building a new world

From the Nurture Development website which you must explore at your leisure http://nurturedevelopment.org/

NURTURE DEVELOPMENT HAS DEVELOPED A UNIQUE APPROACH TO BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES THAT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY EMPLOYED THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND IN AFRICA.

“Cormac Russell and Nurture Development have made Asset Based Community Development come alive in Ireland as a basic community building strategy.”

John McKnight, ABCD Institute

12 DOMAINS


There are at least 12 domains that are uniquely within the competencies of people and by implication, cannot happen without People Powered Change.

Our well-being is decisively more determined by our community assets than by any other health and well being determinants. Tragically community building hardly features as a priority in the current sickness model. And so, for example, older people are dying of loneliness in a sea of neighbourliness that does not know how to express itself.While it is true to say we are creeping towards a change in focus in this regard, it is also economically and ethically a pivotal time where the need to accelerate this portion of the public health agenda and to elevate the status and the function of ‘connected communities’ as agents of health production, has become all at once both critical and possible.

Everyone’s health and well being depends on this fundamental shift; this shift depends on everyone choosing to co-create a shared health seeking future. The same can be said for raising connected children, caring for our environment, sustaining our local economies, and promoting more inclusive societies.

Health and Wellbeing

Our health and wellbeing is mainly determined by the extent to which we are positively connected to each other, our environment and local economic opportunities.

Safety and Security

Increased police presence does not lead to enhanced safety and security in the same way that a connected community can.

Caring for the Environment

Imagine what is possible if people become more intentional and collective about their decisions around transport, heating and lighting their homes and how they manage their waste.

Nurturing the Local Economy

Most enterprises start small and local, in garden sheds, attics and at the kitchen table and in return they become the heart blood of local economies and one of the most reliable sources of employment for many communities.

Mindful Food consumption and Production

Local food chains enhance outcomes in the areas of health, environment and local economic well being.

Raising Powerful Connected Children

Children need to believe in their families and community. Children do not grow powerful in institutions; their power grows the closer they are to the centre of family and community life.

Ageing Well in Place/Locale

The type of care required to age well across the life course is the kind that sees both the gifts and needs of older people, in that order . This kind of care is only located among communities who have a central place for older people.

Building Communities

Communities grow from inside out, evolving from the place where ‘I’ live, to the community where ‘we’ grow. They can only grow through the deepening of human relationships.

Civic Action for Deeper Democracy & Just Society

Civic action for social, environmental and economic justice provides the rudder for keeping governments honest and on track, democracy meaningful, and people engaged in civic life.

Respond to Natural Disaster/Climate Control

No where is people power more apparent than in the face of natural disasters and the consequences of climate change; ashuman beings, when pu t to the pin of our collar we dig deep, pull together (self organise), and respond by building community.

Lifelong Learning and Sharing Wisdom

Knowledge and wisdom are hatched in the nest of everyday life a nd more particularly in associational life, not in educational, commercial or professional institutions.

Changing the World

"Change doesn’t happen because of how we invest our money . Change happens because of how we invest our human energy, and it always has since we came down from the trees." Daniel Taylor–Future Generations

Kazuri shortlisted for Centre for Social Justice Awards

"The annual CSJ Awards programme recognizes effective poverty fighting groups from across the UK. Cash prizes of £10,000 are awarded to charities, small voluntary groups and other local projects that display innovation and effectiveness in addressing the root causes of poverty, turning lives around and reversing social breakdown."

Kazuri is delighted to be one of only 18 organisations picked from  over 200 entrants  from  across the UK to have been shortlisted for this year's prestigious awards, to be announced in September. We have invited the CSJ panel to come and see our women's resilience center in Whitechapel and also the construction workshop for vulnerable women and ex offenders , our Coming Home, Cardiff project.

Stefan Bobolecki, Director of Regeneration and Planning says "I am pleased to see all Kazuri's hard work is being recognized through being shortlisted for this prestigious award by the UK's leading think-tank."  

