[Jxlacvio]

Regards to the UK.

Every borough has a council and each council has a 'strategic partnership'.
these 'strategic partnerships' have sub-partnerships e.g. Crime and disorder reduction partnership. This partnership is made up of Police, Probation, Drugs intervention Programme, Youth Service, etc; usually people who hold high offices in each of these services.

Now you can 'earn' your place to consult on these partnerships.

Most borough's have a CVS (Council for Voluntary, community and faith Sector), this is the 3rd sector; the 3rd sector attempts to be the Voice of the Community, Voluntary and Faith sector. The CVS should have networks, these networks are made up of members of either a charity or a community group.

So if you work you way backwards.

Individual ->group (individual joins a group or forms a group)->joins a network (health, inter-faith, BME (black Minority Ethnic), etc ->Representative of network on a sub partnership->Strategic partnership.

Strategic Partnerships are generally tick box exercise, but an essential one once the key decision making has been approved.

Now why would one take this route?
Throughout each of these stages you can make a difference that impacts your community. Your group will be able to actively be involved in a local initiative. Being part of a network will strengthen your relationship with other groups that share the same values and this be a very good point for resource, information, support, access to funding, etc.

Most progression of local initiatives have similar processes. if you perchance want to become a governor of a school, they will also have a route that leads back to a strategic partnership and a key individual in the council.

We have 4 main primary schools in our area that Muslims attend. Now the council wants to implement SPIRAL (sex education programme), since we have at least 4 Muslim members who are Governors in one school we will gain feedback for any initiatives to be applied in the schools prior to implementation. As soon as the initiative was presented to us we were able to go into consultation with the school governors, head teacher and the lead from the council. Although the initiative is optional, there is a pressure from the Government to implement the program and behind closed doors there is an agenda to get it into the school. Cutting a long story short, for at least on of the schools so far the SPIRAL program has been revamped to assure that it is 100% according to the ethos of islam. With the other schools consultations are underway and inshAllah we will see a progress to make sure all the schools are 100% compliant to Islam on this matter.

Conclusion: You have to be in the know to make a difference and to make impact. Make sure that the information is cascaded to you. The internet has improved the flow of information assuring that you are aware of the situation right from the outset before decisions are finalised allowing for you to contribute.

Hope this helps in some way.