London Bangla A Force for the community…
As we start a new year it also marks a milestone journey for me.
2001 in Shadwell, Tower Hamlets, when the then Youth Work Training Consortium began the conversations around youth work training, Peer Education and promoting Action Learning within Youth & Community Services, helped lay the foundations for the next generation of youth workers in Tower Hamlets & beyond.
I remain deeply grateful to have worked alongside and learned from such inspiring mentors and colleagues, including the late Annette Goldband, Ali Rusbridge, Helal Abbas, Steve Sipple, Kevin Munday, Dinar Hossain, Shahiyaz Alam, Muhammad Derek Cox, Ros Norton, Annette Zera, Jennifer Fear, Liz Corder, Badrul Hussain, Fazlur Rahman, Helal Ahmed, Tracy Browne, Errol Wynter, Senie Emmanuel, Gwen Jones, Tom Wylie, Sangetta Gupta, Mary Wolfe, Sue Wilson and Fazlul Haque (the youth worker who help me start youth work). Their guidance and belief helped shape what became the youth work training foundations, from Level 1, Level 2 Youth and Level 3 Diploma in Youth Work, Youth Work Apprenticeships, and Peer Education programmes.
Fast forward over 20 years, and in that time we have successfully supported hundreds of young people, volunteers, part-time youth workers and full-time youth workers to become professionally qualified and to begin careers in youth & community work. Our workbooks, assessment paper, assessment ideas, observation method ideas/plans and programmes are still being used today tweked to meet new standards and digitalised & adjusted. Importantly, we continue to support emerging youth workers and youth work leaders as they start their journey in 2026 and beyond.
I am equally grateful to be working with colleagues from the National Youth Agency: Abbee McLatchie, Alia Peck, Kevin Jones and those at the Institute for Youth Work, including Raheed Salaam, Robin Lockhart, Juliette Newman and others, who are helping to shape the future of youth work training and workforce development.
Key areas we must continue to focus on and work harder at:
• Ensuring progression youth work courses are fit for purpose
• Protecting youth work standards, ensuring delivery and curriculum are not dumbed down
• Harnessing new technology and digital education approaches to allow youth work to advance into the future
• Embedding Equality, Diversity and Equity at the heart of youth work, while addressing the real challenges youth workers face in communities across the UK and abroad
• Ensuring Faith, Belief and Spirituality remain integral within the youth work curriculum and framework
• Securing continued investment, recognition of youth work as a professional career, and fair and reasonable pay for youth workers across the UK
Thank you again to everyone—many of whom I have not named here. If you have crossed my path, you will either have been supported by me, or you will certainly have been thanked for your time, advice and professional support. I am truly grateful.
