I have been running Samafal families Association for 20 years. Samafal is a limited guarantee non profit company that focuses on supporting women mainly those with multiple barriers including language and cultural access skills training and employment.

I am interested in community assets as I believe that the communities we represent feel that they don’t belong due to the fact that they are immigrants, and since English is not their first language they are afraid to challenge the system and take responsibility in owning their own space to make a difference.

I have worked as a community organiser for more than 30 years thinking about different ways of supporting collectives that are more towards a world based on care justice and collective need rather than competition and individualism. I have practical experience as well as some research and writing. I am also part of a People's Land Policy that sees Stewardship as the way forward for society's relationship with land. How this would work in practice needs great thought. 

I am a multidisciplinary cultural worker and creative strategist, and lead strategist at Hidden Keileon CIC, a cultural enterprise imagining futures with freedom and justice for all. I am deeply invested in devising and experimenting with new cultural strategies to decolonise mainstream narratives. My work focuses on creating dignified spaces for everyone's presence and amplifying historically marginalised voices. Collaborative practices that emphasize non-hierarchical fluid structures and safe and brave practices are key to stewardship models that moves away from governance. 

I am a local government officer and lead on new approaches to community participation in the borough of Barnet. Community assets are an important part of my work. The current systems and processes that govern how the community can use built spaces don’t seem to work for anyone. I am interested in this inquiry because it provides the opportunity to rethink them.

I have worked for over 20 years across the public and third sectors and through my experiences I have realised the importance of bringing together the public sector with the communities that it serves. I believe that we need to move from insufficient understanding to a more authentic truth. This requires unlearning and relearning on an individual level and collaborating for system-wide change and I’m excited about the potential for this project to facilitate that work. 

With a background in architecture and urban planning, I have a passion to facilitate and enable community-centred projects that have a positive impact on our cities and neighbourhoods. I am interested in understanding how community organisations and land owners can work better together to enable better stewardship and collective management of vital community spaces.