preventing Violent Extremism projects in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010.
The last evaluation made a series of recommendations about the direction of the PVE / Prevent work intended to assist those involved with ensuring that programme was strategic and targeted in its approach. The key recommendations were concerned with:
· Mapping needs and risks
· Youth and schools
· Colleges and universities
· Continuing parent work
· Work around language barriers
· Continuing engagement with the community
· Strategic thinking and planning
· Arenas for ‘having difficult conversations’.
As part of developing the Prevent work in Southwark strategically, it was recommended that there should be 5 identifiable strands to the delivery, under which all projects would fit. The suggestions for these were:
1. Engaging and celebrating: Working with Southwark’s Muslim Youth
2. Positive Parenting: Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s Muslim parents to protect their children from risks
3. Respect and Understanding: Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s frontline delivery staff to address the needs of and risks to Muslims residents
4. Engagement & Dialogue: Creating a confident and outward-looking Muslim community in Southwark
5. Strengthening the capacity of Southwark’s Muslim community infrastructure.
This report will consider how the programme has implemented last year’s recommendations and if these have been useful in managing and delivering the work.
2.1 Evaluation Aims and Approach
The project agreed a number of key evaluative aims: