Project case study - Brick Lane Youth Development Association

The Brick Lane Youth Development Association (BLYDA) in Tower Hamlets is an independent voluntary youth organisation and its goal is to empower local young people by providing advice, information, education and practical support. Over half of Tower Hamlets population is from non – White British ethnic groups. One third of those are Bangladeshi and half of those are under the age of 20.

In order to help integrate the young ethnic population into society, BLYDA has set up the ‘Shaathi Mentoring Project’. Older members of the community are recruited as mentors.

Each mentor is matched with a maximum of three local young people and will conduct weekly one to one sessions with each of them. As a reward for attendance, group activities are often organised, such as ice skating or bowling. The project is all about forming real, long lasting friendships. In fact, Shaathi is the Bangladeshi word for ‘Friend’.  

The young ‘mentees’ are all aged 8 to 18 and come into the scheme via referral from Youth Offending Teams, schools, the Met Police, parents and social services.  

Jobrul Islam, Senior Manager at BLYDA, says the fact that mentors have  similar backgrounds to the young people they work with has been instrumental in the schemes success. “Our mentors have lived, worked and studied in the Borough, so they have a good knowledge of the problems affecting the young people.”

One of the main purposes of the mentoring is to provide their mentees with a positive role model and to help them contribute towards the community’s life in a positive rather than anti-social way. It’s also about building up confidence and self esteem. And it’s working. Last year 40 youth people were in mentoring relationships, and the numbers continue to be strong.

Shaathi has also been identified as a Best Practice project and received the MBF’s quality  standard for mentoring and befriending projects, the Approved Provider Standard.

“We provide support, but it’s up to them to make the fullest use possible of the experience’ says Jobrul. ‘They’re not just ‘service users’ or ‘clients’ to us. They are like our own brothers and sisters – and our future leaders. We’re very proud of the fact that some of the mentees have gone on to become mentors themselves.”

J is a 13 year old Bangladeshi girl who is currently in foster care with her three siblings. She was referred to Shaathi by her social worker in order to find her a good role model and to explore strategies to combat her challenging behaviour.

Through the mentoring programme, J visited University College London. ‘This visit made her realise the opportunities available and the sacrifices that need to be made to achieve certain goals’ explains Jobrul.  J identified routes to university and is aware of the support available to her.’

J agrees that the scheme has been very beneficial for her. ‘Since starting the mentoring programme I have made new friends and have visited so many places with my mentor. It’s been really helpful in changing my outlook on life and as a result my self confidence and esteem has increased. The one to one sessions were excellent. They allowed me to talk to someone about my personal issues.’

• Name - Brick Lane Youth Development Association
• Project type - Mentoring
• Location - London
• Website - www.blyda.org
• Phone - 020 7375 0389
• Email - info@blyda.org