Hundreds of representatives from the Muslim community have attended the first two events hosted by the Charity Commission’s Faith and Social Cohesion Unit. The Charity Commission has established this dedicated service to provide support and expert advice to faith-based charities.
The events, held recently in Birmingham and London, were designed to give invitees the opportunity to hear more from Commission staff about the work of the new team, and listen to views on how to develop its service and help charities perform as effectively as possible. Around 300 people in total attended the events, representing mosques, Muslim charities or voluntary organisations, and national and regional Muslim umbrella organisations.
The events also provided advice on a number of key areas including: the implications of the Charities Act 2006 for faith-based charities, in particular for places of worship including Mosques and other Muslim charities; and the benefits of charity registration and the process involved. Expert Commission staff were on hand to answer delegates’ questions on the day.
At both events delegates had the opportunity to feed back in ‘round table’ sessions; where subjects included how young people are involved in Mosques and charities, what their definition of ‘good governance’ is, and what people’s experience of dealing with the Commission has been.
Speakers at the two events included Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of the Charity Commission; Rosie Chapman, Director of Policy and Effectiveness at the Charity Commission; Ghulam Rasool, Head of the Faith and Social Cohesion Unit; and Yousif Al-Khoei and Khurshid Ahmed from the newly launched Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB).
Comments from delegate feedback forms included:
- “The way we were briefed and explained to made us understand that we can work together positively to build a better future for us all”
- “(We would like) more regular meetings with organisations so we can work closely to tackle our local issues that affect out communities as a whole”
- “I gathered all the information I wanted about the running of the Charity Commission.”
- “Round Table consultation was a good thing. This gave us a chance to say what we needed for our charities.”
Ghulam Rasool, Head of the Faith and Social Cohesion Unit said:
“It has been really encouraging to see so many members of the wider Muslim community talking with us about how we can work together and help faith charities be more effective. We have had lots of good feedback from the two events which will be extremely helpful in developing the work of the faith team. We want to continue to engage with faith charities and we will be using the information we have gathered from the events to help shape our thinking as we move forward. We also hope that these events will have encouraged charities that have not already registered with us to do so and understand the benefits of registration.”
No comments:
Post a Comment