How the British Council aims to empower ordinary people in Sudan – some words from my recent trip to the country to see the work of the Active Citizens programme.

Active Citizens, the British Council programme I’ve been documenting, recently took me to Gedaref and Kassala, in the east of Sudan.

There, Active Citizens has been used to train communities on how to design and implement their own ‘social action’ projects.

These include tree planting programmes; gas canister rental schemes; renovation of youth centres; installation of improved water tank technology; and health and FGM (female genital mutilation) awareness classes.

If approved by the British Council, all projects will receive €2,000 seed funding.

The idea is that by engaging people in changing where they live, development becomes more sustainable, participation increases, and civil society is strengthened.

We visited Aroma, a town on the outskirts of the eastern state of Kassala, where 30 people have received Active Citizens training.

There I interviewed participant Fatma Mohamed Ali, 27, a widowed mother-of-two and student.

So if we can just start by asking you how old you are and what your name is and what you do?

Fatma Mohamed Ali, 27 years old. I studied until high school, the third grade, then got married…. have two children, Mohamed and Rayan, their dad died and I went back to university. I actually went back before he died. I started the first year but right now I’m doing my fourth level, studying education, at the chemistry and biology department, the University of Kassala.

What motivated you to get involved in Active Citizens?

I want to help the society…know more about its problems and be able to solve some of those problems.

What do you feel are the major issues facing young women in Aroma?

Well, education is a very important issue…most mothers are illiterate….some children do not go to schools because of customs and traditions. The first solution I suggest is to make people aware of the importance of education so we have more schools and that will help solve two problems: the unemployment of the graduates so they can get jobs and the problem of education in general.

What would you really like to be able to use? What are the real important changes you’d like to see happen?

The first thing is the social solidarity…I mean we have known each other before but not closely. People need to learn a way to communicate and understand each other. We need to connect the international citizenship with the local one, for example, by visiting each other so we know about each others customs and traditions and then take the best from each other.

Have you faced any problems participating in the Active Citizens programme?

No, I haven’t faced any problems.

How do you feel that it has benefited you personally in terms of the future?

Well, I will be able to offer something to society and be effective, and know how to run small projects and search for projects that would develop the whole society.

Spent the day photographing and interviewing children and staff at Hambleton Primary School as they welcomed two teachers from Zambia.

The event was part of a Connecting Classrooms exchange, run by the British Council to encourage greater cultural awareness and understanding between schools in the UK and the rest of the world.

Pictured is Muwa Malale, a 29-year-old primary school teacher from Mongu, in Zambia’s Western Province.

Another version was also published in the Big Issue in the North.

Some pictures (out of the hundreds taken) from my week spent documenting a group of participants visiting Serbia with the British Council’s Active Citizens leadership scheme in February.

This trip was different to the previous months’ visit to the Outer Hebrides; the group were mostly British and Serbian, and all were significantly younger.

Many had already invested much of their time in setting up social enterprises – some are working with care leavers, some are using informal education and drama to teach marginalised youngsters in schools, whiles others are encouraging healthy eating and sustainable food production in their communities.

They visited community projects in Novi Sad, Prijepolje, and Belgrade to see the work of Serbia’s social enterprises.

In Novi Sad, we went to the very impressive Jazas sexual health project, the only one to work with the city’s sex workers, many of whom are Roma, and speak no Serbian. Most are pimped out by their male relatives.

What struck me was how, despite recent cuts to voluntary sector bodies across the UK, equivalent Serbian organisations have even less support. Yet they find a way, through determined volunteers and international funding pots, to exist.

Serbia is still a deeply nationalist, right-wing, country, mired in a past defined by conflict. A youth community centre and performance space we visited in Novi Sad – the great CK13 – is run by a diverse group of young people determined to simply be themselves. As they say, they are not ‘anti’ anything; merely ‘for’ a Serbia that recognises difference.

Yet they have been attacked for doing so; had Molotov cocktails thrown through their windows, and been accused of betraying the Serbian state. They put their lives in danger for speaking out – and this, in Europe…..

For many of the group, particularly the British contingent, this was very shocking, and placed their own issues and challenges into stark contrast.

They were moved to ‘help’, although simply listening to these stories and sharing, as they have, on their return to the UK I think has been a powerful process.

All seemed to gain an awful lot from meeting each other; despite language barriers and cultural and ethnic differences, I have no doubt that this group of people will remain friends for life.

The Outer Hebrides are three hours by ferry from the Scottish west coast.

