2020 Winners | Muslim Women’s Network UK
Muslim Women’s Network UK
Winner – Embracing Opportunity and Harnessing Risk
Who they are
Out of its Birmingham base, Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWNUK) works to advance equality and improve social justice for Muslim women and girls across the UK. The charity works on issues such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), domestic abuse and sexual exploitation. As well as providing support services through a helpline, caseworkers, outreach workers and specialist counsellors, MWNUK also conducts research, produces reports and resources, and campaigns raising awareness for key areas. It also delivers training programmes to help individuals and professionals understand the issues and the means by which they can assist.
What they’ve achieved
The charity has developed, and evolved, a long-term strategy to increase its profile, reach and impact. Trustees take evaluation and organisational learning seriously, adapting and evolving their approach when necessary, and recognising opportunities for growth when their findings tell them there is scope for improvement. In 2016, the board commissioned an external report, reviewed enquiries from local partners, and listened to direct feedback from service users, which, taken together, highighted a pressing need in the community that the charity could step up and step in to fill – MWNUK could better raise awareness and support victims of FGM by expanding its services to provide professional training for school governors, teachers, doctors, nurses and counsellors. Trustees discussed the risks associated with taking on more delivery, concious that the charity’s limited resources were already directed towards other support services (a national helpline, casework, counselling, and more), but also aware that it had the experience and expertise to rise to the challenge. What followed was a successful year in which the charity launched several training programmes, which in turn helped the charity expand its reach, increase its reputation, forge and strengthen partnerships and access new sources of funding. However, despite its success, the board’s commitment to evaluation and evolution helped the organisation recognise that a continued expansion of training delivery would not be sustainable, and forced trustees to consider how they might adapt and evolve their strategy to be more tightly focused on achieving the charity’s principle aims. MWNUK spent the next year working with external delivery partners to produce fewer training programmes, but ones that were more in-depth and focussed to the community’s or participants’ specific needs. Another external evaluation will help the board make informed choices for the future.
Why they won
Judges were impressed with the way in which the board was able to apply great thought and judgment into where their efforts as a charity should be focused, and ultimately recognised the opportunity to increase their specialist training services. As a small organisation with limited resources, there were great risks associated with the steps they needed to take towards their growth and future activities. However, there was a clear need for specialist training as without such services, victims of sexual exploitation, forced marriage and FGM were at risk of being failed. In a time of fragility in the charity sector, and even more so for the Muslim community, the board’s vision to effect change was extremely powerful. Judges were able to see that the board and senior management had a close working relationship, which meant the organisation could forge its own future. The board’s effective leadership meant the charity could change its model to be pro-active rather than re-active at a time of great demand for its services. The overall outcome saw the charity not just survive, but thrive.