Peter Cobrin, Director of Innovation and Skills says, "It's great to see innovation and imagination in this most complex of sectors being recognized." 

Farah Damji, founder of Kazuri Properties CiC says, "Thank you to all people who have been part of Kazuri. Someone clever told me when I started this three and a half years ago that  this venture  would be like taking a train to Glasgow - some people would stay for the duration and others would be  there for part of the journey and get off at Edinburgh. All I can say is  to  everyone who has had anything to do with Kazuri since its inception is I'm grateful to have shared part of the journey with you and thank you. Even being shortlisted is an honor."  

We look forward to welcoming CSJ  staff at our projects in London and  Cardiff. 

The Kazuri ethos that sustainable housing and resilience are at the core of a stable lifestyle  leads to cohesive communities and are aligned with the Center for Social Justice's  own values of empowerment, redemption and creating a better society.

Kazuri statement against G4S in social services

"Kazuri  will oppose and block every opportunity  sought by  G4s  to provide public services contracted out by the state, which affect vulnerable women and children. This includes access to legal services and the proposed privatization of probation services.  G4S are not fit to run public services until they receive a clean bill of health from the Serious Fraud Office, the National Accounting Office, the Public Accounts Committee  who are all currently investigating G4S. 

The social services market is ripe for exploitation and profiteering  but we will prevent this  through  determined and committed community action and legal challenges  upon every  last contract  G4S attempts to secure which affects vulnerable people.  Kazuri along with many others,  do not sanction child killers running children's homes, funded through the public purse. 

Perhaps the government might look to their own recently appointed Social Value Ambassador Chris White MP, for more equitable solutions on procurement which don't damage our community and traumatise the most vulnerable people in our society. We need a  global movement to shift into gear a system which does not reward murder and the state sanctioned corporate rape of the sector. We need to redefine our economy so that it adds social value, cooperation and resilient business models in which we can live cooperatively. 

This existing destruction vulture capitalism only  benefits G4S shareholders,  greedy Whitehall mandarins  who want directors' seats on the boards of global behemoths to satisfy raging egos and hungry and disappointing politicians like Lord Reed and Lord Condon who have desecrated  the public trust placed in them by accepting directorships on G4S board."

Kazuri
Sanctioned 23rd July 2013 at a general meeting of the board, London.

Implementing the Public Service (Social Value) Act 2012

 View Chris White MP's talk at the Justice Academy last month here

Chris White MP first introduced the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 as a private member's bill in June 2010, it came into effect in April 2013 and for the first time  all public bodies in England and Wales  are requited to consider  howthe services they commission might improve the economic, environmental and social well being of the area.

In this talk, Chris discusses how the Act is being implemented and how it seeks to change the way that public bodies design contracts. Chris also discusses  how the Act is aimed at benefiting social enterprises, charities and community organisations, as he believes these organisations can provide maximum public  benefit to the local community.

Resilience training Cardiff. Be the best YOU!

Resilience and trauma in the criminal justice system
Venue: Ocean Academy, Central  Cardiff, 24 July 13 00 – 17 00 hrs

In conjunction with Diverse Cymru, challenging discrimination in all its forms to create a more equitable future.

By invitation only, free to third sector organisations and public service employees,  providing services to people affected by the criminal justice system.“I know that I need to deal with it to heal,” says a woman we’ll call Ramona. “But sometimes I just have to take a step away from it too. I have experienced very painful flashbacks. The memories get so vivid; I literally, physically feel the pain again.”

Many people working in third sector organisations think of trauma as something that will affect others. Prisoners, survivors of domestic violence, asylum seekers and  recovering addicts all display signs of post traumatic stress disorder. The increase in direct exposure to violence or through the coverage of 24/7 events across the world by the media and the impact of hearing the experiences of  traumatised people are resulting in creating traumatised communities.  This is  already having significant social, economic and infrastructural impacts. The predicament of the  War Child  refugee and the direct correlation in the increase in violent gang crime is but one example.

