On 16 April, over 35 community leaders gathered in East London to tackle social challenges together and walked away with a funded pilot project ready to launch.
Newham is one of the most diverse boroughs in the country. It is also a place where the gap between communities. However close they live to one another, they can quietly widen when left unattended. On Thursday 16 April, the Aston Mansfield Centre became the setting for an experiment in changing that.
The Muslim World League was proud to fund a Social Cohesion Lab in Newham, delivered by our partners at the Good Faith Partnership. The event brought together more than 35 representatives from faith groups, charities, and civil society organisations for what can best be described as a social hackathon: a structured, energetic day where participants identify real local challenges and build practical projects to address them.
The session opened with a presentation by Jake Puddle of British Future, who shared the findings of their Independent Commission on Inclusion and Belonging in Multi-Ethnic Newham. The data grounded the room, and from there, participants self-organised into project teams, each choosing a challenge they wanted to take on.
“A day defined by hope, opportunity, and collaboration, reflecting the strength in Newham’s diversity.”
Throughout the day, groups were sharpened by the input of local experts: Dr Susannah Pickering-Saqqa of the University of East London, Professor Alastair Owens of Queen Mary University of London, Jake Puddle of British Future, and staff from the Office of Sir Stephen Timms MP. The teams developed and refined their ideas into pitches, which they presented to a panel that included James Asser MP for West Ham and Beckton, Rokhsana Fiaz OBE, Mayor of Newham, Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said, Chair of the Aman Foundation, and Nezamul Hasan, Director of Strategy and Implementation at the Muslim World League London Office.
The Ideas on the Table
- Come Dine with Me’ in Schools: Bringing together Year 1 parents from diverse backgrounds for shared meals and cultural exchange.
- Festival of Spaces: Mapping and showcasing community spaces across the borough.
- Shared Table: Bridging charitable initiatives and people from diverse backgrounds through shared meals.
- Community, Culture & Cricket: Bringing Cricket back to Newham as a form of community celebration.
- Newham Voices for Housing: Enabling families in insecure housing to stay and make Newham home.
Participants voted on the idea they felt was most ready to take forward, and the winner was clear: ‘Come Dine with Me’ in local schools, a beautifully simple initiative that brings together Year 1 parents from different backgrounds to share a meal and, through it, share something of themselves.
Thanks to the generosity of the Muslim World League, a tender of £10,000 will now be issued to local organisations to bring this project to life. We look forward to seeing what Newham’s community sector does with it.
What struck us most about the day was not any single idea, but the spirit in the room. People who had perhaps never sat in the same space before were building something together by lunchtime. That, at its core, is what social cohesion looks like in practice and not a policy document, but a conversation over a shared table.
The Muslim World League remains committed to investing in projects like this, where faith, civil society, and local leadership combine to make a tangible difference in the communities we all call home.
Get involved
For more information about the event or to enquire about the tender, contact the Good Faith Partnership at info@goodfaith.org.uk.
