The MCB and the National Council of Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), on 27th March 2015, to formalise a unique new partnership where Muslim Communities across England are supported to better engage with Safeguarding issues for children and young people.
The ground-breaking collaboration will focus on giving Muslim communities better access to the resources and networks they need to lead development of their own best practice in Safeguarding.
Dr Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the MCB said: “We believe we share a unique opportunity to build a Safeguarding infrastructure that is self-sustaining, young person-led and community focused, and one that actually makes a positive difference to Muslim communities (including Mosques, Madrasahs and Charities) within the voluntary sector.”
This collaboration has additional significance given the numbers of young people within the Muslim community; under-15s account for 33% of the 2.7m Muslims in England and Wales.
NCVYS Chief Executive Susanne Rauprich said: “Our partnership is built around the belief that the success comes from recognising that we all have different contributions to make. Collectively we are specialists in training, infrastructure development and Safeguarding and Child Protection, with knowledge of particular communities and faiths. Only together do have these fantastic resources, and only together could we make a project of this kind work. Collaboration is at the heart of what NCVYS does, as I believe this partnership truly demonstrates.”