This simple 4 hours training will introduce you to the concept of secondary trauma or compassion fatigue and provide you with a tool kit to overcome mixed emotions. We explore incorporating resilience into your core day. It is led by Flo Krause and Farah Damji.

Flo Krause a leading human rights barrister is on the frontline of changes in the criminal justice system. She represented prisoner John Hirst ,  Hirst v UK in which the actions of the UK government in denying the vote to serving prisoners were deemed to be illegal. Flo deals with parole boards and is in prisons almost on a daily basis and practices transactional analysis.

Farah Damji is a former offender whose life was shattered as a result of early life trauma and whose self destructiveness, mental illness, depression and substance dependency precluded living an authentic life. This came to a halt in 2005 when she was sent to prison. She set up a company in 2010, Kazuri which works with former offenders and other traumatised women to house them and provide safe pathways to employment and resilience training.

The topic of resilience, it seems, provides a solid platform for identification and for the education of the public on what constitutes good psychological health. As a result, individuals can put together their own strategies for building resilience, depending upon their individual strengths, styles and cultural differences. Resilience can even apply to organisations faced with significant pressures and challenges. After all, turning adversity into opportunity--a potential by product of resilience--is critical for organizations to thrive. Without question, building resilience is currently an important strategy as we deal with significant budget pressures and staffing shortages . But if we can draw on our strengths and build our resilience, we will most certainly "bounce back" from present difficulties.

 For more information please contact Kazuri on 020 7 377 5791. Places are limited and if you would like to attend please email info@kazuri.org.uk

Third sector and public sector: FREE, private  sector organisations £110

"Be like water."

Carers or Captors - follow up

Thanks to everyone who attended a successful and important meeting held in Committee Room 12 on Tuesday evening. The meeting started well, Mr Grayling was in the corridor surrounded by a bevy of spads, no doubt avoiding the Save Justice campaign taking place outside the Ministry of Justice by our learned friends and Bianca Jagger.

Geoffrey Robinson gave a brief overview of his involvement as the MP for Coventry North. Jeremy Corbyn explained his interest and said what he had seen pertaining to the way people are being treated under  COMPASS Contract between the home office and G4S was "disgusting and appalling."

Farah explained Kazuri's locus in the issue, as a social enterprise which works with women who have suffered trauma and provides housing and resettlement support to vulnerable women.  She spoke of her fear of the rapid march of the privatisation of public sector services, based on dogma,  not rational evidence and how people, women in particular,  were subject to abuse.

Flo Krause explained briefly that while the contract between  the Home Office, G4S and Serco cannot be challenged as it is a matter between two parties, the fact that public funds are being misused can be reviewed. Flo raised the issue of a public inquiry. She also stated that the Home Office had asked for a list of the women who had complained to Kazuri and their addresses in order to investigate.  The case of Chi Mati, a whistleblower was mentioned.  Chi dared to speak out against G4S and substandard housing conditions. She was threatened not only with eviction by G4S but also with deportation by the Home Office. Not until Guardian journalist Zoe Williams stepped in and intervened with an online petition did the government and G4S back off. Chi was allowed to stay.

Flo explained we would not be revealing the identity of the women who have suffered at the hands of G4S as there are competing interests. Flo explained that frequently in her work as a human rights barrister who takes parole cases for prisoners, they need to be moved through the process to open conditions to progress their sentence plan. This will be blocked by prison security with the reason there is intelligence that someone's life will be in danger if that prisoner is allowed to move and that no further information will be shared.

We find ourselves in the same dilemma. We would like to share the information with G4S, who did not attend the meeting, however there are real and present dangers in the way they treat women and indeed men who dare to complain and we cannot be complicit in any way in the repeated traumatisation of already traumatised people. Flo confirmed we would happily give the information to an independent inquiry but not to G4S or the home office. Anyone who is a taxpayer and effectively funding this waste of  public funds has legal standing to bring a case such as this for review. Her back of an envelope calculation of contracts let to G4S in the financial year to 2012 added to more than £1billion. This is just with the Ministry of Justice.  G4S also have contracts with the Home Office the Foreign Office, the DWP, the MoD, and the Department of Health. You can see the MoJ ones here

Geoffrey Robinson supported the prospect of a public inquiry however he stated we would need to gather evidence and present that to Jeremy and his office,  then they would ask other sympathetic MPs of whom there are many to support a request for a public inquiry into the way public funds are being misspent and services are not being delivered.

