Hope in Haringey and Sister System’s young women in leadership group have been awarded their Level 2 NVQ in Leadership, signing off their training for upcoming roles for the Haringey African Schools Partnership – a precursor to AfroUrban Futures UK’s youth advisory board.

By Omar Alleyne-Lawler, Communications Manager

In a collaborative programme between Tottenham-based charities, Hope in Haringey and Sister System, six girls from three Haringey schools have completed their NVQ level 2 qualifications in Leadership. The completion of this course means the way has been pathed for the creation of a global project between schools in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, UK and Uganda called the ‘Haringey African Schools Partnership’.

The course, which saw the girls visit Silverstone and Buggyra Racing, was previously covered in August and marked the growth in their confidence, resilience, and public speaking skills.

The group of graduate girls with Sister System’s CEO Okela Douglas Trainer, Cassanda Campbell and HiH Director, Rev. John Wood. MBE and HiH Youth Project’s Officer, Chloe Hedman.

Two months on from the course’s conclusion, the girls were celebrated in a graduation ceremony at Tottenham Town Hall and formed just 6 of 40 girls on the day being recognised for their achievements.

At the ceremony, one graduate who did not want to be named said that she was “proud of herself and friends” and “felt ready” for the next step.

Thankfully, they would not have to wait long as the end of the ceremony saw the group updated on their next task: Setting up a new project named the ‘Haringey African Schools Partnership’.

As a precursor for AfroUrban Futures UK, this project tasks the group with helping establish school links between three Haringey schools: Harris Academy Tottenham, Woodside High and Haringey Sixth Form with partner schools in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

The aim of this partnership is to begin building a relationship between schools in the UK and those in the west and east of Africa. As an organisation centred around the sharing of social capital, both the Haringey African Schools Partnership and later, AfroUrban Futures UK will share similar values to its parent organisation, Hope in Haringey – rooted in Tottenham.

Once the board forms relationships with its African partners, the Haringey African Schools Partnership will begin organising itself as an agency through which all of its school partners can begin raising problems and finding solutions, possibly under the AfroUrban Futures UK name as that process develops.