by NADEEM BADSHAH WOMEN’S VOICES BEING ‘SIDELINED’ WOMEN’S groups are being shunned in the fight to tackle extremism in Britain, campaigners have claimed. They have said the government’s Prevent strategy to address radicalisation is failing after research showed more than 95 per cent of programmes remain ineffective. The study revealed failures in the approach in schools, youth centres, sports clubs and English-language classes. Out of 33 schemes examined, researchers from The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) found only two were effective. It comes after the Jan Trust charity, which tackles extremism, run by 7/7 survivor Sajda Mughal, said its funding has been cut by the Home Office. Hanif Qadir runs the Active Change Foundation in London, which helps to guide young people away from extremism. Its government funding was stopped in 2016. He told Eastern Eye: “Policymakers have changed their approach to Prevent – it is more hostile to communities than before. “We had difficulties before, we were engaging with young people who were talking about foreign policy like Palestine and Syria and wanted segregated rooms for religious reasons, we were told that was a no-no. “Prevent is failing, women’s voices are being marginalised, they are not engaging with the right people. “We were asked to provide information about individuals, we can’t breach confidential data. “You have to report individuals of concern to the authorities, but you also need space to mentor them instead.” Qadir, who has mentored 120 people at high risk of being radicalised, added: “We had some funding from Google but had to reduce our team from 24 to three. We are on the verge of collapse. “The organisations funded now are more liberal, the government thought we were too conservative.” Prevent was introduced after the London Underground and bus bombings in the capital in July 2005 to deal…
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