The meeting was opened up for questions.  Steven Hirschler whose PhD at York University is on the COMPASS contract said that he could provide many case studies to support the inquiry and would like to help compile the body of evidence.

"Sarah" also shared her story about the horrors of being housed by G4S and Cascade, their local housing contractor. She has been moved 5 times in 6 months and most recently 3 weeks ago she faced eviction because G4S had not paid her landlord rent for four months before she moved into the property. G4S denied this in a statement to Alan White the journalist who wrote about this on Monday for the New Statesman. We also have a letter from the home office confirming that no one has lost their home or been evicted. We now have rent statements which show amassed arrears and that both G4S and the home office is misrepresenting the facts. G4S and the Home Office are lying.

Sarah told Jeremy Corbyn that every time she was moved it caused her and her 11 month old baby huge disruption. She also said G4S staff entered the property at any time without prior notice.  She has been told they are "allowed to do that." Housing law clearly states a landlord has to give 24 hours notice prior to entry except in the case of an emergency. We have since had sight of a letter from Sharon Holmes to John Grayson claiming G4S make the women sign agreements which allow G4S access unannounced at any time for any reason. Essentially this is unlawful and violates a tenant's right to peaceful enjoyment. Sarah also told of the substandard properties she was living in,  and how she found cock roaches in her baby's milk.

Two voluntary organisations which work with asylum seekers and refugees confirmed their clients' experiences of bad practice and one raised an important issue.  G4S have a long history of human rights abuses and blood on their hands including the death of Jimmy Mubenga who was killed while being deported by G4S guards on a British Airways flight because they held him in a restricted position which forced him to stop breathing. The G4S term for this is carpet karaoke. It is an illegal restraining position. Women have suffered broken limbs, limbs, a pregnant woman was tipped out of her wheel chair. They have no experience of social housing.

Richard Johnson who is the former director of the Work Programme for Serco and now an eloquent and outspoken critic of his former employer stated the issue was in the terms of the contract and that is the real issue, not the provider.

Heather Petch formally CEO of HACT, a housing charity expressed concerns about the fact that housing associations were proposed as  alternatives for managing these contracts for providing housing rather than care and justice providers. She thought housing providers would not be able to sustain contracts which had cut costs to the bone.

A Scottish MP gave the example of how Glasgow City Council  had brought Serco in line through a local umber body of housing associations and suggested connecting with them to share their experiences.

Representatives from 4 government departments including the Home Office and the Cabinet Office attended and expressed an interest to stay informed with regards to developments. Women in Social Housing, the UNHCR which monitors the way the home office treats migrants and displaced people and journalists from Not Shut Up, the prison magazine, the FT and the New Statesman attended. The meeting was well received by grass roots organisations, policy makers and law shapers.


We are in the process of working out the best and most efficient way to compile the data for a public inquiry with a view to a follow up meeting in October. If you have  any suggestions we'd be delighted to hear them.

All that remains is for Kazuri to thank Nanki Chawla and Flo Krause for their hard work in compiling an important report, the consequences of which could change not just policy but also procurement practice and Geoffrey Robinson, Jeremy Corbyn, Sarah Teather and Julian Huppert for kindly supporting the event. Our thanks also to Elizabeth, Nicolette and Omar from the MPs offices.

The full report is available here


http://kazuri.org.uk/images/PDFs/Carers_or_Captors_and_complaints.pdf

G4S fit for purpose or a public liability?

Press release London  June 2 2014
Embargoed till  00:00 Monday 3 June 2014

Invitation to follow

Carers or captors? Is G4S fit for purpose or a corporate rapist profiteering from pain.

