by Abdul Siddique

we are thrilled to be working in collaboration with Greater Manchester Police, Bolton Council, Bolton CVS and North Bolton Support Group to undertake an innovative funded qualitative research project in Bolton to mark National Hate Crime Awareness week. The facts are sobering, in the two weeks of June 2016 there was an increase of 42% of reported hate crime compared to the previous year, thats over 3062 reported crimes nationally!  Specifically there has been a 200% increase in hate crime in relation to the Muslim community. As our friends, colleagues and stakeholders will know, I’m really passionate about undertaking qualitative research that gives us better understandings of how to effectively deal with all forms of disadvantage and exclusion.

The first phase of this pioneering project will see us delivering a key Hate crime presentation to members of the African community in the coming months with which we have had strong links for many years. Through the assistance of our great translators we will ensure that the diaspora have a good grounding and understanding of what hate crime is. For the second phase of this innovative project we will be interviewing 30 members of the African community who have recently migrated to bolton. Through the kind assistance of our translators, our questions will be based around the cohorts experiences of hate crimes, how they dealt or deal with it, what support networks or channels of external support they have managed to access and what support they feel they may find beneficial. Coming from a strong academic background of community cohesion and social capital our lead research Abdul siddique will be particularly interested in the bonding and bridging capital dynamic (amongst other themes) that the data demonstrates.

Such qualitative research is pertinent for Local authorities and the Police amongst other key stakeholders to be able to tailor bespoke evidence-based responses and packages in response to the recent rise in hate crime. we are particularly excited about assisting our stakeholders to embed the findings of this groundbreaking project in to workable practice on the frontline. The results will be disseminated and cascaded across the public and third sector and will also be available on the resources section of our website.

This project links in to one of the Flowhesion Foundation’s key aims which is to undertake innovative research that fills gaps in knowledge and understanding whilst pushing society forward. I sincerely believe the project will be of benefit to all of the Bolton family.

Read the Report: Experiences of Asylum and Refuge seekers