Faith Matters

Faith Matters works with faith communities in the UK and internationally in countries that include Pakistan and India and within sites of conflict such as Jerusalem. Faith Matters undertakes community cohesion, interfaith, conflict resolution, integration and preventing extremism work and has developed new and innovative technological methods of engaging with wide numbers of communities. Our work in Pakistan involves engaging with faith communities using mobile telephony and we have developed a specialism in mapping faith communities and in reducing conflict between faith communities.

Director's report – Faith Matters by Fiyaz Mughal OBE FCMI

Faith Matters had another highly successful year in delivering a range of complex projects in the United Kingdom and in Pakistan. In 2010, our social delivery of projects expanded to Pakistan and to areas that included Azad Jammu Kashmir and the Federally Administered Tribal regions in Pakistan where we undertook work on countering extremism. The project covered over 3 million people in Pakistan and ensured that we were at the forefront of countering extremism using social networks.

Our work also included the delivery of a number of national publications for Central Government and Local Government bodies. The publications included the following:

• The Our Faiths and Our Shared Futures publication (covering the London Boroughs of Enfield, Haringey and Barnet),
• An Our Faiths and Our Shared Futures publication (covering Derby in the North of England).
• The Adab Report outlining community cohesion issues between Sikh and Muslim communities in the UK.
• Faith Leadership Through Chaplaincy: This was a booklet looking at the development of Muslim chaplaincy services providing pastoral care to Muslims in key institutions like prisons, National Health Service institutions, Further and Higher Education institutions and Courts Services.
• Righteous Muslims: This booklet outlined the role of Muslims in the Holocaust in saving the lives of Jews in places like North Africa, Greece and Turkey.
• Developing Diversity; Work on this booklet started in 2008 and was completed in 2010. The booklet was launched nationally and with a total distribution of 37,189 copies.

Furthermore, Faith Matters also worked on the development of technological systems that can map issues affecting faith communities and in particular around faith hate attacks in the UK. These programmes have allowed us to develop unique electronic community engagement programmes that will take place in the 2011 / 2012 financial year.

We are deeply honoured to serve communities in both the United Kingdom and in Pakistan and in continuing to ensure that dialogue between communities are sustained and maintained. We will also continue to work on countering extremism of all forms and in bridging divides between faith communities.