Kazuri Properties is a social enterprise which works with women who have suffered trauma and provides housing and resettlement support including resilience training. Kazuri commissioned a report to the Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry into asylum focusing on housing and pastoral care provided by G4S. The report by leading human rights barrister Flo Krause and others scrutinises the COMPASS Contract between the home office and G4S. 39 women gave evidence to the report and complaints ranged from peeling paint to allegations of rape and sexual violence by G4S staff.

The report will be published at a panel discussion moderated by Imran Khan the human rights solicitor in parliament at an event hosted by Jeremy Corbyn MP and Geoffrey Robinson MP on Tuesday 4 June at 17 30 hrs in committee room 12 in the House of Commons, co authors of  the report are director at Kazuri Properties Farah Damji and LSE master's degree student Nanki Chawla.

Women in particular have been subjected to trauma, harassment and in 3 cases allegations of sexual abuse.  These women who are fleeing trauma have to suffer G4S staff entering their homes unannounced,  however the women's complaints are being ignored.

Extract:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1      This submission examines asylum through a gendered lens, with a focus on housing as a human right. Through our interactions with the women tenants of G4S  we propose policy recommendations with regards to both housing and the contracts and subcontractors in charge of this.

2      We conclude that the current asylum system fails women as a particularly vulnerable group, and must be overhauled in its entirety in order for gender mainstreaming to take place. We assert that housing contracts should only be given to housing associations, rather than for profit corporations, and suggest the Housing First model as an alternative to the current system.

3.    We urge an immediate review of the current contractors, in order to assess their capabilities in fulfilling their current mandate, and to ensure that the vulnerable are not being ignored. We also point out that accountability mechanisms and transparency processes are vital to ensuring a fairer, more inclusive new system. We call for trauma sensitivity training for the officials which interact with this group of vulnerable people.

Exract ends

 Report now available here  http://kazuri.org.uk/images/PDFs/Carers_or_Captors_and_complaints.pdf


*        The COMPASS Contract is worth over £620 million however women are being evicted because although G4S was paid over £300million, to provide the service, they do not pay the landlords of the property rent. Repeated  failings to provide decent accommodation and to treat women with respect have been frequently evidenced of G4S yet they continue to win lucrative contracts providing public services. The report asks for transparency in the procurement process in the letting of large contracts to private for profit companies.

*      Lord John Reid the former home secretary and Lord Paul Condon former Metropolitan Police Commissioner are paid advisors to G4S. This abuse of trust and power by senior public servants for their personal gain must be reviewed urgently.

*     The role of successive governments in the corporatisation of state duties has lead to the wholesale betrayal of the most vulnerable people in our society.  Companies such as G4S and Serco who are hoovering up contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds  to deliver services in a way that denigrate the most basic expectations of human rights should be subject to the same stringent regulations as other players in the same market. There is no regulation imposed by established bodies such as the property ombudsman or the HCA upon global outsourcing companies with little or no experience of social housing and pastoral care. Any similar commercial activity by a registered provider regulated by the HCA would be subject to monitoring and sanctions.These questions are important in light of the Lord Chancellor's plans to privatise over 70% of probation services.  Who will carry the risk and the responsibility?

Kazuri are challenging the recent decision to award the contract for the sexual assault and rape crisis centres in the West Midlands to G4S who have no experience of working with traumatised women. A freedom of information request has been submitted. 30 years of learning and a gendered approach to women who are surviving sexual abuse have been thrown out for profiteering and privatisation. Positions to work at these centres have recently been advertised at £12.50 per hour which precludes any qualified or experienced staff coming forward.

For further information or a full copy of the report, please contact info@kazuri.org.uk or call 020 7377 5791.

notes to editors:

Flo Krause and Imran Khan are available for interview.

letter to the home office regarding COMPASS CONTRACT

http://www.scribd.com/doc/142776876/html5

letter requesting information on G4S SARC contract to provide services to victims of rape and sexual assault

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/g4s_contract_to_run_sarc_centres