THE Bradford-based Muslim Women's Council has received a £30,000 National Lottery grant which will be aimed at empowering women with experience of issues like domestic violence, Islamophobia and polygamy.

The organisation received the grant as part of the National Lottery's Lived Experience Leaders Pilot Programme.

The programme was developed through workshops across the UK and the grant for the Muslim Women's Council will be used to deliver leadership training to Muslim women with lived experience of domestic violence, hate crime, Islamophobia, sexual exploitation and polygamy – with the ultimate aim of establishing a mini think-tank to empower those involved to influence policy and debates around these issues.

Bana Gora, Chief Executive of the Muslim Women’s Council, said: “There was always a sense that people parachute into cities like Bradford, and then back out again.

"There are very few credible, trained people ‘on the ground’ – especially in the Muslim community. So why not use the experience we have between us, as Muslim women in Bradford, to identify gaps in services that we’ve experienced.”

For Bana, there is already a huge, untapped resource of knowledge and expertise in the city that could be used to inform policy.

She said: “What we want to do is use our lived experience to identify gaps, mainly in service provision – gaps Muslim women in the city might have experienced. It’s important to ensure this is not ‘top-down’ but community-led.

“Lots of friends I grew up with had to leave Bradford due to lack of opportunities. Our project is about using lived experience to ‘future proof’ the city, to retain and empower skillsets in emerging leaders.”

She added: “My background in research showed me that there’s an appetite for local women to come up with solutions. We’re planning to use our grant to build a platform for these voices.”

The project will be led by the people that will use it - drawing on the lived experience of Muslim women, alongside expertise from the local police, voluntary bodies and businesses in the city.

“There’s a huge need for it; a lot of funds and trusts don’t place enough value on lived experience," said Bana.

"I think establishing a credible representative organisation for Muslim women - which develops their leadership skills and values their lived experience - will help break institutional barriers, glass ceilings and address racism, often unconscious, at all levels.

“It’s great that The National Lottery Community Fund has got excited about this.

“For us, success for this project is to have a mini think-tank, made up of Muslim women – which different funders and public bodies could turn to for knowledge and advice.

“Rather than parachute experts into our city, we want them to come direct to us. Why not use the experience we have between us to get stuck in?”