They undeservedly have a reputation for being bleak and unforgiving; but when I was there in January with the British Council, the weather was cold, but beautifully sunny and still. The many sea lochs dotting the rust-coloured landscape were as still as mirrors.

As well as the stunning natural beauty of the islands, what was most impressive was the quiet revolution in social enterprise and community-owned assets happening in what is the most north-westerly point of the European Union.

From being a crofting community of tenant farmers renting from landlords – many of whom are based in southern England – the Islanders have, supported by the Scottish Government, managed to buy back vast swathes of land.

Now 70 per cent of the islands are in the ownership of people who live there; meaning they can decide how to use it.

They are harnessing the forces of nature to establish community-owned wind turbines, the profits from which are reinvested straight back into the community’s coffers, to be spent on whatever they decide they need. I visited one village who stand to make £2 million over the next twenty years.

Tourism is being revitalised by new community-run visitor centres and cafes, offering visitors the chance to contribute directly to the local economy and the creation of sustainable jobs.

The Gaelic language is being taught to international visitors via immersion in one of its last strongholds; 60 per cent of the Outer Hebridean population still speak the language.

Much of this is being driven by the hugely committed Alasdair Nicholson and Anne Sobey of Third Sector Hebrides. They have a passion to preserve the fragile language and culture of this incredible place by creating jobs to keep young people on the island, and reverse a century of steep depopulation – from 44,172 in 1901 to around 26,000 today.

They also want to support older people; up to 80 per cent of the Islands’ pensioners live in fuel poverty.

They have created Staran (Pathway), the UK’s first social enterprise MOT; the Hebridean Chocolate factory; and Am Pàipear, a community-run newspaper.

Their success is slowly transforming the islands. Despite only being there for two days, I was hugely impressed by their ambition and energy. Their example has much to teach other communities across the UK.

Understanding this, they are eager to share what they have learnt. Hence their involvement in the British Council’s Active Citizens programme, which aims to encourage civic engagement and social change across the world.

Alasdair is keen to emphasise that their achievements can be replicated anywhere.

“Perhaps being on a small island, there is more reason to say that if we are going to resolve some of the challenging issues, we have to do it ourselves. Nobody else is going to do it for us.

“What has been important is the realisation that instead of waiting for other people to come up with solutions, people are finding their own solutions. And that message is applicable anywhere, to any community, in any country. You just need self-belief.

“Governments are realising that they can’t do everything themselves – we are starting to see a society that does more for itself. We are starting to see much more collaborative types of working.”

To read my pieces on the work of Third Sector Hebrides for the British Council, click here, here, and here.

Some pictures from my week spent with the British Council documenting an Active Citizens event held in Croydon.

As well as meeting activists, students, and community development workers from nine countries, I later visited the Outer Hebrides to see the revolution in social enterprise happening in one of the most remote parts of the UK.

Click here to read my latest piece from Inside Housing – about a beautifully converted former convent in Liverpool turned eco-hostel for homeless families.

One of the residents, a single mum-of-three, said the facility gave her confidence as it showed the authorities cared about her future. “It feels like whoever conceived this project has actually experienced being homeless themselves. And I think people can see that and they appreciate it. They are investing in people. This is not like having your own home, but it’s the next best thing.”

A little late; some pictures from the launch of the Old Trafford Community Garden on January 12th.

A brilliant example of a very simple idea that will make a huge difference to a community blighted by fly-tipping. I should know – the garden is situated at the end of the street I used to live on. Which once had six mattresses piled up in the alley. For weeks.

Over in nearby Moss Side, community gardens and allotments have done untold good. I’m convinced that the same movement is possible in OT.

Here’s a film made by the lovely Kerry of OT News – and of course, we’ll be tracking the garden’s progress on www.otnews.co.uk. 

Other, longer, editorial projects include the creation of the Global Dimensions magazine for Lancashire Global Education Centre, a supplement about child poverty for the Big Issue and ActionAid, and a series of health-related articles for the Manchester Evening News.

I’ve done syndication news shifts at the Manchester Evening News, and completed a series of copywriting projects for the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms schools project.

I’ve carried out media relations for Church Action on Poverty; a November 2012 campaign around their 30th anniversary resulted in coverage in the Guardian; BBC Radio 4; BBC Radio Manchester and all the major church press.

In addition, I’m a volunteer for the Old Trafford News community magazine, which runs community-based media, arts and photography projects throughout one of Manchester’s most lively neighbourhoods. They also run a news site; www.otnews.co.uk.